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.
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.
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
-
Maximus Attah writes: Vacancies that never hire
3 minutes -
‘When the time comes, I will speak’ – Kurt on third-term GFA presidential bid
33 minutes -
UMB S.P.E.E.D. Stars lift Bankers Football Gala trophy
45 minutes -
MMFL makes strong showing at JoySports Invitational 2026
1 hour -
MTN Media Republic, Ghana Wildlife Society embark on bird, butterfly walk
1 hour -
Fuel Prices: Star Oil holds petrol at GH¢14.97, raises diesel to GH¢16.97
1 hour -
DR Congo Ebola outbreak surges past 6000 cases as death toll nears 3000
1 hour -
Telecel Ghana CEO urges mining industry to build agile people for tech-driven future
1 hour -
Ghana Digital Centres’ loss nearly triples to GH¢6.06m as revenue falls
1 hour -
The private school teacher crisis: A silent exodus
1 hour -
NPC Ghana congratulates Farida Iddriss on Africa Aquatics Zone II leadership role
1 hour -
Zanetor pledges to protect Ghana’s natural resources for future generations
1 hour -
2024 defeat was due to demoralised base, poor preparation – Boakye Agyarko
2 hours -
Ghana welcomes UN report backing reparations for transatlantic slavery
2 hours -
Fidelity Bank convenes debt capital markets conference to turn Ghana’s recovery into long-term growth
2 hours