T-Pain says he took Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” as a personal diss because he saw himself as “the face of Auto-Tune” at the time. Pain discussed his reaction to the classic track during a new interview on the Drink Champs podcast.
“Of course! A wise man once said, ‘You can’t knock the hustle,’” T-Pain said when asked by Co-host N.O.R.E. whether he thought the track was a diss was he first heard it. “I’m the face of this. Just like Lil Yachty was the face of mumble rap—anytime somebody talk about mumble rap, Lil Yachty was the first person to come up. I was the face of Auto-Tune. Anytime somebody said, ‘Auto-Tune,’ I’m the face. So, when you say Auto-Tune is wack, I’m the face.”
He continued: “If I woulda said fuckin’ blue Yankees are terrible, everybody woulda been like, ‘Oh you dissin’ Jay-Z now?’ … Anytime [Jay] says something is wack, it’s trash.”
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“D.O.A.” was released in 2009 and fans quickly assumed it was T-Pain who was being targeted, but Jay shut that rumor down in an interview with Hot 97 shortly after the track’s release.
“You n***as singin’ too much/Get back to rap, you T-Painin’ too much,” Hov rapped on the track.
Check out the interview below.
[Via]