Choose Your Artist- Future vs. T-Pain

Voice alteration is by no means a new tool to music, but in recent years we have seen a renaissance in its inclusion. Undoubtedly, the Hip Hop and R&B genre have lead the way in including these tools, primarily through its use of the Auto Tune digital processor. Artists such as Will.I.Am, Chris Brown, and Drake have utilized auto tune to create dozens of hits. In our latest installment of Choose Your Artist, we visit the world of Auto Tune as we pit one of the most successful users of the tool, T-Pain, against the recently crowned champion, rapper Future.

Tale of the Tape:

Singer T-Pain emerged on the scene in 2004 with unique style and voice that fans had not heard in many years. T-Pain's surge to stardom was spearheaded with his use of the largely underutilized voice adjustment tool Auto-Tune.Originally used to disguise and hide off-key discrepancies, T-Pain used Auto-Tune as a device to assist in his melody. The technique would lead to such hits as "Bartender" and "Freeze" and establish T-Pain as a power in the industry. Not only would he continue to produce great singles, he would become the standard collaborator and hook singer, featured on the songs of hip hop artists like Rick Ross, Fabolous, Ludacris and more.

Future has taken a different path to stardom. The Atlanta native was actually named "Future" by members of legendary rap supergroup The Dungeon Family (Future's cousin is 1st Generation DF member Rico Wade). Future would work on his craft and release several mixtapes before the release of hit smash "Tony Montana". Tony Montana (along with writing the smash "Racks"). After signing to Epic Records Future has been on a tear, releasing the album Pluto, which produced 5 singles including "Turn On The Lights" and "At The Same Damn Time". Like T-Pain, Future has also relied heavily on Auto-Tune, using the machine in his raps as well as singing on R&B tunes with Kelly Rowland and Rihanna.

Comparison:

Musical Style

Though the two artists both heavily rely on Auto-Tune, their styles vary greatly. T-Pain's earns his stripes as a R&B artist (In interviews, he has identified his sound as "Hard & B"). His melody  blends well on dance cuts, not to mention rap collaborations. T-Pain is known for his playful and energetic style (complimented by his freestyle dancing) and in his most "vulnerable" moments, looks to stretch his vocal range. Future also "sings", but his breakthrough came as a high-energy rapper who used Auto-Tune on his rap vocals. When combining the Auto-Tune with his gritty voice and street lyrics, Future offers a unique sound ironically created from an overused mechanism. His sound is associated with hyping up the audience, ignited by his signature war cry, "Turn Up!"

The two artists both distance themselves from other Auto Tune users with their individual sounds (T-Pain as an originator of singing with the tool, Future rapping with it); each of them possesses a voice that is recognizable to Hip-Hop and R&B listeners. Future 9, T-Pain 9.

Collaborations

In addition to their solo music, Future and T-Pain are widely known for their guest appearances and collaborations with other artists. T-Pain helped usher in the DJ Khaled movement with songs like "I'm So Hood" and "All I Do is Win", increase Lil Wayne's popularity in jams like "Got Money" and "Can't Believe It", and revitalize the music career of Ludacris through "One More Drink" and "Chopped and Screwed".

Many consider Future to be the most popular successor to T-Pain as far as collaborations; ironically his hit list shares many of the same artists as Pain does in his joint efforts. You can hear him all over the radio in hits like "Neva End" with Kelly Rowland, Rihanna's "Loveeeeeee Song", Ace Hood's smash hit "Bugatti'", and Lil Wayne's "Love Me" (featuring Drake). 

Future's jams have a firm grip on the charts and radio, but cannot erase the huge success of T-Pain. His 5 year run from 2007-11 cemented him as arguably the most popular hook singer since Nate Dogg.  Future 9, T-Pain 10.

Versatility

With so much reliance on Auto-Tune neither artist is the model of versatility. You'd be hard pressed to find songs featuring either of the two not using the tool. Of the two, Future appears to provide slightly more diversity as he offers street tales on singles like "Tony Montana" and "Magic", creates ghetto love songs in "Turn Off The Lights" and stir up the crowd with "Same Damn Time". T-Pain has offered us dance hits, hood motivation and more, but his voice rarely steps outside of his comfort zone. When it does, T-Pain's success has waned. With Future venturing into singing hooks, it appears his popularity is growing; further development will push him into a greater stratosphere. Future 6, T-Pain 4.

Future	Category	T-Pain
9	Singing Style	9
9	Quality Hits	10
6	Cultural Impact	4
24 (Winner)	Total	23

The versatility of Future pushes him over in this battle. With his raspy sound, he recreates some of the mystique of such artists as DMX and Ja Rule. Though early, his voice (though altered) and exciting delivery leave fans anticipating more hits in his future.

Ceddy P

Do you have a battle of music artists you'd like to see? Send your suggestions! Tweet us with the hashtag #CYAceddyp or email at ceddyp@pick6time.com!

Future

 At The Same Damn Time  Neva End

T-Pain

 Chopped N Screwed

 Bartender