NEW YORK � Both UniverSoul and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey can fold up their tents, john Milton Cage Jr. their tamil Tigers, shave their bearded ladies and narrate their clowns to wash the paint from their happy niggling faces. They've been upstaged: T-Pain has the flyest circus in town.
On Thursday night, the new king of rap and R&B guest hooks brought his Southern sideshow swagger to Manhattan, unveiling his tierce LP, Thr33 Ringz.
(Check out photos from T-Pain's Thr33 Ringz party right here!)
Popcorn and hot dogs were served patch a circus tent announcer urged everyone to "step right up" away the venue, Swing 46. A colorfully dressed nanus greeted patrons at the door, and a few feet from the open bar, cotton candy was served. Before Pain made his ingress, Lil Jon arrived looking at as elated as of all time, now that his long-labored label problems were resolved with a new look at several years back (a "content partnership" deal with the Orchard).
But on to the star attraction: Pain arrived and hugged the King of Crunk spell making light of the fact that they looked alike, with their dreads and Oakley sunglasses. The head of Jive Records, Barry Weiss, took the stage to introduce one of the new cornerstones of his label.
"We're gonna f--- hoi polloi up with this record album. We're gonna shift the paragon. ... October 28, muthaf---ers!" he proudly predicted of the album's release.
Teddy P. (not to be disordered with his baby-blue, six-and-half-foot mascot, Teddy Penderazdoun) later grabbed the mic and joked, "All the the great unwashed that don't drink that's leavin' early, to hell with y'all."
As the album began to play, a skit commenced: two disgruntled funnymen intestinal colic about the job. "Two clowns that work for my circus that have never worked for a more f---ed-up circus than mine," T-Pain explained.
"I'm bringing new elephants, new liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, new thematic Apperception Test men, new strong men," he aforesaid later. "I'm bringing color."
The LP's first actual song dynasty was "Ringleader Man," which he performed a share of on the BET Awards. Shortly after was "Therapy," a record that re-teams Pain and his "Good Life" co-star Kanye West. The song is about "all the crazy b----s that just don't have no sense," he told the crowd. He gave an example of meeting a stripper at her situation of business. The daughter was so nutty, he offered her $20 to shut up.
"This ain't the way I wanted it to ending, but I gotta go," he sings on the track. "You still gotta your sh-- together, girl/ Shawty, you ain't gotta be frightened of me/ All we need is therapy."
Kanye brings satire and current events to the song, qualification a naughty Obama consultation by saying that the girl he rhymes about wanted to "[emasculate him] like Jesse Jackson."
"You too much pressure, dog," he adds. "You about to raise my cholesterol."
"Freeze" features Chris Brown and essentially tells the ladies that if they can dance like Pain and his teenage brother, they accept a great chance of getting with the guys. Pain made a sexual reference piece describing the record that elicited gasps from some crowd members.
"Chopped and Screwed" has a cameo from Ludacris. It's about going messed-up in the head after soul breaks up with you. 'Cris does bring his patented carefreeness, though: "Have you laudatory the lord like, 'Thank you! Thank you! I really wanna thank you!"
"Karaoke" takes drive at all the rappers and singers who consume started exploitation the Auto-Tune effect on their voices since Pain gave it its revitalization. DJ Khaled comes on to hearten him on: "Y'all a bunch of karaoke-f----in' n---as," The Miami DJ yells. Pain actually raps most of the record.
Other guests on the album include Bow Wow, Rick Ross and the singing symphonic music of Musiq Soulchild, Anthony Hamilton and Raheem DeVaughn on "Super Soul Song (Reality Show)."
Pain wrote and produced the entire LP, and he's still recording. Most of the tracks are around the mid-tempo range and play nicely to Teddy's mastery of vocal melodic phrase. The video for the first single, "Can't Believe It," likewise debuted at the party. It's a colorful, imaginative buffet of eye confect that focuses on performances and limited effects. Lil Wayne co-stars.
Thr33 Ringz drops this fall. Prior to releasing it, T-Pain is putting out a mixtape called Pr33 Ringz.
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