Audio By Carbonatix
T-Pain is opening up about his four-year battle with depression.
In a clip from Netflix's series, This Is Pop, the rapper reveals the dark side of his musical success that included the infamous introduction of auto-tune to mainstream music.
Although the pitch correction technique has been around for ages and using it helped propel T-Pain to superstardom, the rapper claims it led to a confrontation with Usher, who allegedly told him that he "f**ked up music."
"Usher was my friend. I really respect Usher. And he said, 'I'm gonna tell you something, man. You kinda f**ked up music,'" T-Pain claims in the clip released by Entertainment Weekly on Monday.Â
The rapper -- who also explains that the alleged conversation occurred during a plane ride -- says he thought Usher was joking at first, so he laughed. But, according to T-Pain, Usher allegedly doubled down on his comment and said that the rapper "really f**ked up music for real singers."
"That is the very moment, and I don't even think I realized this for a long time, but that's the very moment that started a four-year depression for me," T-Pain shares.
The rapper's use of auto-tune, which sparked a plethora of artists following his example, was quickly met with a wave of backlash. In 2009, JAY-Z even recorded an entire diss track attacking the pitch correction titled "DOA (Death of Auto-Tune)."
The backlash was so fierce that people seemed to forget that T-Pain was a genuinely talented musician and producer, a fact the rapper has spoken about many times before. During his Tiny Desk Concert for NPR, during which he sang entirely without the processor, the rapper joked that the auto-tune was "surgically inserted."
Since then, the rapper has gone on to win the first season of The Masked Singer, release a new album and co-write a cocktail book.Â
This Is Pop is an eight-part series exploring untold stories from some of the biggest moments in pop music history. In addition to T-Pain, it features interviews with ABBA's Benny Andersson, Shania Twain, Brandi Carlile, Chuck D, Babyface, Orville Peck, Hozier, members of Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, Blur, and many more.
Latest Stories
-
AU flatly rejects Somaliland bid, reaffirms Somalia’s unity
35 minutes -
Mali rally to claim draw against AFCON host Morocco
48 minutes -
Man City players ‘incredibly disciplined’ – Guardiola
59 minutes -
How to get rid of unwanted Christmas presents – without being found out
1 hour -
Zelensky plans to meet Trump on Sunday for talks on ending Russian war
1 hour -
Thousands of US flights disrupted as winter storm looms
1 hour -
US judge blocks detention of British social media campaigner
2 hours -
Gun Amnesty: Greater Accra leads in weapons surrendered
2 hours -
Dave Bishop outlines vision as he seeks Ghana Boxing Federation executive board position
2 hours -
Former Ivory Coast coach Gasset dies
3 hours -
An Open Letter to the Deputy Attorney General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai
3 hours -
Humour at its finest at Kumasi Comedy Show
3 hours -
Police Christmas special operation: 101 suspects arrested in Greater Accra
4 hours -
15 arrested after sporadic shooting at Ho central mosque
4 hours -
GES condemns alleged theft of food supplies at Awaso STEM SHS
4 hours
