Gov Ball Day 1: Welcome to the T-Pain Variety Show

Written by Brandi Martin

Photos by Roger Ho

The crowd gathered around the main Gov Ball stage early Friday evening, eagerly anticipating 45 minutes of nostalgic party anthems from the prolific T-Pain. Those who attended the performance got exactly what they hoped and more, with T-Pain electing to embellish his feel-good hits with scripted skits and a coterie of talented dancers. Faheem Rashad Najm, known in the hearts and iPod Shuffles of many as T-Pain, is a showman at heart who understands how to elevate a concert into what can only be described as a variety show—the kind that would rake in donations as a telethon. As his DJ worked to hype up the crowd, T-Pain arrived on stage in a modernized (and glitzed) take on a tailcoat tuxedo, with bedazzled crimson trim down the stitching of the black ensemble, bright red sneakers, a matching top hat, and shades completing the look. His crew of dancers was dressed in complementary red tuxedo ensembles, the women in pantless bodysuits. The stage reflected the attire; the backdrop was the entrance to an imposing mansion, with marble statues of T-Pain in his top hat and shades gracing each side of the stage. The theme was cheeky and self-aware, a joke about attempting classic elegance and unfailingly veering into gaudy. As the cheers died down, DJ Montay unleashed a voiceover of a woman conducting a “vibe check” before the show could begin. With the vibe of the crowd deemed appropriate, the rapper launched into "Maybach Music 2," singing Rick Ross’s chorus as his dancers jumped and twirled around the stage.

The T-Pain tuxedo, captured by Roger Ho.

With the first song under his belt, T-Pain addressed his stylings for the evening: “Why the fuck ain’t no one else dressed up? I thought this was a ball for the governor?” If his iconic music portfolio isn’t enough to win you over, T-Pain is going to get you on board with his humor. He looked around in feigned confusion and exasperation, and asserted, “It’s got the word ‘ball’ and the word ‘governor’…It’s either some fancy shit or a freak-off.” T-Pain decided the first theory was the safer bet, and requested his DJ play something fancy— nothing like "Maybach Music 2." DJ Montay offered up something as fancy as tailcoat tuxedos and marble mansions: a Mozart piano sonata. This was exactly what T-Pain was hoping to provide for the governor (and his ball), but as T-Pain and his DJ went back and forth, the music evolved into the equally iconic, though arguably less fancy, "Up Down (Do This All Day)." Dancers bounded across the stage, gathering around T-Pain to look and point at the “bad bitch” who “already knows it” until he reached both arms out, overwhelmed, and shook up and down to the line “she gon’ make me spend some money on it.” Afterward, he and his dancers two-stepped to Unk’s "2 Step."

Throughout the set, the Tallahassee rapper would return to his attempts at fanciness, only to (for one reason or another) modify the classical music until it morphed into one of his own club classics. T-Pain was playing a character of himself, a man concerned with social etiquette and standards of classiness who was nonetheless irresistibly pulled into his rowdy, raunchy, and fun music. Even when T-Pain was given the “fancy” music he insisted upon, he didn’t know what to do with it, performing a jumping jig to Mozart before being cut off by his DJ because “We in New York, baby, you gotta turn it up.” Mozart was underlaid with a trap beat, and T-Pain and his dancers were clearly ready for the shift, moving their legs and popping their hips in time to the new rhythm. The merging of genres further inspired the rapper, who hyped up the audience with a back-and-forth culminating in “Come on everyone, come on everyone, tell these motherfuckers that we ‘bout to have some fun, say ooohhhhh.” As a deep and full “ooohhhhh” echoed back, it seemed that the crowd was ready to have some fun—and they were in just the right hands.

From the rafters, by Roger Ho.

"Freeze" was up next, but T-Pain decided to put the “Dance” in “Freeze Dance,” showing off a quick sequence of his surprisingly smooth moves like a party trick. The audience was kept guessing with a diversion into "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" by Michael Jackson, two dancers carrying out complex choreography across the stage as our showman disappeared. The crowd was happy to sing and dance along, carried by the good spirits of the nonstop sing-along hits, but the DJ nonetheless explained why he was playing "P.Y.T." (aside from it being a great song). Those with discerning ears and encyclopedic T-Pain knowledge may already know that the Michael Jackson hit is sampled in Kanye West’s "Good Life." As the music transitioned and virtual fireworks exploded on the stage backdrop, our showman reemerged and led the audience in throwing our “hands up in the sky.” The next song focused on another part of our bodies: "Booty Wurk (One Cheek at a Time)." While two of the dancers twerked behind their coattails, T-Pain danced his tongue-in-cheek moves at the front of the stage. All of the booty wurk caused T-Pain to sing "I’m Sprung," a beloved fan favorite, as audience members whipped out their phones and belted the chorus. T-Pain spread the love, alternating the refrain of “you do” between himself and the crowd, who all sang in gentle unison, before ending on an acoustic riff that demonstrated the true power of his voice. 

Despite the stirring communal moment of "I’m Sprung," T-Pain declared to his DJ, “We fucked up…we were supposed to do fancy shit…” This time, the DJ offered Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons;" T-Pain’s only correction was “you from Atlanta, though,” which initiated a trap beat that suddenly transformed Vivaldi into Foxx as Jamie Foxx’s "Blame It" got the whole crowd moving. Between "Blame It" and the follow-up "Bartender," the rapper bounded to the far sides of the stage, letting those in the far-flung reaches of the sizable crowd see him as close as possible. Though T-Pain had given his all to these songs, he fought back against his party instincts and again chided the DJ for his idea of “fancy,” before reluctantly admitting, “That’s fancy in Atlanta.” Regardless of the ongoing fancy debate, T-Pain let his DJ know, “You gotta slow down man, it’s hot as fuck, I’m dressed wrong.” It was an exceptionally warm day, and while this interaction was likely scripted, it did not ring untrue, as T-Pain was valiantly performing through the sweat. The DJ certainly slowed things down but did not cool them off, with the steamy "I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper);" a high-energy rendition of "Kiss Kiss" immediately followed, in which T-Pain and his dance crew kick-stepped up and down the stage. During "Can’t Believe It," the cheerful unseriousness continued when the mansion backdrop gained red trim and a huge “W” emblem just in time for the equally unserious lyric, “put you in a mansion/somewhere in Wisconsin.” The surprise superstar of the evening, a young man in the audience who had clearly practiced his T-Pain dance moves in many a late-night club, was acknowledged when the song came to a close and T-Pain looked at the massive screens on the side of the stage and said, “Jesus Christ. Ain’t nobody safe.”

The T-Pain party crew, captured by Roger Ho.

At this point in the show, the rest of the audience (aside from our superstar) had to earn the nonstop entertainment we had been treated to; as T-Pain said, “I didn’t come down to do all the work, you motherfuckers gotta do something.” DJ Montay played "Don’t Stop Believin’," resident staple at karaoke bars across the nation. The song is, however, much more fun to sing with T-Pain. As the audience belted out the first verse, he interjected, “Who are you?” to which the crowd answered, “Just a city boy.” “Oh, where are you from?” he innocently asked, to which we informed him, “Born and raised in South Detroit.” “Ah, what’s your plans for the day?” We, of course, “Took the midnight train going anywhere,” to which T-Pain let us know, “Well I’m glad you’re here, biiiiitch.” After leading the crowd in karaoke, it seemed T-Pain wanted to perform his own karaoke tune, sitting down and settling into an abridged cover of "Tennessee Whiskey," in which the glimpses the audience had seen of his vocal prowess took full form, his voice sonorous and passionate. As he stripped back the glitz and glam and sang soulfully, a dancer performed an artful, stumbling dance with a brown bag, fighting for and ceding control to its demands. At the end of this poignant performance, T-Pain rolled us right back into the lighthearted, joking “That’s my bad, that was fucking weird wasn’t it? Never seen that guy in my life…He was doing a good job, so…I didn’t wanna like hit him or anything.”

The lighthearted soared straight into the stratosphere with an impressive medley of hits, beginning with "Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor)," during with T-Pain hip-thrusted and spun like he was preparing for takeoff and a member of the dance crew flew into the air with acrobatic flips that gave Kiehl’s Stage headliner Benson Boone a run for his money. During "Low" T-Pain mimed descending a set of stairs and then cranked it with his crew during "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)." A voiceover announced that another vibe check was necessary, this time assessing where everyone in the crowd came from, the correct answer being DJ Khaled’s "I’m So Hood." The more recent collaboration "All I Do Is Win" was up next, forming a waving sea of hands across the packed lawn and screeching cheers when T-Pain showed off his own twerking skills to the lyric “My hands go up and down, like strippers' booties go.” The ground shook with the force of jumping fans until the very last moment, the music abruptly ending with everyone’s hands raised together in the air. After a set jam-packed with humor, music, and choreography, T-Pain had just a few words left to say: “Y’all give it up for my motherfucking friends on stage with me…my motherfucking name is T-Pain, I appreciate y’all so much. If you never heard anything I said, hear this: if you're trying anything new tonight, just do half and wait an hour. I’ll see y’all on the brighter side.” 

Many in the crowd would likely agree that T-Pain had already led us to the brighter side, having concocted a high-production performance involving scripted jokes, complex choreography, acrobatics, and dynamic visuals. And beneath all the flash was the real substance of a stacked career as a rapper and producer, as well as his rich vocal power. It was refreshing—touching, really—to witness a show in which every choice was so deliberately made to keep the crowd entertained and transport us all to the good times we’re collectively craving.

Brandi Martin

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Roger Ho

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