By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
By 2008, T-Pain had become one of the biggest artists in urban music. Around the same time, Lil Wayne had also taken over the rap game. While both rappers had been on popular songs, the two had no collaboration of their own. However, when Lil Wayne finally released Tha Carter III, he made sure to link up with several fan favorites.
Lil Wayne topped the charts with “Lollipop” and his follow-up, “Got Money,” featured T-Pain. The song became one of 2008’s biggest hits, also, and T-Pain returned the favor to Lil Wayne on “Can’t Believe It.” But, it was during the “Got Money” video, when people saw the ‘T-Wayne’ t-shirts. During the videoshoot, the duo announced they were going to release a collaborative album.
During this period of time, Lil Wayne had also announced an R&B album, called Luv Sawngz, a collaborative album with Lloyd, Best of Young Worlds, a sequel to the Like Father, Like Son album with Birdman, and the long-awaited I Can’t Feel My Face album with Juelz Santana. In the time since then, Lil Wayne has also announced he and Drake will be teaming up for a collaborative album. However, when Lil Wayne was sentenced to prison, he had to wrap up his solo projects and film the videos for his singles.
T-Pain was at the peak of his career in 2008 and the auto-tune had taken over the hip hop game, by 2009. Ron Browz, the producer of “Ether” fame, had taken over rap with his unique sound. T-Pain originally planned to release his fourth album in 2009, but these plans changed when Jay-Z returned and with his hit single, “Death of Auto-tune.” While the song was not directed at T-Pain, it did have a negative impact on his movement, which prompted T-Pain to diss Jay-Z. Still, he and Lil Wayne had intended to complete the album and release it soon.
When Lil Wayne finally had the time to focus, he was sent to prison and he was busy upon his release. T-Pain revealed the two had recorded nine tracks for the album. However, three years deep, T-Pain said he is sure Lil Wayne is over the idea and said he will not ask him about it in the future.
