A Soulful Noise, Praise & Worship

'I Was Bored In The Studio' Explains T-Pain of His Gospel Sample

Ro  |  08/28/2008 at 3:35 PM  |  Comments (4)

Earlier this year a leak of what was supposed to be a new single from T-Pain hit the internet and gained an exceptional amount of momentum, allegedly getting 400,000 downloads in its first day online. Of course this is exactly what his record label wanted, and however frustrated he may pretend to be over the fact that he got more attention for his so-called music, it worked. The internet was abuzz with this new joint called "Silver and Gold," a retelling of the T-Pain's favorite story about going to the club and getting drunk off of expensive liquor. What makes this one different is his use of the Kirk Franklin and the Family classic "Silver and Gold," and that all that hype got the negative attention of Franklin and gospel fans alike. And then Kirk Franklin gave T-Pain a call.

T-Pain semi-lucidly recounts their conversation in an interview with MTV News and claims that Franklin was very understanding about the whole thing. And he should be, considering he has sampled secular music for his gospel albums. In fact, in T-Pain's recollection of the event, Franklin's reaction comes off as more annoyed by his fans' approaching him about the song than anything.

"It's not like [Kirk] said I did something wrong. He said if I was gonna go with it, just change the melody. 'You can still say silver and gold.' He's got a lot of people saying stuff to him: 'How could you let T-Pain destroy a gospel song like that? How could let him talk about alcohol?"

In case anyone mistake his version for being high-concept and intentionally bent on the desecration of a gospel standard, T-Pain clears that up thusly:

"I was literally drinking and made a song. I was bored in the studio. There was nothing else to do. I made it into an alcoholic anthem, which wasn't good."

As blasphemous as it sounds even though the song is garbage, I think it was kind of ingenious. Especially since claims to have been drunk. Not only does he utilize the catchy chorus of a popular gospel song to evoke positive associations from his more religious listeners who are familiar with the original and its proclamation of preferring Jesus to world possessions, he then removes any spiritual associations with "Silver and Gold" by turning it into a Patron ad filled with the unholiness of excess and drunkenness. The controversy this has sparked shines a mirror on the duplicity of at least a fragment of Franklin's fan base for listening to the devil's music and then having the nerve to cast stones at either T-Pain or Franklin, perhaps to appease their guilt for being complicit in the debacle.

If T-Pain knew any better this could be turned into an interesting commentary on contemporary religiosity. He's too busy mixing his blanco y oro tequilas and producing ridiculous music, though. After all, he is T-Pain.

I'm going to pray, family.

MTV News T-Pain Interview


Kirk Franklin and the Family: "Silver and Gold"

Tags: gospel, kirk franklin, t-pain