T-Pain believes Beyonce’s foray into country music has opened the doors for other musicians.
The 40-year-old singer, songwriter and rapper is performing at this year’s Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, California and, while he had been working on country music long before the release of Beyonce’s 2024 ‘Cowboy Carter’, he praised her for paving the way for others.
Speaking to Billboard, he said: “I think it’s a step forward. Music industry wise and genre bending, it’s always been a thing. It’s breaking through now, the rest of them are coming. Once Beyonce breaks in, the door is off the hinges now. You can’t even close it now, what are you gonna do? You can’t protect the fort with a sliding glass door.”
T-Pain – whose real name is Faheem Rasheed Najm and whose stage name stands for Tallahassee Pain, reflecting both his roots and struggles – released an album ‘On Top of the Covers’ in 2013 featuring country covers.
The star – who previously shared on TikTok that he had ghostwritten a handful of tracks for country artists – believes that country music has embraced him because it’s a “nostalgic, organic feel”.
He explained: “I think the country scene embraces me because much of my style is county. A lot of my harmonies, the way that I write songs, there were three years where all I listened to was country music, before I ever got signed. It’s a familiarity and it’s a nostalgic, organic feel that’s already in my music. And, also, I ain’t gangster so that helps.”