No. 1 selling artist and omnipresent voicebox-crooner T-Pain has just announced the launch of his independent record label, Nappy Boy Digital. The label is "a dream come true for me," Pain said in a statement. "My life and career so far has been about breaking barriers and this label allows me to continue that by delivering hit songs in real time, no red tape, just good music. You'll hear us in the clubs and on radio too," he continues, "but you can discover our tracks where people spend most of their time, online. I'm very proud to be out front on an idea like this."Longtime collaborator and erstwhile Pain hype man Tay Dizm will be the first artist on Nappy Boy Digital. The Miami-born rapper has made appearances on both of T-Pain's albums, 'Rappa Ternt Sanga' and 'Epiphany' and toured extensively alongside T-Pain. The oddly named rapper's debut single, "Beam Me Up," was produced by Atlanta hitmaker Bangladesh and features T-Pain (of course) and the boss Rick Ross. The label released the song as an itunes exclusive on May 20, and plans to further release the single through all online retailers later this week.
Launching a digital label is extremely pertinent for an artist like T-Pain, whose "Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin)" was downloaded more than 1.5 million times and whose cumulative ringtone sales are over 15 million, making him hip hop's best ringtone seller to date. Hopefully others will follow suit and start taking the future of their music into their own hands.
