Bio

Faheem Najm's singing ability was on clear display in the first notes of his breakthrough R&B single "I'm Sprung," yet his recurrent use of Auto-Tune created a widespread ripple effect that left his performing name synonymous with voice modulation. The Tallahassee, Florida native came up as a rapper in a group called Nappy Headz. As a solo artist, he went pro as T-Pain after he recorded "I'm Fucked Up," a personalized take on Akon's "Locked Up." Akon heard it and signed T-Pain to the Jive/Zomba-supported Konvict Muzik label. The self-produced and self-written "I'm Sprung," T-Pain's proper debut single, was released in August 2005 and went Top Ten pop and R&B/hip-hop. That December, the album Rappa Ternt Sanga arrived, supported by the follow-up single "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)," another Top Ten hit on multiple Billboard charts. The two singles earned RIAA platinum certifications, and the parent full-length eventually went gold, situating T-Pain as a major breakthrough artist of the mid-2000s.