Born Faheem Najm in Tallahassee, Florida, MC and vocalist T-Pain started his career as part of rap group Nappy Headz before branching out as a solo act. Although Nappy Headz achieved some success, T-Pain left to focus on singing and forming the style he would later call "Hard & B." He gained cred as a solo R&B artist with demo track "Time to Make Love" but it was with the release of "I'm F**ked Up," a rendition of Akon's hit "Locked Up" that T-Pain got his real start. Akon saw more than parody in T-Pain's track and adopted the fledgling rapper as his protégé, signing T-Pain to his Jive imprint label Konvict Muzik. In 2005 T-Pain released his self-produced and penned album Rappa Ternt Sanga, featuring Top 20 single "I'm Sprung."The debut album earned T-Pain comparisons with his mentor and was followed up by 2007's Epiphany, an album that was a more mature effort while still maintaining the endearing immaturity that makes T-Pain the "Rappa Ternt Sanga" that he is. The album features the hit single and club favorite "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')," which topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. T-Pain's biggest hit to date is undoubtedly the radio favorite R&B ballad "Bartender" featuring Akon. "Bartender" bombarded the radio waves, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and number 10 in the Pop 100. In 2008 T-Pain released his third studio effort, The Midas Touch Man. The album again had the T-Pain touch, with single "She Got It" soaring on the Billboard charts and scoring T-Pain collaborations with R. Kelly, Chris Brown and DJ Khaled.
