By Ismael AbduSalaam
Sought after songwriter and hook specialist T-Pain has confirmed a November release date for Thr33 RINGZ, his third full length studio album.
In July, T-Pain launched the project with the Lil Wayne assisted hit single “Can’t Believe It,” which has peaked at #8 on the Billboard’s Top 10.
For the second single, the Houston influenced “Chopped and Skrewed,” T-Pain enlists Ludacris to cleverly use the title as a double entendre to reflect on courtship games played by females.
Regarding the affinity females have for his music, T-Pain insists he has no special formula beyond having a keen eye of observation and knowing how to listen.
“When I was in school, I would sit and talk to a lot of girls. I would listen to what they would talk about, and what they want,” T-Pain explained. “I would try to understand the passions of women. That’s where my concepts come from. That’s how you know if people can relate to your songs.”
While the vocalist admits the spelling of Thr33 RINGZ holds no special meaning, he does reveal the phrase is an ode to his personal belief that he’s leading the trends in today’s urban music market.
“It came from people telling me that I’m running the game, that I’m the ringleader of the game,” he continued. “That’s where the whole circus imagery came from. I started putting it together with the idea that the circus is just like the music industry. You’ve got your different acts, all of the different animals, etc.”
Although part of T-Pain’s market dominance has been through the reintroduction of the vocoder voice effect, the singer cautions fans and critics from thinking this album will be formulaic and predictable.
“You’ve got to be different and keep it consistent at the same time, which is super hard to do,” he reasoned. “I come different every time and that’s what people look for, what they expect.”
Thr33 RINGZ boasts additional appearances from Kanye West, Chris Brown, DJ Khaled, Busta Rhymes, and Bow Wow.
The album is rumored to precede an ambitious project entitled T-Pain Is Dead, a rock music effort devoid of autotune effects and featuring the singer collaborating with country artists. T-Pain’s
Thr33 RINGZ hits stores November 11.