Epiphany by T-Pain
Epiphany is the second studio album by R&B singer-songwriter and producer T-Pain. The first official single is "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc which peaked at number one on the Billboard Top 100, becoming his highest charting hit as a solo artist.. The second official single is "Bartender" featuring Akon which peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 100, and peaking number one in New Zealand. The song was also nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group. Epiphany debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with about 171,126 copies sold in its first-week, and has sold 819,000 by May 2008 and 1.5 Million by 2012. It was released on June 5, 2007, only slightly surpassing Rihanna's album, Good Girl Gone Bad, which was also released on June 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. This was T-Pain's first album to be released on his label, Nappy Boy Entertainment. The Intro, "Tallahassee Love" featuring J Lyriq slightly samples 2Pac's hit song "California Love". "I Got It", and "Suicide" deal with the subject of HIV/AIDS, and seem to be interconnected.
<i>Rappa Ternt Sanga</i> was a pleasant, catchy introduction to T-Pain’s unusual talent, but his personality really blossomed on his sophomore offering, <i>Epiphany</i>. “Buy U a Drank” is an ingenious mixture of persuasive synths and doo-wop crooning, while “Bartender” is nimble storytelling set to a beat that seems to glide on glass. It’s refreshing to have an R&B singer who doesn’t take himself too seriously. T-Pain could waste a lot of time playing the irresistible gigolo, but instead he wisely endears himself to his listener with the preposterous come-ons of “Yo Stomach” and “69.” And regardless of how you respond to the way T-Pain addresses AIDS on “Suicide,” you have to respect the man for being bold with his ideas. T-Pain provides more than enough pop sugar to attract the masses, but at the same time he has developed a style that differentiates him from anything else in the pop music landscape.
