T-Pain Reveals How Little Publishing Money He Makes From ‘Buy U A Drank’

T-Pain has revealed that he doesn’t make as much money as his fans think he does from “Buy U A Drank,” even though it’s perhaps his best-known song.

In an undated radio interview that has since gone viral on TikTok, the rapper-turned-author revealed that his hit track has more proverbial cooks in the kitchen than fans realize, which is why it didn’t make him big money.

“Y’all looked up the publishing on ‘Buy U A Drank’?” he asked the radio host. “Bruh. Like, publishing wise, I probably make no money. So, all those things that I said in “Buy U A Drank” that was from other songs — when “Buy U A Drank” blew up, all them other people from all them other songs said they was owed shit from my song because I said their name. I’m like, ‘what the fuck!’”

He continued: “I was like paying homage and shit! So, like ‘Money In The Bank,’ I got Scrappy and his writers. They came for that. On ‘Snap Your Fingers, Do Your Step,’ Lil Jon and E-40? Everybody on that song came for me.”

Check out the interview below.

T-Pain may not make as much money as he would like from the “Buy U A Drank” publishing, but it’s still a song that’s a cultural touchstone.

And back in August 2021, he revealed how the making of “Bartender” actually saved a life.

The “Buy U A Drank” artist joined Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast in August 2021 where he told the insane story about how he cheered up a 70-something-year-old man who was getting ready to take his own life after learning his wife died hours earlier while at a Jamaican resort.

The viral heartwarming clip resurfaced and is making its way around the internet once again about a year-and-a-half after its original release.

“I offered him a drink,” T-Pain explains in the clip. “I was like, ‘Man, let’s have some fun. Not trolling or fucking with people. His name was Bob. Fucked around with Bob and he was like, ‘That police tape back there is because my wife just died in the hotel.’ He said, ‘I was at the bar taking my last drink.’ He was gonna kill himself.

“He was like, ‘The way you came up here and showed me love and just had fun with me, you and your friend.’ And I still talk to him to this day … He was just looking down, I was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? Get up!”

The Florida native explained that he had just come from recording “Bartender” at the resort using whatever equipment he could find, and added that he still keeps in contact with Bob to this day.

“I been talking to him ever since,” T-Pain continued. “The song ‘Bartender’ was made during that and all that shit happened after. Bob, I love you brother.”