T-Pain
"Thr33 Ringz"
Released: Nov. 11, 2008
Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap

Official Site, MySpace, Wikipedia

T-Pain comes out with his best album yet, though it's not as groundbreaking as it could be, given his talents as a producer.

"I'M TELLIN' YOU now it ain't a thing/ I got the bling bling of a rapper, but I sing/ So welcome to Thr33 Ringz," announces producer extraordinaire Faheem Rasheed Najm, better known by his stage name T-Pain.

In T-Pain's third album, "Thr33 Ringz," he continues to show he's one of the best producers in the business, and he does it all under the the big tent of his circus.

Coming after his work on his sophomore album, "Epiphany," and a barrage of featured singles, including Baby Bash's "Cyclone," Flo Rida's "Low," Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss," and Rick Ross's "The Boss," Pain is back out of his studio with another auto-tune-laden, soulful, and fun piece of art.

Those who have seen T-Pain lately might have noticed some unfamiliar hats resting atop his head. In his music videos and when he goes about town he has been wearing different-colored top hats. This is the concept for "Thr33 Ringz" — that he is the ringleader in the "circus" of the music industry, and the artists he works with are the different acts.

And yes, he has plenty of acts.

Like his past albums, this one has plenty of guest artists, including Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, T.I., Akon, Ludacris, and Kanye West.

I was anticipating that T-Pain might come up with something out of the ordinary for his guests, like Kanye did with Chris Martin on "Graduation" or Common did with Lily Allen on "Finding Forever," but sadly nothing truly breathtaking happens here.

That still doesn't detract from the quality of this album. I think T-Pain has made a jump forward as an artist by being able to create one coherent piece of work. In the past his albums have been collections of hit singles with really no bond or reason to be together, but "Thr33 Ringz" feels different. This might be due to the fact that instead of having help from others, T-Pain alone produced this album.

He also brings a wide variety of sounds, with a carnival entrance to the album in "Ringleader Man," a mixed and mashed song in "Chopped N Skrewed," and a sample of Eric Clapton in "Change."

I was not the biggest T-Pain fan until recently, when other artists like 50 Cent, Kanye, and Lil Wayne started to experiment with the same kind of vocal effects as T-Pain.

I could not stand his use of the auto-tune effect in all of his songs, which made me think he was a weak artist who needed effects to make good music.

However, after listening to these other artists trying to copy T-Pain's sound, there really is no comparison. It really does take a good producer to come out with the right sounds and beats that work together, giving me a newfound appreciation for T-Pain.

And just like Lil Wayne, he is ubiquitous on the radio, cranking out hits like a factory. But is there a difference between T-Pain as a guest collaborator and T-Pain as the main attraction?

He still has beats that sound the same and verses that are alike, but there is one major difference between the two. When you listen to a track produced by T-Pain alone, it has no flaws. There is not going to be a single second of that song where you are going to have something that sounds off unless it is on purpose.

Completely flawless

He works meticulously on making each song perfect before releasing it to the world. You will never hear of T-Pain leaking out singles before they're ready, and if it does happen then someone is going to be fired.

The only thing I have against this album is that it really is not groundbreaking.

For Kanye West's new album coming out this month, "808s & Heartbreak," he is taking a major risk in using a vocoder for the entire album. T-Pain is not taking many risks with this album. He is using the same formula that he has used his whole career.

If T-Pain really wants to be known as a great artist and maybe even Grammy material in his own right (he's been nominated several times for his collaborations and won a Grammy with Kanye West for "Good Life"), he will have to take risks.

But despite that, "Thr33 Ringz" will sell like crazy. This is still his strongest album by far, and he should be recognized for his genius at producing.

He is definitely on top of the world for the moment. We will just have to see if this circus can keep on going.