Two Great Pain(e)s
Faheem Rasheed Najm was born just over 35 years ago, in 1985, in Tallahassee, Florida. The capital city of Florida, Tallahassee is known for having the third-tallest state capitol building in the United States, at 22 stories. Najm, known by the stage name T-Pain, may be the city’s most important export of the late 20th century. Maybe ever.
Nearly 250 years before the birth of T-Pain, Thomas Paine was born in the market town of Thetford, England, in 1737. Founded at least as early as the Iron Age, Thetford boasts such history as holding the headquarters of Tulip International (until 2010) and being the site of a 9th century mint.
Both T. Paine and T-Pain have contributed important ideas to the modern American philosophical landscape. T-Pain famously courts a woman in the indelible track “Buy U a Drank”, arguing that after he provides the drink, and owing to the fact that he has money in the bank, he will take her home, presumably to become romantically involved. Similarly, Thomas Paine argues in his landmark 1776 essay Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs that allowing free global trade, unrestricted by a relationship with Great-Britain, will be the true value of an independent America. It’s uncannily similar.
There are other important parallels between these two famous American writers. Both argue against moderation. In Thoughts, Paine writes that moderate men would think too highly of Europe and England and spell calamity for the future America. His view was such that only through extreme action — violence and war — could America free herself to build a prosperous future. In the song Bartender, T-Pain mentions a breakup with his girl (England?) and how he goes to the club (America?) to get over her. It’s a beautiful nod to the founding of our great nation.
Handling their own business
Another important theme for the two men is the concept of handling one’s own business, not leaving it for someone else. Thomas Paine implores the reader to
…not leave the next generation to be cutting throats…
and avoid
…leaving the sword to our children…
Paine refers repeatedly to the King of England as a terrible parent to his citizen “children” of the American colonies. In his mind, it was important to meet the combative England head-on and immediately, without further negotiation, in order to solve the problems in his generation. Again on Buy U a Drank, T-Pain implores his love interest that she
can do it all by yourself…
It’s an important sentiment for both the birth of a new nation and the birth of a new relationship.
Additional Similarities
Honestly, once Thomas Paine gets into the free exercise of religion and the way they should choose delegates for the Continental Congress, I lost interest in trying to bend T-Pain lyrics to match the concepts. If you can think of parallels here, please leave them in the comments.
On a real note, there is something empowering about drawing a line from 1776 to 2010 to connect these two human products of two vastly different Americas. Without doubt, Najm is not who Paine had in mind as he penned his words for men’s freedoms, but nonetheless those freedoms have arrived. Broken, bruised, and abused, certainly, but ultimately inexorable. My hope is that as we sit in the face of a different kind of tyranny, one defined by caste warfare and economic tyranny, that my generation have the same level of courage.
