4 Good (& Bad) Uses Of Auto-Tune

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The release of Jay-Z’s song, “D.O.A (Death Of Auto-Tune)”, sparked the debate on the use (And over use) of Auto-Tune in Hip-Hop. Is it corny? Is it dead? Can it die? Even the biggest supporters of the tool can admit that its use has been excessive as of late. Personally, I think that maybe we as a culture need to move on (Or at least let T-Pain have it). Does that mean that all Auto-Tune’d songs suck? Naw, there are actually some good ones out there. Here I list some of the good ones and some of the bad ones. And no, this is not a definitive list. There are a lot more bad songs using Auto-Tune (Webstar. I’m looking at you). There are also some good ones. I didn’t even go too far back; if I had Roger Troutman and Teddy Riley may have dominated this list. Tell us what you think and what songs should be on this list.

The Good:

Download: DJ Khaled feat. Kanye West & T-Pain – “Go Hard”
Producer: The Runners
I’ve been on record saying that this was one of my favorite songs of 2008. Yeezy & T-Pain re-connect and go hard (pause) with the Auto-Tune.

Download: Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain – “Blame It”
Producer: Christopher “Deep” Henderson
Yea radio is playing the hell out of this song but you still can’t deny that Jamie (With an assist from T-Pain) crafted a catchy track. I even like the Obama parody: “Blame it on the E-e-e-e-economy!”

Download: Drake – “Sooner Or Later”
Producer: D10
Drake is everywhere these days. A large thanks for that goes to So Far Gone. I could picked a few tracks off the mixtape but I think this one shows some of the best use of Auto-Tune…lightly.

Download: T-Pain feat. Lil’ Wayne – “Can’t Believe It”
Producer: T-Pain
Teddy Penderass shows up again but this time with his own track. Jay-Z said T-Pain does Auto-Tune well; this song backs that.

The Bad:

Download: Capone-N-Noreaga feat. Ron Brownz & Busta Rhymes – “Rotate”
Producer: Ron Brownz
Remember when T-Pain said that Ron Brownz didn’t know how to use Auto-Tune? This hook sounds just like “Pop Champagne”…and “Arab Money”…and “Jumping Out The Window”. Lazy. “Eitherboy!”

Download: Gorilla Zoe – “Echo”
Producer: Drumma Boy
When I first heard this song I honestly thought it was One Republic. Until I heard Zoe’s gravel sounding Auto-Tune. Why is singing a song about lost love? What happened to being a “Hood Nigga”?

Download: Shawty Lo feat. DJ Khaled, Birdman, Rick Ross, & Jim Jones – “Foolish (remix)”
Producer: DJ Montay
This track gets a foul not because of the entire song, but for just one verse. Birdman’s verse. I guess since his “son” Weezy loves the vocoder, why not Stunna? There was no point to this.

Download: T-Pain feat. Lil’ Wayne – “Can’t Believe It”
Producer: T-Pain
You see what I did there? This song both shows the good and bad ways on the use of Auto-Tune. T-Pain’s verses = good. Lil’ Wayne’s drunken verse = terrible.

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B-Easy
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The geek out of the bunch. He is also Jay-Z’s biggest fan. He looks like your cousin from the burbs. He is “Pro Black” (not anti-white, just “Pro Black”). Probably the wittiest out of the bunch. It is said that he got fired from the same job three times.
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11 Comments

  2. Good article Easy on the latest controversial issue in Hip-Hop music. I agree with your picks both good (“Sooner Or Later”, “Blame It”) and bad (“Rotate”) showcasing the Auto-Tune uses and yeah you’re right there are a lot more songs that could be added to these lists (probably more bad than good).

    Even though it wouldn’t be possible because Auto-Tune is just a software program from Antares that anybody with some $$$, a computer, and engineer (optional) can use, I think it should just be used by certain artists and leave it as that. Like you said T-Pain who originally started using the effect should really be one of the only people to use Auto-Tune. Everybody else should either learn how to sing, get somebody that can sing, or forget about that part and come up with something else.

    I haven’t heard the DJ Webstar song “Dancin’ On Me” (and don’t have a desire to it) but I’ve heard his name in enough negative light in regards to his use of Auto-Tune to know that he’s somebody that should not be touching that effect. Along with Ron Browz as you mention who makes that shit sound horrible. I know that he said he’s not really using Auto-Tune but a vocoder, but the shit just sounds stupid and monotonous when he does it.

    This is what happens when something starts as creative and turns trendy! Everybody wants to follow whether the results are good or bad. Auto-Tune, Blogs, Twitter… What’s Next??!!!!??

    Reply

  3. Co-sign on the Birdman verse on Foolish!!!

    I remember wehn i saw the video for that last year and Birdman came on i was like…What…The…

    Reply

  5. Leave that shit to t pain. Everybody else came up without that shit so why start using it now? Cut the bullshit. Good article though.

    Reply

  7. Sooner Than Later wasn’t really a good example. That’s not really a prime example when I think of autotune; good or bad.

    Reply

  8. Yeah some of the songs are ok that use it but I’m not feeling the auto tune too much since the whole world is riding it out hard. People don’t know how to use stuff and preserve it instead of overkill.

    Happy B Day 2Pac!! RIP

    Reply

  9. Good post, subjects like these is what I like about this site. Browz and Webstar definitely are auto-tunes biggest abusers. Young Money, except Wayne, doesn’t use it badly like on Every Girl and some tracks off So Far Gone. But I think Jay was too diplomatic in his interview about DOA. He more or less pardoned TPain Wayne and Ye. T-Pain is fine, he’s not even really a rapper. But in pardoning Wayne and Ye scrubs like Webstar think Jay’s trying to come directly at them, and Wayne and Ye are auto-tune abusers themselves. Get back to rap y’all T-Paining too much.

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  10. Auto Tune has been around for a while, and when used properly, it really does help vocals out. Many songs have come out the past few years with the effect on the voices, but it was used for what it was intended for: pitch correction. Everybody else just puts the effect on, turns all the knobs all the way up, trying to find the T-Pain sound. I don’t think it will ever stop bein used, but eventually the abuse will end.

    Reply

  11. Roger Troutman and Teddy Riley did not use auto tune. Roger Troutman used the talk box or tube box. It was a box with a tube. You insert the tube in your mouth and sound comes from the tube. You don’t acually sing, what you do is mouth the words. Teddy Riley used the vocorder which is basically the same thing as far as the sound, but minus the tube. If you do some research on those you’ll find pictures and information.

    Reply

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