T-Pain has already been very vocal about how he feels his sound influenced Kanye West’s “80s & Heartbreaks” and he was even invited to the studio to help Ye come up with the material.
Here’s an excerpt of his recent interview with Billboard:
How the sound will remain relevant: I would say as recent as [Kanye West’s] 808s & Heartbreaks, which was a direct copy of Rappa Ternt Sanga. I’m not just being a d*ck saying that sh*t sounds a lot like mine. Like literally [Kanye] told me that he listened to Rappa Ternt Sanga and he made 808s & Heartbreaks. He even brought me in to make it sound more like Rappa Ternt Sanga. [Laughs.] Something that I did that was directly copied got so many awards — that’s evidence right there. Rappa Ternt Sanga is still relevant because the sound is still prevalent in the whole industry. It’s never gonna stop.
After folks starting coming for him about the interview on social media, he tweeted the following in response (read tweets from bottom to top):
I mean are people really mad at him for stating the truth? One may not be a fan of his music, but it’s no denying how many people have copied his style. And truth be told he’s the only one who can make auto-tune sound good.
He’s still on this? Honestly he should have told Kanye to go to hell when he asked him to do his album. Kanye told him flat out he wanted his sound. So that was dumb on his part.
Cosign. I would have said hell naw.
I agree but when you’re new and you admire someone, you become gullible. I bet he would do things differently if he had another chance.
Sigh…
Kimye’s fans probably pissed him off. They’re so annoying and lame.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m starting to see more and more people give him props. When he was on top, I had good times in the club. And his music is a lot better than what’s being Auto-tuned today.