Rap-around sound

TO make his music sound fresh, rapper T-Pain dusted off a decades-old device -- the vocoder.

No matter that the voice alteration machine, used by the likes of Pink Floyd, Roger Troutman and the Electric Light Orchestra, had largely fallen out of favor. “I figured if I didn’t use it, even though I can sing without it, I would have just sounded like another singer,” T-Pain says. “I had to do something to distinguish myself from everybody else.”

That he did. His computerized vocals sizzled on his 2005 breakthrough single, “I’m Sprung,” the first in a quick succession of hits for the native of Tallahassee, Fla. And now the singer-songwriter-producer has gone to the voice box again on his second album, “Epiphany,” which entered the charts last week at No. 1.

Besides the album sales, T-Pain has sold more than 2 million ring tones, according to Nielsen RingScan, and his current single, the flirtatious “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’),” is the second-best selling ring tone of the year thus far, with more than 1 million downloads.

T-Pain writes and produces his own material, which has helped make him one of the most in-demand artists in rap and R&B; music. In addition to appearing on R. Kelly’s popular “I’m a Flirt” remix, T-Pain says he has more than 30 collaborations with other artists in the pipeline for release, including material with Britney Spears.

“T-Pain is complete, the whole package,” says rapper Sean P of the YoungBloodZ, who appeared on T-Pain’s “I’m Sprung 2” song and worked with T-Pain on his forthcoming solo album. “He can actually go in there and produce and write at the same time. He doesn’t have to wait on anybody else to get the job done.”

T-Pain’s skills as a do-it-yourselfer were an outgrowth of necessity. Born Faheem Najm in 1985, T-Pain chose his moniker, short for Tallahassee Pain, because his hometown was devoid of music industry connections or opportunities.

So, without any formal musical training, T-Pain taught himself how to make music, record and write songs. He also developed a number of aliases during this time: the happy, fun-loving Teddy Pain, the sexually minded Teddy Penderazdoun and the confrontational Teddy Verseti. These personalities allowed him to explore the different sides of his artistry and helped set the stage for his remake of Akon’s “Locked Up,” a 2003 tune that T-Pain revised into a tale of his own drunken adventures.

Akon’s brother was a fan of the song and persuaded T-Pain to sign to Akon’s Konvict Muzik company, which, on the strength of the independent success of “I’m Sprung,” signed a deal with Zomba Recordings to release T-Pain’s material.

Given Akon’s own success as a singer-songwriter-producer, he gave T-Pain creative control over his material. It’s a relationship that has worked well with T-Pain’s ethos.

Now, T-Pain looks back at the initial skepticism people in the music industry had about his use of the vocoder, which has become his staple.

“I was so devastated when people started twisting it up, like, ‘Oh, he must not be able to sing,’ ” T-Pain says with a laugh from his new home base of Atlanta.

“Now, people are calling for that. If somebody calls me for a song, I do a hook for them and I don’t put the voice box on it, then they’re like, ‘What’s up? You left off the voice box. We need that.’ ”

weekend@latimes.com

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T-Pain

What: T-Pain, with Yung Joc, Lil Mama and Huey.

Where: House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Price: $35

Info: (323) 848-5100; www.hob.com/sunsetstrip