During the early 2000s, one could not turn on the radio without hearing a track that was either led by T-Pain or featuring the crooner.

He had the masses doing everything from snappin’ their fingers to walkin’ it out, but the Florida native reveals he saw little to no return on the investment for one of his most legendary songs.

“Have ya’ll looked up the publishing for ‘Buy U A Drank?’” the singer asked in a clip shared by his Nappy Boy Gaming platform. “Like publishing-wise, I probably get no money from ‘Buy U A Drank.’”

Why Does He Get No Money?

It turns out, his efforts to pay homage to fellow artists during that time period ultimately bit him in the rear, as they came for royalties following the success of the song.

“So, all those things that I said in ‘Buy U A Drank’ that was from other songs, when ‘Buy U A Drank’ blew up, blew up, all [of] those people and writers from them other songs said they were owed sh-t from my song because… I was paying homage and sh-t,” T-Pain revealed.

He continued: “‘I got money in the bank,’ Scrappy and his writers came for that, or ‘Snap ya fingers/ Do ya step,’ Lil Jon and E-40 and everybody on that song came for me… they said this is ‘Our money in the bank.’”

Taking Over The 2000s

According to STEREOGUM, “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’),” which featured Yung Joc, was released on May 26, 2007, and when it landed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it stayed there for approximately one week.

From that point on, as previously mentioned, T-Pain was inescapable on the charts and mainstream media, period.

The Tallahassee, FL, native almost always had a video featured on hit shows like BET’s “106 & Park” and MTV’s “Total Request Live (TRL).” 

Whether it was his music, or providing the hook on tracks like Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It,” Flo Rida’s “Low,” and plenty of other hits, T-Pain was a force and brought an eclectic new sound to music through his unique use of autotune that is still mimicked by artists today.

His Independence As An Artist

During a 2022 interview with AFROTECH, the “I’m Sprung” crooner spoke about the freedom that came when he decided to go independent.

“The intentionality behind it was just, it was just time. You know, I’m a grown man. A grown man that had never taken care of my own business, and I felt bad as hell,” T-Pain said, reflecting on his past moves as an artist. “I want to be able to book my own flight and just go somewhere when I feel like it, instead of having to call somebody. It was just time, and I needed to do things on my own because we all know, as much as we don’t want to say it, everything comes to an end.”

He also expects the same effort from those around him.

“It’s super important for everybody that’s around me to have their own as well. So, when I decide I want to stop, they can also branch off and go do other things on their own,” he shared.

T-Pain will forever be cemented in music history, not only for the fresh new sound he brought to the industry but for remaining true to himself throughout it all.