T-Pain is opening up about the lack of loyalty in the music industry.
Speaking with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay, T-Pain said that he learned that loyalty in the business is often one-sided.
“Nobody is your brother. Nobody,” T-Pain said. “Everybody is your brother while they can use you.”
T-Pain noted that he would like people to be upfront about their intentions instead of hiding behind emotional language.
“Tell me what the business is,” he said. “Say, ‘We’re gonna make some money, separate for a while, and I’ll come back when I need you.’ Cool. Don’t hit me with the ‘you’re my brother’ stuff.”
T-Pain then called out DJ Khaled, who made classics such as “I’m So Hood (Remix),” “Welcome to My Hood,” “All I Do Is Win,” and “Go Hard.”
Despite helping support Khaled’s rise during that dominant late-2000s run, Pain said the bond wasn’t what he thought it was.
“F**k DJ Khaled. Everybody done told me ‘I’m your brother.’ Do not believe that shit,” Pain said. He went on to clarify that Khaled was the first to come to mind. But he was one of many.
“Think about how many people I’ve helped in their careers,” he continued. “Back to back to back, ‘You’re my brother, you’re my brother.’ And none of that shit was reciprocated. None of it meant anything.”
Pain also noted that the” real ones are the artists who insist on giving back after you help them.”
“When you build somebody’s career, and all they say is, ‘Yo, you my brother’ … you’ll never see them again,” he said. “The people who say, ‘There’s something I can do for you,’ those are the ones you keep around.”
He added, “When people tell you how much you mean to them, don’t grab onto that. When people tell you how much they can mean to you in return, that’s the shit you gravitate toward.”