NEWS
T-Pain fans have received some good news, as fans of the rapper will now be able to enjoy another installment of On Top of the Covers, his hit project from last year where he performed other peoples’ songs to great acclaim.
The rapper made the announcement onstage at the Stagecoach Festival on Friday (April 26), where he took the stage as a surprise guest during Jelly Roll‘s set. The pair performed “All I Do Is Win” and “Buy U A Drank,” in addition to paying tribute to the late Toby Keith by duetting on his “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”
The performance was wrapped up with Jelly Roll performing a medley of Hip Hop hits, including “Boyz N Da Hood” and “Lose Yourself.”
Check it out below.
In February 2023, Tallahassee Pain announced a seven-song project fittingly titled On Top of the Covers, which dropped on March 17 of that year.
T-Pain surprised fans with a versatile array of covers ranging from Sam Cooke, Sam Smith and Journey to Chris Stapleton and Black Sabbath. He also invited his Nappy Boy label signee NandoSTL to duet with him on a cover of “That’s Life,” a song made famous by Frank Sinatra.
“You’ve been asking for it and here ya go bro,” he wrote. “A T-Pain cover album to end all cover albums…..from T-Pain. ‘On Top Of The Covers’ dropping March 17th alongside an intimate set of shows. More on that later tho … so stay tuned for more updates.”
The covers project had been in the works for a long time, dating back to when T-Pain won The Masked Singer in early 2019 by covering songs from the likes of Montell Jordan, Joan Jett, and Sam Smith.
“This covers album has been years in the making. I started recording this right after I won The Masked Singer,” he told Rolling Stone. “It got put on hold for a bit but now that I’m independent, I’m able to do whatever I want to do through Nappy Boy Entertainment and this is something I’ve felt strongly about for a long time.”
The 38-year-old continued: “These songs are not what you’d expect when you hear that T-Pain is doing a covers album and that is what I think is cool about it.”
Though T-Pain said at Stagecoach that part two of On Top of the Covers will be coming “real soon,” he didn’t announce a release date.
Ghostface Killah is a legend in any time period. He's dominated other artists for over three decades, and he's gone head-to-head with the likes of Biggie and Nas. Ghost's reputation is bulletproof (insert wallets joke here), which would probably intimidate any rapper who attempted to collaborate with him. Kendrick Lamar is the exception to the rule, apparently. Ghostface Killah talked about his 2022 song with Lamar, "Purple Hearts," and how impressed he was with the latter's work ethic. He was so impressed, in fact, that he upped his game.
Ghostface recounted the collab during a recent appearance on the Juan Epstein podcast. He was asked about the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar (because everybody is these days), and he redirected the convo to "Purple Hearts." The Wu-Tang rapper was "honored" to contribute to Lamar's double album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. "He put his call in and it was like, 'Yo, okay. This is one of them names,'" he recalled. "I ain’t take him lightly because his wordplay, his style, y’know what I mean? Now, I just gotta do what I feel."
Ghostface knew that he couldn't phone in a verse, however. He put down his bars for "Purple Hearts," then decided to write and record a second verse just in case. He wanted to make sure Lamar was happy with the final product, so he gave him multiple options. "[These young guys] can really, really rhyme," he explained. "That’s why when I did the record with Kendrick, it was like, 'Okay… I sat with it and was like — I sent him two verses. I sent him a 'just in case' one. Like, 'N**ga, if that don’t go, this one [will].'"
This isn't the first time Ghostface Killah has praised the Compton rapper. During a 2022 interview with Billboard, Ghost gave Kendrick Lamar his flowers and singled him out as one of the best of his generation along with J. Cole. "For a lot these [fans] in the younger generation, [their favorite], it’s either Kendrick or J. Cole," he noted. "I gave him his praises, and he boomeranged that sh*t back." This was well before the Big Three battle, but it's safe to assume Ghost's high opinion of Lamar is even higher now. The rapper's victory has even led to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers re-entering the Billboard 200.
