T-Pain – ‘Can’t Believe It’ Feat. Lil Wayne: Throwback Video of the Day
T-Pain’s inventive video for “Can’t Believe It” was inspired by his circus-themed album cover for Thr33 Ringz and his love for top hats. Directed by T-Pain and Syndrome, a collective of digital artists from Los Angeles, the clip is a visual masterpiece that combines live-action camera techniques with animation.
Throughout the video we see T-Pain as the ringmaster as he takes viewers on a ride through his chaotic mind, which is very much a circus. The visual also follows the song's theme of the rappa-ternt-sanga serenading a beautiful woman and promising her a trip to Aspen and to his mansion in “Wiscansin.” The circus theme is also on display with imagery of female contortionists, scary clowns and elephants roaming throughout.
Fellow rapper Lil Wayne also makes cameo in the video as well. Tunechi is donning a "T-Wayne" T-shirt, which signified his collaborative project with T-Pain, which was slated for release in 2009 but it never came to fruition. In his segment, Weezy is kicking it with a fly girl on a huge ferris wheel and warns her that if her brothers step to him, he’s going to show them what his teardrop tattoos are all about (and no, he’s not going to cry in front of them).
Watch T-Pain's "Can't Believe It" Video Feat. Lil Wayne
In a 2008 interview with MTV News, T-Pain explained how all of the magic happened in his creative visual.
"It was all green-screen," he said. "I just came up with it, man. I kinda stole some stuff from the last iTunes commercial. I got the same people to direct it. I was like, 'If we can find those people to direct my next video, it will be the best video.' I already knew, just the way I see things."
"We just did a bunch of takes," he continued. "Nothing has to be organized. We was like, 'We gonna do it and then see what we got outta that.' It just all came together. It took eight hours. A bunch of takes, six outfits. And the song ain't even four minutes."
The single "Can't Believe It" was a major radio hit and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart making it T-Pain's fifth top ten hit on the tally in 2008. A remix was also released featuring Justin Timberlake. In addition, Thr33 Ringz went gold and was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
T-Pain would team up with Syndrome again for the dance-heavy video for "Freeze" featuring Chris Brown.
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