T-Pain’s fingerprints are all over pop and R&B and hip-hop. He wasn’t the first musician to use Auto-Tune as an instrument — he noticed it on a Jennifer Lopez remix, and remembers “Deep” well — but it was, as he says, his style. For a while, in the mid-2000s, he lived at the top of the charts. He dominated that brief moment of our lives when ringtones were a thing. He was celebrated as an innovator, and he happily took his talents where he was invited, which was everywhere.

But somewhere along the way, somebody got it twisted. “People felt like I was using it to sound good,” says T-Pain, in an interview that will air on All Things Considered. “But I was just using it to sound different.”

He just turned 30, but T-Pain has already done enough to drop a greatest hits album next week. We asked him if he’d grace the Tiny Desk without any embellishment or effects to show what’s really made his career: his voice, and those songs.–FRANNIE KELLEY

SET LIST
“Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)”
“Up Down (Do This All Day)”
“Drankin’ Patna”

CREDITS
Producers: Frannie Kelley, Maggie Starbard; Editor: Maggie Starbard; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Colin Marshall, Maggie Starbard; Production Assistant: Susan Hale Thomas; photo by Maggie Starbard/NPR

JAY Z’s Life+Times and vitaminwater® present the next episode of the new documentary series “Where I’m From.” This episode follows St. Louis born singer and songwriter, SZA, and details her outlook on hustling past life’s unexpected issues, growing up as an awkward kid, quitting her job to be free, and learning the importance of self motivation and self discipline. The episode features footage of her performance at Made In America, as well as wise advice given to her from both her label mates Kendrick Lamar and Isaiah Rashad. SZA describes how her gymnast mother influenced her interest in performing and how her brother showing her a wide variety of music like MF Doom was early inspiration to pursue music.