Usher accused T-Pain of ruining the music with auto-tune

Gone are the days when the majority of rap fans complain about the voice-distorting auto-tune effect. The effect has now become an integral part of culture and is often used, especially in traps. Still, it wasn’t easy for the auto-tune pioneers in hip-hop. In the current Netflix documentary series “This is Pop“Reports T-Pain of a conversation with Usher, which apparently caused him to be deeply depressed.

Usher accused T-Pain of ruining the music

The aforementioned episode of “This is Pop”, a documentary series that provides background information on phenomena from the music world, is about the auto-tune effect and its entry into hip-hop. T-Pain, who is considered one of the pioneers of auto-tune rap, used the effect back in 2005 on his debut album RAPPA TERNT SANGA. In the interview shown, he reports on an encounter with singer Usher, which probably left traces. In 2013, the remaining musicians were on board the same aircraft to get to the BET Awards. A flight attendant advised T-Pain that Usher would like to have a chat with him. T-Pain, who was friends with Usher, thought nothing of it and so they both had a little small talk. Suddenly Usher addressed a very serious topic and said to T-Pain: “You ruined the music for real singers.” The latter apparently did not know how to deal with this statement, which he initially thought was a joke. In retrospect, the singer regards this moment as the trigger for a depression that lasted for four years.

Usher was my friend. He said “You ruined music for real singers”. From that point on I couldn’t hear that anymore. Is he right? Did i break music? And that was the moment – and I probably didn’t notice it for a long time – that triggered my four-year depression. “

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T-Pain’s struggle for recognition

Except for the encouragement of some of the singer’s successful colleagues, such as P. Diddy or Kanye West, who still used the effect in the 2000s for their own productions, T-Pain initially received mixed feedback for his music. Jay-Z even devoted an entire song to his aversion to auto-tune. “D.O.A“(Death of Auto-Tune) was often accompanied by an aggressive“ Fuck T-Pain! ”At live concerts. The singer, who performed with a top hat and Oakly sunglasses at the beginning of his career, revealed in several interviews that all the negative reactions to his art did not pass him without a trace and often spoke of it Depression and insecurity. He was particularly bothered by the fact that for many years he was the target of the general hatred of Auto-Tune, although many colleagues had already copied his sound. In this country, too, the first successful auto-tune rappers such as Ufo 361 or Rin were by no means showered with praise.

In 2009, Jay-Z had no love for auto-tune. He showed this in the song “DOA”:

In addition to T-Pain, “This is Pop” focuses on Shania Twain, Boyz II Men, Chuck D, Brandi Carlile and Neko Case. It can now be viewed on Netflix.

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