T-Pain Says He’s Written Country Songs for Other Artists but ‘Stopped Taking Credit’ After Facing ‘Racism’

Did you know that T-Pain spent some time writing for country music artists?

via People:

The rap superstar, 39, recently posted a candid video to TikTok in which he revealed he’s ghostwritten a handful of tracks for country artists. He also admitted that, although he’s a fan of the genre, he felt compelled to stop taking credit for songs he’s worked on due to the “racism” that he’s experienced. 

The hitmaker began the video by sharing how much he admires country music and pulls inspiration from it. “Good music is good music,” T-Pain said pointedly. “I don’t give a f— where it comes from or what style it comes in.”

“Country music is where I get all my harmonies, country and gospel music. That’s where all my harmonies come from,” the Grammy winner shared, while mentioning that many people that he knows “feel like it’s not cool to listen to other genres of music.” 

The recording artist (whose real name is Faheem Rashad Najm) then briefly opened up about his experience collaborating with members of the country music industry. “I done wrote a lot of country songs. Stopped taking credit for it because, as cool as it is to see your name in those credits and s— like that, the racism that comes after it is just like, ‘I’ll just take the check,’” T-Pain said.

“‘Don’t put me on that s—,’” the “Buy U a Drank” artist continued while laughing. “‘I’ll just take the check, bro, never mind.’”

T-Pain did not clarify in the TikTok who he has written for or whether he has been credited under a pseudonym. 

In the caption, he simply reiterated his message of how positive it can be to listen to different genres of music. “It’s cool for people to make and enjoy all types of music. Good music is good music,” the hip-hop star wrote.

While T-Pain has released a number of his own hit albums and appeared on A-listers’ features, he’s also co-written a number of songs for artists such as Ciara, Flo Rida, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg, among others. 

Although the “Bartender” singer has yet to reveal who in the country music industry he has collaborated with, iHeartRadio’s The Breakfast Club recently unearthed an old interview with the star in which he spoke about his experience in Nashville. 

“I write a lot of country music for huge country artists who would rather not have it known that I do this,” T-Pain said in the audio clip that The Breakfast Club dug up. 

“I lived in Nashville for two years — I literally lived at the studio. I parked my bus at the back of the studio, just lived on my bus at the studio and just went in there every day,” he revealed. 

The rapper also listed a handful of artists that he may have gotten in the studio with, including Taylor Swift, who he teamed up with nearly 15 years ago to perform a parody of her song “Love Story,” titled “Thug Story,” at the 2009 CMT Awards. He continued, “That’s when I f—— got back up with Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan and Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, so, you know, I’ve written a lot of s— for very important country artists.”

The Nappy Boy Entertainment founder previously made his appreciation for country known on his 2023 album, On Top of the Covers, which found him covering hits of genres outside of hip-hop. On the record, he sang a version of Chris Stapleton’s 2015 hit “Tennessee Whiskey,” in addition to renditions of “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journeyand other classics. 

It’s about time Black people took (back) over country music.

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