T-Pain is coming home for bicentennial concert in Cascades Park in November

Tallahassee native T-Pain , the world famous rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer, is coming home to take part in Leon County's bicentennial celebration at the Adderley Amphitheater in Cascades Park.

"It is a special honor for us to welcome T-Pain, a proud native of Leon County," Leon County Commission chair Carolyn Cummings said in a press release. "His return to Tallahassee during our bicentennial year is a highly anticipated event, and celebrating his success and talent in his hometown is a point of pride for our community."

The performance won't be until Nov. 10 but fans should get their wallets ready: Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. Prices start at $63 for general admission, $87 for P2 reserved seating, and $99 for P1 reserved seating. His concert will be the finale to a weekend of bicentennial events in and around Cascades Park.

The concert is being presented by tourist agency Visit Tallahassee, Leon County and Scott Carswell Presents.

Carswell, a concert promoter and co-founder of the Moon, works with the county to contract with talent and bring national acts to the Cascades Amphitheater.

He told the Democrat he worked five months to bring T-Pain home to the capital city.

"T-Pain in Tallahassee started with us at the Moon," he said of the 40-year entertainment venue. "We go way back."

"It has been a great honor to work on this and to bring him back for our city's birthday."

Who is T-Pain?

T-Pain, born Faheem Rasheed Najm, has significantly influenced pop, hip-hop and R&B music since emerging in 2004.

With over 50 million singles sold and billions of streams, he has achieved 10 iconic No. 1 hits in the Billboard Hot 100, including "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain, and has sold out shows across multiple continents.

T-Pain's versatility goes far beyond music, going on to become a prominent streamer on Twitch, a live-streaming platform, as well as label head of Nappy Boy Entertainment, podcast host, drift driver, actor, author and more.

The artist even took to X to share the news, saying "Tallahassee, I'm coming home," with a photo of the promotional poster.

Instagram series and a connection to hometown history

T-Pain last chimed in on his hometown in a 45-minute, five-part series on Instagram and TikTok, criticizing concert organizers, city and county leaders and the Tallahassee Democrat after he passed on a "50 Years of Hip Hop Celebration " concert.

In the video series, he spoke about feeling misled by concert organizers and a promise to rename Ridge Road, the south side street where he lived as a child, to T-Pain Way, which was delayed amid bureaucratic hoops.

The video series came after Leon County Commissioner Christian Caban questioned if T-Pain was an appropriate role model for Tallahassee’s youth; other commissioners said he was a local legend who was making inroads at reducing youth gun violence.

He would go on to detail several instances in which, despite his love for the city , he didn't feel the love in return.

T-Pain says he later got a call from Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, as organizers tried a last-ditch effort to get him to come for the concert . He said Dailey told him, “I’m white as can be, but I love some T-Pain.”

“I don’t care about this 50 years of hip hop,” T-Pain said. “Two hundred years of my hometown, call Tallahassee-Pain back for that!”

And now he is coming home.

Dailey responded to the news of the concert by also posting on X sharing the promotional poster and saying that he "can't wait to welcome T-Pain home!"

His hometown road may also be renamed during his visit.

City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox told the Democrat that the city has made it easier to rename roads with less bureaucratic hoops, pointing to the recent change of Wahnish Way to Althea Gibson Way.

"Our staff is working on finalizing the process to make sure that we get that done," she said of the T-Pain street renaming. "It is going to happen."

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: T-Pain is coming home for bicentennial concert in Cascades Park in November