T-Pain - Rappa Ternt Sanga [Clean] (CD)

All Music Guide

TPain caught Akon's attention when he released a version of "Locked Up" titled "I'm Fed Up." When Akon heard TPain's voice and realized there was more depth to the version than the title implied, he got in contact with the Floridabased "rappa ternt sanga" (who also produces and writes) and signed him to his Jivedistributed Konvict Muzik label. Rappa Ternt Sanga, beyond containing a few strong tracks with plenty of range between them, shows promise. TPain has a seductive vocal style (he does sound somewhat similar to his mentor), plenty of effective hooks, and strong productions, but he presses too much when he tries to stick out lyrically. The craziest offense is "Studio Luv," in which he comes out sounding more than a little silly: "you remind me of a brand new saxophone," "your body's like a flute," "do you mind if I pluck up on your strings," "I would stroke your body like I do my keyboard." Another hindrance is the digital vocal processing that pops up as often as water droplets in... R. Kelly tracks. Though this factor has brought about plenty of comparisons to Zapp's Roger Troutman (as in the electrofunk classic "More Bounce to the Ounce" and late'80s slow jam favorite "I Want to Be Your Man"), Troutman used an actual vocoder (which produced a differentsounding effect), and TPain winds up sounding more like the Cher of "Believe." Had there been limited use of studio tricks and more guidance (as a new signee to a label with major distribution, TPain handles an inordinate amount of the writing and production duties), Rapper Ternt Sanga would've been a morethanrespectable debut. [A clean version of the disc was also made available.] - Andy Kellman, All Music Guide Read more Less