People are only just learning what T-Pain’s rap name actually stands for

Although he is well-known in the music industry, many T-Pain fans are just learning how the rap artist came to have his famous stage name.

T-Pain, aka Faheem Rashad Najm, who started his recording career with the hip-hop band Nappy Headz, released his debut solo mixtape, Back @ It, in 2004.

He signed with Akon and released his debut single, I’m Sprung, in 2005, which was successful on the commercial front, earning the number eight spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Recognised for popularising creative use of Auto-Tune, some of his most popular songs include Low, Buy U a Drank, Bartender, I’m Sprung, and Up Down.

Some fans have no idea how the rapper got his famous rap name despite having been listening to his music for almost 20 years. One Reddit user asks, “Is the rapper T-:ain’s stage name a reference to Thomas Paine the revolutionary? ” ” However, it turns out T-Pain stands for Tallahassee Pain – with the moniker representing his “roots and struggles”.

T-Pain was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, to chef mum Aliyah and dad Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. In an interview with VH1’S Behind the Music, he explained how he was bullied at school, saying: “I wasn’t treated that well in school by the kids. I’ve always been picked on. Fat, chubby, tubby, they would make me try to do pushups.

“Coming from a place where no one liked you, no one talked to you, and now everyone wants to like you and talk to you” I made the promise to myself that I would not allow anyone or anything to hinder me. “

He got his first taste of the music business at three-years-old when friend of the family, gospel jazz artist Ben Tankard, showed him his recording studio. From there, at aged 10, he turned his bedroom into a music studio complete with a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.

Commenting on his stage name, one Reddit user said: “Today I learned the T in T-Pain’s name actually has a meaning. It stands for ‘Tallahassee’, the city which he was born in, and where he encountered hardships while living there. ” Another user added: “No. ‘T’ stands for Tallahassee, where he was born, and ‘Pain’ is for all the pain he had to go through to become successful. “

Source: Mirror