R&B hit-maker T-Pain's new record label, Nappy Boy, is riding the wave of the future. The company's going digital.
"The label will be a full-fledged indie label with PR, promo and everything else a physical label has, but will never go physical," T-Pain's brand manager Michael Blumstein told. "You'll never see any albums in retail stores."
When his contract with Jive is up, T-Pain may end up skipping physical releases altogether.
"Pain's got to fulfill another three albums for Jive, say five or six years," Blumstein says. "But once he fulfills that, he'll release records through Nappy Boy Entertainment. By then there'll be no physical stores outside of larger chains."
In the meantime, the R&B superstar already has several acts signed to Nappy Boy including a group called Girlfriend that Pain says he's most excited about. They'll release a single early next year on Nappy Boy/Atlantic. Two other acts on the roster are Tay Dizm, whose album will hit shelves in March, and the Nappy Headz, T-Pain's original rap group.
Putting other groups on hasn't slowed the hitmaker's own grind. He's produced at least four Usher tracks to be released on Usher's Sring album, and Pain is featured on upcoming tracks from Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson and Rick Ross. In addition, he's co-producing Omarion's next set with Timbaland.
Pain's also "99%" confirmed for Kanye West's Glow in the Dark tour, which is scheduled to begin in late February/March 2008. That'll be followed by Pain's own tour after releasing his next, yet-to-be-titled album in summer 2009.
In addition to the music, T-Pain's working on his own line of "Oil Can" frames through Oakley Shades.