T-Pain Says He Was 'Drake Before Drake' Due To His 'Simp' Anthems

T-Pain was one of the early pioneers of using Auto-Tune and enjoyed an epic run of hits in the 2000s that found him thirsting over women, such as “I’m Sprung,” “Buy U A Drank” and “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper).”

The Tallahassee, Florida native linked up with DJ Akademiks for a nearly hour-long stream earlier this week, where he called himself the “Drake before Drake” due to him crafting “simp” anthems.

“‘I’m Sprung’ is about falling for a bitch, being that corny n-gga falling for a bitch,” he said at the 6:40 mark. “I’ve always been that corny n-gga. I’ve always been the simp n-gga. I was Drake before Drake, n-gga! I was in love before n-ggas was really cool with being in love with bitches.”

A little earlier in the conversation, T-Pain spoke about embracing being looked at as “corny” while blazing a different path in music and not following what was trending at the time.

“I’ve been a real corny n-gga and I love that shit because that means I’m not doing the same shit as everybody else,” he said. “I’m not camping out in front of these fucking stores for the same shoes as you n-ggas. I’m not doing this dumb shit that’s gonna make me cool to all you n-ggas that’s tryna be the same as each other. I don’t want to do that shit. I’ve been corny from the beginning of my life.”

T-Pain has had no issue speaking on Drizzy in the past. During the 6 God’s clash with Meek Mill in 2015 over “ghostwriting” claims, Pain believed it wasn’t a big deal.

“It’s just if you create an illusion, be prepared for it to be put out,” he said at the time. “Be prepared for the illusion to be unmasked…It wasn’t a big deal. People just felt lied to.”

Drizzy even name-dropped T-Pain on Certified Lover Boy‘s “7AM On Bridle Path” when he rapped, “I’ve been doing this since T-Pain was pouring us Nuvo.” That’s a reference to Pain’s verse on Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It” in 2009 when Drake was just bursting onto the Hip Hop scene.

Watch T-Pain and DJ Akademiks’ discussion below.