As if the bar hasnt been set low enough in the last few years of pop music TPain with songs like Im in love wit a stripper and Buy you a drank, has actually made the bar lower. I thought that would be impossible with acts like the Ying Yang Twins and numerous other hip hop acts already circulating but no, T has done it. In short, the dumbest most worthless music ever to grace the airwaves and otherwise. HIP HOP IS DEAD!

Should be the unabridged name of this artist. One listen you'll feel it too. Roger Troutman would be ashamed.

I was never too impressed by T-Pain because I felt he only made average songs, and his use of the vocoder was so forced that it seemed like he was trying a little too hard to emulate the late Roger Troutman (a notion later confirmed on THIS album with the intro, "Tallahassee Love", which bears more than a striking similarity to Tupac's "California Love"). And now here comes Epiphany, which is supposed to be a more mature album than Rappa Ternt Sanga. But is it?

Well, I never heard his first album, so I can't really compare, but one thing that surprises me is that T really can sing when he wants to (see the final track, "Sounds Bad"). But songs like "Church" and "Put It Down" made me decide that it was good that he stopped rapping; and another thing, I don't know if there are really guest rappers in these songs or if it's just T himself rapping in different voices. And the obligatory reggae crossover "Shottas" (with Kardinal Offishall and Cham) is really just a whole bunch of noise.

For the most part, there isn't a lot of variety on this album. T usually talks about either getting drunk or having sex -- actually, most of the time he talks about a little bit of both, like in "Buy U a Drank" and the filler track "Tipsy". What's more, a lot of the songs aren't very memorable, like "Yo Stomach", "69", or the badly produced "Backseat Action" (but T-Pain and Shawnna didn't sound like a winning combination anyway).

Even when T tries to change the subject, he still has problems. "Suicide" details life after finding out that his girl infected him with HIV, but as another reviewer said, that song could have been written a little better. And "Time Machine" is just retarded. In short, this is the kind of album that you should maybe listen to in the store rather than purchase (or don't stores allow that any more?) because Epiphany really isn't much of one.

Anthony Rupert

Tallahassee, Florida's T-Pain (A.K.A. Faheem Najm) delivers his sophomore album with "Epiphany" (2007) a seventeen track release which features appearances from Akon, Shawna, Ray, Tay Dizm, Yung Joc, J Lyriq, Kardinal Offishal & Cham (Teddy Verseti, Teddy Pain and Teddy Penderazdoun - are T-Pain alter-egos). Being a fan of Akon, I am interested in the artist's that are signed to his label Konvict Music. On his debut album "Rappa Ternt Sanga" T-Pain delivered two winning radio singles ( I'm Sprung, I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)), while to me the rest of the release was less then memorable. The lead single on this album is "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" a collaboration between T-Pain and Yung Joc - a simple but catchy track which has blown up on the radio. I was surprised to find myself liking this track, though I have read it borrow's a lot from other artists. Akon makes his sole appearance on the second single "Bartender", another smooth on point collaboration which vibes well. Outside of the single's this album has one other memorable track's - "I Got It" precedes the powerful "Suicide". The first track has a man learning that he and his loved one have HIV, while the later track is about the aftermath and the choices they take. Outside of these track's the rest of the album does not grab my attention - T-Pain is not a memorable rapper (and should really leave it alone) and falters at times in his singing, and the guest he enlists for this release (outside of the singles) do not enhance the album. "Epiphany" is an average release which features some decent singles.

This guy (along with every other new rapper/r&b artist--I'm looking at you Acorn and 50!) are totally destroying rap music. Doesn't anyone have ANYTHING of any substance to say anymore? How many songs can we have about bling, and getting your drink on with your shorty at the bar or the club???? What happened to lyrical skills? Are you telling me there is nothing left to talk about except cash and girls?

Such a shame this is the stuff that sells now. Nowadays if it can't be played in a club for white girls to dance to it won't sell!!

I suggest you download the new Black Sheep album 8WM/Novokane and listen to the first song...its paints an exact picture of what has happened to this once groundbreaking genre in music.