You know what T-Pain’s comeback story reminds me of? That one baller that dominated the game for 3 years, got traded to a bad team, disappeared from the face of the earth, only to reemerge as a very solid player on a championship caliber team. Now I’m not saying T-Pain is winning anything major right now, but these last 1-2 years he has been dropping some pretty quality music for us. With that being said, I think T-Pain deserves his new album ‘Oblivion’ to at least get a look from hip hop listeners everywhere.

TOP 5

5. NO RUSH (CLOSE BUT NO CIGARS)

Out of all the pop s–t he’s done in the past, this might be the most poppy of them all!

‘No Rush’ is your typical pop EDM track that contains an artist singing some cliche lyrics, and a DJ getting the club hyped with that whole fist pumping breakdown on the beat. I would say its done pretty poorly here, but at the same time I am a sucka for this type of music.

I so wish I can say the writing on this song is good, but I think it’s average at best….What i can say is that T-Pain pours his heart out on it, even bringing back auto-tune man! Also, his words sound like a direct reflection of who he is, which is saying a lot because he’s quite the character.

Are these the hardest songs to write these days?

5. CLASSIC YOU

T-Pain and Chris Brown’s music relationship was always one of my favorites in Hip Hop, because it felt like they both understood each others strengths pretty well. Well a few years have passed, and I feel like their chemistry hasn’t missed a beat! On ‘Classic You’, both artists sing passionately over this riveting instrumental, showing this fearlessness that jumps out at you like a cornered Raccoon. While their past music was a lot more fun-loving, the content on this particular song is more on the aggressive/rebellious side.

4. WHO DIED

Who Died you ask? I wanna say it was your career Pain, but you definitely rose again with this new album!

A loose, energetic, and fun T-Pain is the best T-Pain to me! When you give him a colorful beat like this, I think he shines his brightest, cause he tends to step a little outside of that box that we tend to put him in. Want proof? Well on this song he raps, sings, and even puts us in our place in less than 2 and a half minutes.

You can tell T-Pain was dying to release this revenge song to his haters.

3. TEXTIN’ MY EX

Nowadays, so many songs men do are dedicated to their exes… I love how we continue to reach new levels of triffleness every day.

T-Pain is reckless as s–t throughout this album, but on this song he is actually being pretty reasonable (still reckless though). On it, he discusses his infatuation with his ex, letting her know that he can’t let her go. I love the vulnerability he shows on this song, but love the melody and harmonizing he’s doing a little more.

Wait, is that Tiffany Evans? She’s all grown up, sounding like a girl that pays her own bills now! Anyway, on this song she sounds pretty damn good, as she plays that morally responsible girl that’s telling her ex-man to leave her out of his drama.

Lets be real, if this wasn’t T-Pain that sung this, you would think this was legit Grammy worthy…

2. 2 FINE

‘2 Fine’ is T-Pain’s song, but it is catered for Ty Dolla $ign to kill.

With this slow pace/mind-numbing instrumental, Ty and T-Pain praise their dime pieces by pretty much going belligerent on there verses (Well at least T-Pain is). More than anything, I like the swag that both ‘rapper turnt singers’ come with on their parts, never letting the beat dictate just how hard they go in the paint.

6:15 for a song is a little long, but in this case it is definitely worth it.

1. SECOND CHANCE (DON’T COMEBACK)

I can actually hear the blood, sweat, and tears from T-Pain on this song! With the beat following suit, the Tallahassee rapper almost brings you to tears when you hear either his plea for a second chance, or his hilarious auto-tuning.

This song is emotional, but at the same time motivational. I feel like Pain tries his hardest to make you feel something on it, and I certainly do.

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. WHO DIED (5/5)

2. CLASSIC YOU (4.8/5)

3. STRAIGHT (4.4/5)

4. THAT’S HOW IT GOES (4.5/5)

5. NO RUSH (4.7/5)

6. PU$$Y ON THE PHONE (5/5)

7. TEXTIN’ MY EX (5/5)

8. MAY I (4.5/5)

9. I TOLD MY GIRL (4.4/5)

10. SHE NEEDED ME (3.7/5)

11. YOUR FRIEND (4.3/5)

12. CEE CEE FROM DC (3.9/5)

13. GOAL LINE (3.8/5) (BLAC YOUNGSTA’S VERSE ON THIS SONG IS INTERESTING)

14. 2 FINE (4.8/5)

15. THAT COMEBACK (4/5)

16. SECOND CHANCE (DON’T COMEBACK) (5/5)

OVERALL RATING

(8/10)

‘Oblivion’ has a very solid collection of music, which is actually the minimum I ask for from any artist I follow.  I feel like throughout it, T-Pain reminds people just how versatile he can be, dropping music that covers all genres. Not every song is a hit record on this album, but I do think every song is at least entertaining.

For the first time I like T-Pain more when he is serious on an album. On the more serious songs, his writing stands out a little more, and he also pours a little more of his heart into those. While the other songs on this album aren’t bad, they just seem like any other Hip Hop act can make them.

As a whole, I am very entertained by this album! From song to song, you can tell T-Pain has a point to prove to all the people that counted him out, which translates to this album full of aspiring artists type music. I’ve always thought that T-Pain was a talented artist, so I’m not surprised by the album’s quality, but I am surprised at how confident he has remained after a few down years. Yes we all will love the music he dropped on ‘Oblivion’, but what i think we will love more is the fact that he was able to make this triumphant return back into Hip Hop’s winning circle.

Quincy

Quincy is the creator of Ratings Game Music. He loves writing about music, taking long walks on beaches, and spaghetti that fights him back.