S. Samuel
Former Disturbin' Tha Peace member Shawnna has clarified her motivation for joining T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment and said fans should not expect her to begin incorporating auto-tune into her music.
Although T-Pain has frequently made use of auto-tune throughout his career, Shawnna assured fans that she wouldn’t be embarking on a similar path.
“Pain and I have been friends for a while and we’ve always had some kind of conversations about ideas that we can go in the studio and come out with some different kind of music,” Shawnna explained in an interview with DJ Vlad. “Especially something me and him could do because you know Pain raps also. He does that fast rap that I do. I have some ideas that I’m gonna do with that and you know, of course people automatically assume this auto-tune thing is going to be going on but that’s not it. That’s Pain’s thing. That’s his trademark, that’s what ‘he’ does. I’m different. I’m Shawnna, I rap. I don’t sing, I rap. [It’s what] me and Pain bring to the table. There was a lot going on over at DTP. I had been there for ten years and I just felt like it was time for a clean slate, clean start. Everything’s still cool. [Ludacris‘] still my peoples” (Vlad TV)
Last December, Shawnna stepped forward to address her departure from Ludacris’ camp in 2009.
“I love and have no regrets with Disturbing The Peace, but it just came time to where I had to move on,” Shawnna explained in an interview. “It really did. Even though Battle Of The Sexes was so highly anticipated. Had it just been me and Luda, it would have been just a wonderful, amazing, iconic thing to do. But it didn’t weigh out the 10 years I had been at Def Jam [doing] nothing. I just saw an opportunity to gain a clean slate. And that sounded so good to me. Money is not my everything. My peace of mind means more than money.” (VIBE)
Shawnna also said her fear of disappointing Luda encouraged a DTP exit.
“Honestly, when we were doing [Battle of the Sexes], I was really scared,” Shawnna added. “Because I [knew] that people already knew Luda, but they don’t really know me. And if this project was to come out and not do well, all of the blame would be on me. All of it. That was too much [pressure] for me. Had it been my own project and I was taking my own risk, then maybe I would have been more willing to take that leap, but I just didn’t want it…They already know Luda can put out platinum albums, but they don’t know what I’m capable of. I just couldn’t do it. And it hurt me and it hurt him and it hurt a lot of people. It hurt a lot of fans too, and all I can say is [that] I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I’m still here though, and I still wanna put out good music. I still hope to get back with him and do some amazing, incredible sh*t with him maybe down the line, but at that point in time [Luda], I couldn’t give you my all. I was too scared. I was too worried about that situation.” (VIBE)
Last year, DJ Drama called Shawnna’s decision to leave DTP a bad move.
“I normally keep these type of thoughts 2 myself but…#badmove ….,” Drama tweeted in February. “Shawwna leavin DTP right b4 Battle of Sexes album. it was perfect setup And i know its proly some sh*t bout Shawwnna/DTP situation i dont know.. & i got mad love for shorty…just my observation.” (DJ Drama’s Twitter)
Check out Shawnna’s interview below:
