Ringleader Man - T-Pain

“Ringleader Man”, is southern R&B singer/songwriter T-Pain’s fourth release of his third album, “Thr33 Ringz” (read review here), which was released on November 11. T-Pain performed “Ringleader Man” at the 2008 BET Awards before it was recently leaked on the internet.

In “Ringleader Man”, T-Pain doesn’t use his customary robotic Auto-Tune voice, although he does continue to use Auto-Tune technology to adjust his voice and bring us more soulful vocals.

It’s a rather short single, counting less than 3 minutes, in which T-Pain doesn’t cover very much across two verses, mainly describing himself as “the ringleader man” of the music industry, claiming “this industry is my circus”. He similarly asserts that he has vocal authority and control, rhyming “My rhythms and rhymes keep n*ggas in line” and “I can flip this whole game with one hand “.

T-Pain promotes himself as the preferred choice in the face of “wackness”, singing “Ain’t you tired of that wackiness, sick of that wack s**t”, “Wouldn’t you like some of me instead” and “I know it’s a fact that you rather just have some of me instead”. “Ringleader Man” sounds out a slow, relaxed beat tempo and a melody that complements the ringleader theme, containing a circus influence.

Following “Freeze” (featuring Chris Brown), which was released on October 10, “Ringleader Man” makes it T-Pain’s second release of October. It was released as a promotional single on “iTunes Countdown to Thr33 Ringz” on October 28 (listen to it here) and delivers a chilled sound that is worth the listen.