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Think of some of your favorite rappers and their knack for storytelling. Slick Rick’s ‘Mona Lisa,’ Biggie’s ‘I Got a Story to Tell,’ Eminem’s ‘Stan,’ J. Cole’s ‘Lost Ones’ and Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst’ are just a few of the songs that showcase how adept these guys are at painting lyrical portraits.
While an artist like T-Pain is known more for his Auto-Tune delivery and liquor-guzzling odes, the self-proclaimed “Nappy Boy” taps into his inner narrator on the candid effort ‘Stoicville,’ a song featured on his forthcoming LP, ‘Stoicville: The Phoenix.’
The rhymer trades in his party anthems for rhymes with substance, detailing his rise to fame, the struggles he faced when no one believed in his vision and his relationship with his father. He paints a vivid picture of an artist who had to lose himself to find out where he was actually heading. The somber moments have inspired him. T-Pain is looking past the end of the road, just like the characters on the front of Shel Silverstein’s classic children’s book, ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends.’
The collection of poetry written and illustrated by Silverstein should be pretty familiar — it’s been a staple in school libraries and bookstores since 1974. The 30-year-old has even read it to his children, as “weird” as he admits some of the work is at times. Just like he’s done with his kids, T-Pain practices the art of storytelling with The Boombox by reading four poems from the tome: ‘Ourchestra,’ ‘No Difference’ ‘My Rules’ and ‘Land of Happy’
Sit down for story time with T-Pain and find out which selection he thinks is “ominous as f—.”
Watch T-Pain Discuss Singing Without Auto-Tune
