I'll always remember when I discovered T-Pain (and as my close friends know, I'm very proud of my discovery of T-Pain). I heard "I'm Sprung" on internet radio, a interesting little ditty about T-Pain's obnoxious woman-on-the-side. I instantly fell in love with the song and with T-Pain's sexy synthesized sanging. Using a vococorder in R&B? Back in 2004, that was unheard of! Synthesized singing was relegated to techno and late-90's Cher-esque pop. Certainly not R&B material. From his breakout in 2005 with "I'm N' Luv (Wit a Stripper)" he has singlehandedly changed the game and restructured the components of what makes a sucessful R&B single.
It's not hard to hear T-Pain's effects on the music world. Synthesized main vocals in pop/R&B is now commonplace. And, let's face it, T-Pain has been so damn successful, he's featured on just about every Top 40 song known to man. Since "Epiphany" in 2006, some might think that T-Pain has lost the ability to become original. Far from it. Thr33 Ringz could be his strongest album ever.
Thr33 Ringz has all the classic elements of his previous albums. Catchy club jams, and witty jams featuring guest performers like Ciara and all that. "Freeze" and "Can't Believe It" are fun and catchy, and so is "Blowin' Up" and "It Ain't Me". But in Thr33 Ringz, T-Pain gets experimental like never before. "Chopped N' Screwed" is hilariously chopped and screwed, leading to a perfect beat and clever arranging. And "Reality Show" exhibits what T-Pain does best. Take a melodramatic/raunchy subject and make it somewhat plausible as song material in a semi-comedic way. Like "Yo Stomach" and "I'm 'N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", Reality show made me laugh out loud for a few minutes and then think "You know, that's actually not a terrible idea...". I'm embarrassed to say I didn't think of it myself.
And I must quickly mention that his vocals have gotten even better. Since "Fly Away" on his first album "Rappa Ternt Sanga", there's been quite a lot of debate in the music industry over whether or not he can ACTUALLY sing or if he's covering his poor voice with electronics. On Thr33 Ringz, he sufficiently bashes all haters and proves that he can sing, with a synthesizer-free ballad about his family. I'm hearing some Donny Hathaway influences on here, plus some good ole Marvin Gaye. T-Pain has yet to show that he's got the vocal range, though he certainly has soul.
Thr33 Ringz is not without its misses, however. "Change" is VERY disappointing, especially given the caliber or it's guest performers. And DJ Khaled ruins everything (DJ Khaled's only skill set) on "Karaoke". It's nice to see that there's only about 4 songs that really suck from the 15 we are given (a higher ratio for a T-Pain album). Thematically, the other thing that Thr33 Ringz lacks is the serious sort of adult introspection that we heard during his early dayz on Rappa Ternt Sanga with songs like "Fly Away" and "Going Through a Lot". Even Epiphany had some serious content with "Suicide"'s exploration into drugs and AIDS. Songs like that made T-Pain unique in this word of pimpin', club-hoppin', and pimp-slappin' R&B. I'm sort of sad to see T-Pain's serious side disappear, though his fun side is equally as witty. But Thr33 Ringz is essentially a jam album, not a sob fest.
MY RATING:
Hard to be dissapointed by the major singles and the clever b-sides, especially if you liked Rappa Ternt Sanga.
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