Will the king of Auto-Tune soon rock some Young Money-approved jewels? Judging by the footage of some bling that recently hit the Web, T-Pain may be the newest member of Wayne’s crew.
In a video that surfaced online Thursday (December 30), jeweler Gabriel Jacobs, who has created rock-laden pieces for Birdman, 50 Cent and more, shows off a hefty ruby-and-black-diamond-studded piece in the shape of the New York Yankees-inspired Young Money logo that also features what appear to be tiny Nappy Boy insignias (the mark of Pain’s label) along the sides. Jacobs says in the clip that he crafted the king-size ice, which he says costs about $40,000 alone and almost $100,000 with the chain, because Pain is signing with Weezy’s camp.
A rep for T-Pain did not respond to MTV News’ request for comment at press time.
A T-Pain move to Young Money would continue the Auto-Tune crooner’s longstanding musical relationship with Weezy. Wayne and T-Pain have already charted together with collabos like Weezy’s Tha Carter III single “Got Money” and Pain’s Thr33 Ringz cut “Can’t Believe It,” which both dropped in 2008. The dreadlocked duo have also maintained that they plan to put out a joint album, an effort Pain told MTV News in March was temporarily thwarted by Weezy’s eight-month prison bid.
“The T-Wayne album, we’re actually gonna wait until he gets out,” Pain said about Weezy’s jail time. “He has so much going on. He has Rebirth out right now. I don’t wanna interrupt that. We just gonna wait until he gets out to really get in on that. We recorded a bunch of songs. But, right now, it’s time for him and his personal sh–. We definitely got an album’s worth of material, but it’s only an album’s worth. It’s nothing to pick from. We just got an album. We can put out whatever we feel like and say, ‘Hey, this is T-Wayne’s album,’ or we can actually try to make it good. Like we’re actually trying to make an album and say, ‘This is the good T-Wayne album.’ Rather than just record 12 songs and say, ‘Here you go, mutha—-as! I know you want it. You gonna buy it anyway, just ’cause you think it’s good.’ “
For Wayne’s part, the MC has said that the collabo-friendly stars “both have the same energy” when he explained their similarities to MTV News in 2008.
“I don’t sleep. If you ask anybody, I don’t sleep. I think it’s the cousin of death. As much as you sleep, you’re impersonating death to me. He don’t sleep. I play all day. He plays all day and all night. The connection is crazy,” he said. “He loves to be creative, he loves to work; I love to create, I love to work. He really wants people to respect his rapping; I really want people to respect my harmonizing.”