
Shaheed Najm & his son Fahiym “T-Pain” Najm in 2005
Tensions have been high between T-Pain and his father/former manager Shaheed Najm ever since Shaheed was left sitting alone at the negotiating table at Interscope Records in L.A. while his son signed paperwork with Akon’s Konvict Music label in Atlanta back in 2005. Needless to say, both Pain and Akon have been riding high on the music charts since then, while Shaheed has been sitting on the sidelines in quiet resentment being treated like “a crackhead” (in his opinion) by his son’s management.
According to Bossip.com, T-Pain was previously quoted as saying:
“Now my dad asks for money every time I talk to him, and that’s just weird. He and I used to get along fantastic – until all the dollar signs. My whole family, man, they see what they see and they automatically ask for stuff. It ain’t a problem except when they ask for shit they don’t need. I bought my mom a house and a Porsche truck. I bought my sister a Buick truck. I gave my dad $20,000. I didn’t even feel that one. But he asked for more, like, two days later. It got to the point where he straight up said, ‘Gimme $250,000 and you don’t have to worry about me no more.’ Like, what the fuck? That’s a payoff for your dad?”
When we reminded him of this quote during his November OZONE cover story interview, he clarified that it was taken out of context. Regardless, the $250,000 blackmail rumors seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Furious at the perceived insult to his manhood and fatherhood, T-Pain’s father requested a chance to respond in an interview format. The “interview” turned into an hour-long monologue condensed below (yeah, that’s “condensed”.. you shoulda seen the full version) as an OZONE exclusive which also appears in the March print edition of the mag.
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