Released in , the track featuring B.o.B and produced by DJ Mustard serves as a fascinating window into T-Pain's life and the "strip club economy" that fueled Southern hip-hop. 1. The Comeback Context
By 2013, T-Pain was battling a deep depression after years of industry backlash against Auto-Tune. Critics—and even peers like Usher and Jay-Z—had labeled him a "one-trick pony" whose time had passed. "Up Down" was originally intended as the lead single for his fifth album, Stoicville: The Phoenix , and its massive success (eventually going ) proved he could still command the charts. 2. Fact vs. Fiction in the Lyrics T-Pain feat. B.o.B. - Up Down (Dirty)
T-Pain creates his signature ad-libs by first recording random words as "scratch vocals" and then refining them into the melodic highlights that define the song. 3. The "Strip Club Connoisseur" Released in , the track featuring B