Now that his third album Thr33 Ringz is in stores, T-Pain seems to be abandoning his circus motif.
The self-proclaimed ringleader of the urban music industry has announced that he will be auctioning off his massive collection of top hats.
The collection of nearly 300 custom made hats, including a red and black zippered one created to match T-Pain’s “Beat It” inspired jacket, will be numbered and autographed and made available to the public via an EBay auction.
Proceeds from the sale will go to a charity to be chosen by the artist at a later date.
The multi-platinum songwriter kept the circus alive on Monday during a private release party at Hiro Lounge in New York on Monday (November 10).
The celeb-filled celebration incorporated clowns, midgets, and barely-dressed stilt walkers, as well as a performance by the rapper/singer.
He was also joined on stage by surprise guests like Diddy and Busta Rhymes. However, T-Pain’s comments to the crowd have drawn some criticism from the mainstream media.
Entertainment Weekly reports that during an exchange with BMG Label Group chairman Barry Weiss, T-Pain made several anti-Semitic jokes, which the magazine’s website described as “deeply offensive.”
The comments included a statement that “Jews run everything” and “they get all the money,” as well as shouts of “matzo ball” and “mazel tov.”
For his part, Weiss seemed undaunted by the comments.
Jive Records, T-Pain, and his co-managers Michael Blumstein and Dave Abram issued a joint statement of apology , which also served to clarify the relationship between the artist, born Faheem Najm, and Weiss, who was instrumental in signing him.
“During the course of T-Pain’s (Faheem Najm) performance at his album release party [Monday] night, Najm brought Barry Weiss to the stage to acknowledge and thank him for ‘believing in him as an artist’ and ‘signing him to the label’,” the statement read. “Mr. Weiss and Mr. Najm have a long-standing, mutually respectful relationship and no offense was meant or taken by any of Najm’s heartfelt on stage comments. T-Pain sincerely apologizes to anyone who may have been hurt or offended by his remarks.”
Controversy aside, T-Pain is gearing up for his next project, which he has revealed will be an 8-week T-Wayne Tour.
Date and stop details have not yet been released.
