Spring Break
REVIEW: 'Thr33 Ringz' a good time
3 and a half out of 5 stars
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Focus
To say T-Pain has had a successful career so far would be an understatement. At just 23 years old, the Autotune-obsessed, Tallahassee, Fla. singer has two chart-topping albums (one of which is platinum), five top 10 singles, including the No. 1 hit "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')," and countless guest spots. It's a pretty good place to be when you're the same age as a typical college graduate. So what's the next logical step for T-Pain? How about ringleader?
"Thr33 Ringz," T-Pain's newest effort, is a circus of a good time and it's hardly a one-man show. Much like "Epiphany," the rapper-turned-singer employed some of the biggest names in hip-hop to fill the bill, probably in an attempt to attract even more people to his show. There's the tattooed man Lil Wayne, the boy wonder Chris Brown and rap's richest man, P. Diddy - and that's just a sampling, as the guest spots also include Kanye West, T.I., Ciara and more.
The first thing listeners will probably notice is that T-Pain has scaled back on the Autotune usage. It's still there on some songs, but certainly not as much as on his previous albums. This actually works in T-Pain's favor as he really has a good voice, and now he can show it off.
"Thr33 Ringz" starts off fast, with a witty introduction titled "Welcome To Thr33 Ringz." T-Pain yells out "Nappy Boy!" and proceeds to drop a solid minute-long verse highlighted by lines like, "Pause / This n----'s pockets fatter than Santa Claus / This n---- career big / Got some granny drawers / Had to get a piano to put my Grammy on."
"Thr33 Ringz" has four tracks already in radio circulation - all of which are high-caliber hits. More important is the highly comical "Chopped N Skrewed," featuring Ludacris. The song finds T-Pain in various situations that seem too good to be true (and turns out they are), the best of which has T-Pain in a club with a fine lady whom he's getting good vibes from.
He sings, "Now you done grabbed you a couple a drinks / And you feeling like it's about time to cuddle up (up-up) / And you said shawty what's really up / And she takes big sip out yo cup / And she said it'll be 60 bucks."
"Thr33 Ringz" is hampered by much of the same problems with "Epiphany" and "Rappa Ternt Sanga" before it: repetition. A lot of the songs are similar or just too flat to stand out with the singles, and hold T-Pain back from being a much more diverse artist.
"Thr33 Ringz," T-Pain's newest effort, is a circus of a good time and it's hardly a one-man show. Much like "Epiphany," the rapper-turned-singer employed some of the biggest names in hip-hop to fill the bill, probably in an attempt to attract even more people to his show. There's the tattooed man Lil Wayne, the boy wonder Chris Brown and rap's richest man, P. Diddy - and that's just a sampling, as the guest spots also include Kanye West, T.I., Ciara and more.
The first thing listeners will probably notice is that T-Pain has scaled back on the Autotune usage. It's still there on some songs, but certainly not as much as on his previous albums. This actually works in T-Pain's favor as he really has a good voice, and now he can show it off.
"Thr33 Ringz" starts off fast, with a witty introduction titled "Welcome To Thr33 Ringz." T-Pain yells out "Nappy Boy!" and proceeds to drop a solid minute-long verse highlighted by lines like, "Pause / This n----'s pockets fatter than Santa Claus / This n---- career big / Got some granny drawers / Had to get a piano to put my Grammy on."
"Thr33 Ringz" has four tracks already in radio circulation - all of which are high-caliber hits. More important is the highly comical "Chopped N Skrewed," featuring Ludacris. The song finds T-Pain in various situations that seem too good to be true (and turns out they are), the best of which has T-Pain in a club with a fine lady whom he's getting good vibes from.
He sings, "Now you done grabbed you a couple a drinks / And you feeling like it's about time to cuddle up (up-up) / And you said shawty what's really up / And she takes big sip out yo cup / And she said it'll be 60 bucks."
"Thr33 Ringz" is hampered by much of the same problems with "Epiphany" and "Rappa Ternt Sanga" before it: repetition. A lot of the songs are similar or just too flat to stand out with the singles, and hold T-Pain back from being a much more diverse artist.
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