T-Pain, born Faheem Rasheed Najm, is not only a musician but an entrepreneur. Like many of his contemporaries such as Jay-Z, Akon, and Rihanna, he has an interest in multiple businesses. He first got into music as a child when he spent time with a music producer friend.
He would later convert his bedroom into a makeshift music studio. In the early 2000s, he made a grand entry into the music industry with a collaboration with Akon. He later released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, in late 2005 which became an instant hit globally.
Since then, he has featured major artists such as Chris Brown, Flo Rida, and DJ Khaled as well as winning the Grammys twice with his collaboration with Jamie Foxx and controversial rapper Kanye West.
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His success in the music industry brought in quite a lot of money. In his own words, he became wealthy. However, a series of bad spending habits and investment decisions left him with zero dollars in the bank.
In a startling interview recently, the 35-year-old revealed that he had to borrow money from friends to treat his children to a Burger King meal. According to him, he once had $40 million in his account but lost all due to poor investment decisions and spending habits.
“Now I know what the high end is and what the low end is,” he said. “I’ve been mega-rich, I’ve been super broke, right in the middle of thinking I was mega-rich, and then got rich again, and you know learned how to really give a s— about money,” the rapper said in an interview with the radio show “The Breakfast Club.”
T-Pain disclosed that his most expensive purchase, apart from his home, was a $1.2 million Bugatti. That Bugatti, which he even abandoned after five months due to a fault, was the beginning of his financial woes. “At that point, I was running out of money and my accountant was like ‘You just bought a Bugatti. You’re out of money.’ And I was like ‘No, I’m not. I got this house I want to get, this other house for my assistants, my runners, my producers and stuff,’” T-Pain shared.
He said that after buying that house, he just started “going crazy with the money.”
“I wasn’t paying attention to it. I thought if I didn’t have access to my own accounts that I wouldn’t have to look at it.”
Essentially, T-Pain and his team squandered money on real estate. “I was letting my manager do it and he was way more optimistic than I was,” the rapper said. “He would buy complete dumps and think that we could just paint.”
T-Pain shared that they never sold the properties purchased and things got really bad.
However, “The Masked Singer” singer claimed in the interview that he is currently financially stable, adding that he does not intend to chase after the $40 million. “Once you give as— about the money you’re making, then you feel much better about your accomplishments, you feel much better about what you’re doing, you start paying attention to your work that makes you money,” he said.
In addition, T-Pain said he has learned about sound financial management skills and paying attention to projects he is executing. He added that he has found a way to balance this time between his family and his hustles.
“I’m not chasing the $40 [million],” he said. “The money I’m making now, I’m just making it, I’m not trying to make it. That $40 million, I was hustling, I needed to be on everybody’s record, and every record gotta go No. 1, I gotta do this work. And at that time, I didn’t know my family at all.”
According to him, his proudest moment has been providing for his wife Amber Najm and three kids Lyriq, Muziq and Kaydnz.
“Awards are always great, but in the long run, it doesn’t really say who you are. I’m more concerned about my family, my kids, and my wife and making sure I can provide,” he said.
