T-Pain Says He’s Working On Opening A School In Wisconsin

Back in 2008, T-Pain fused together a rhyme some people may argue was a stretch. In his hit "Can’t Believe It" with Lil Wayne, T-Pain rhymed the words "mansion" and "Wisconsin", only he pronounced the Badger State a little differently to create the rhyme.

Calling the state "Wiscansin", T-Pain inadvertently created something that would eventually develop a life of its own.

I can remember hearing the song for the first time when I was in college, chuckling about the goofy stretch of a rhyme, but ultimately respecting what he was doing with the lyric in the song.

Since then, T-Pain's Wisconsin ties (er, Wiscansin) have grown quite a bit. Born in Florida, he doesn't really have any notable ties to the Badger State. The seemingly random name-drop of the state simply came out of a need to rhyme a place with the word "mansion". That's pretty much it.

T-Pain told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [PAYWALL] that while he "could have done a lot of different things", he said "But man, 'Wiscansin' just felt right. It felt better. It felt like I was taking a risk. Not a lot of people give Wisconsin a lot of love, so I felt like I was breathing air into something."

READ MORE: This fall Wisconsin walk-through light display is a must-visit!

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of "Can't Believe It", T-Pain launched a merch line branded "Wiscansin University" that included a number of "Wiscansin" branded clothing items. He and his team even launched a website for this fictitious school, with the slogan "We can't believe it either". Clever. It's worth taking a peek at the site, there are lots of little gems on there.

T-Pain has also tied the "Wiscansin" branding into concerts, with his current tour being called "T-Pain's Mansion in Wiscansin Party" and even launching a music festival called "Wiscansin Fest" in Milwaukee.

Ahead of the 2023 Wiscansin Fest, T-Pain told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he had plans to open an actual music academy in line with his previously fictitious Wiscansin University academic branding.

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He doubled down on this assertion in an interview with Billboard that hit the web at the beginning of May this year. In a look back at the big hits of his career with Billboard, T-Pain went over the process in creating "Can't Believe It", telling the tale of the "infamous rhyme".

He went on to explain "We're actually starting a school in Wisconsin now. It's a music school."

T-Pain's plans are to open the school in the Milwaukee area. When he spoke to the MJS last year about it, he said "We're still in the very, very beginning stages of it right now. We have a few possible locations. But yeah, it's definitely a real thing."

He highlighted that he believes music education is a big thing that helped him out a lot in life, and he wants to bring that to future generations.

The mention in the Billboard video doubles down on this eventually becoming a reality, though there are no other details about the timeframe or any other specifics yet.

Either way, I am all in on the Wiscansin University music school. Even though I'm a born-and-raised Minnesotan, I might even have to try to get a Wiscansin U shirt or something.