T-Pain is a gift to the culture — period.
Before being discovered, T-Pain, whose real name is Faheem Rashad Najm, had developed a love for music with the talent to match.
By age ten, the Tallahassee native completely transformed his bedroom into a mini studio complete with a keyboard, beat machine, and four-track recorder as a rapper in a group that went by Nappy Headz.
Now, whether it’s gaming, collaborating with brands for partnerships aligned with who he is authentically, and doubling as a restaurateur, T-Pain continues to solidify his legacy.
Previously, he told AfroTech that his greatest venture was stepping out on faith and becoming independent after being attached to a label from the very beginning.
Stepping Out On Faith
“I think the best venture so far [was] literally taking that first step, taking that first step to independence,” he expressed to AfroTech. “I think that’s the hardest thing we all have to conquer — really taking that first step and going into independence as just a person, not as a business person, not as an artist, not as somebody that is already famous. Once you step out independently, that’s a whole different beast, that’s a whole different thing.”
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His Biggest Inspirations
As previously reported by AfroTech, T-Pain revealed that his inspirations in the business are people like David Banner and Killer Mike because of the way that they’ve conducted and established brands for themselves outside of music over the years.
For him, the intentionality behind gaining his independence as not only an artist but as a person was an added bonus to the freedom that comes along with it.
Making Intentional Moves
“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,” the “I’m Sprung” crooner 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.”
When It's All Said And Done
Along with his own personal freedom, T-Pain requires those around him to also have the same mindset.
“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 concluded.
