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Pioneering Rap Star T-Pain Hints at Retirement After 20 Years

Originally posted on Men's Journal
By Miguel A. Melendez | Last updated Jun 2, 2025 1:28 PM ET

Faheem Rashad Najm, the artist better known as T-Pain, who popularized Auto-Tune and became one of the most sought after collaborators in the music industry for the better part of a decade, is thinking about calling it quits.

Those are the strong vibes he gives off in a 43-second clip showing him dressed to the nines and in a contemplative move. He captioned the video, "I gave you all everything for 20 years. I’m grateful to each of you for making this such a great ride. Right now I just need some time to think about what’s next and what’s best for me."

The video also offers a glimpse at one of his two Grammys, his reign while on The Masked Singer and a message about talking things over with his family and team about having to make a big decision.

He ends the video with the words, "This might be it."

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T-Pain, 40, is better known these days as a popular Twitch streamer. But in his hey-day, T-Pain could be heard in just about every summer anthem as a collaborator.

The 12-time Grammy-nominated artist produced countless hits, from "Blame It" with Jamie Foxx and "Good Life" with Kanye West, to "Bartender" with Akon and "Low" with Flo Rida. He released seven studio albums.

T-Pain's use of Auto-Tune since launching his career in 2003 earned both praise and criticism from industry heavyweights. At the heigh of T-Pain's career, JAY-Z in 2009 dropped "D.O.A." (Death of Auto-Tune) off his 11th studio album, The Blueprint 3. The track took aim at the pitch-correcting technology, and JAY-Z specifically called out T-Pain when he rapped, "You rappers singin' too much / Get back to rap, you T-Pain'n too much."

These days, T-Pain happily spends his free time streaming live to his one million subscribers on Twitch, T-Pain also just days ago launched the Global Gaming League, which is being described as "the world's first of its kind multi-title gaming entertainment league set to revolutionize the industry, composed of high profile celebrity team owners" set to compete in in-person gaming tournaments in Las Vegas.

This article first appeared on Men's Journal and was syndicated with permission.

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