Idolator

"Everyone needs T-Pain, Maura. Haven't you figured that out?" Jess asked me when I griped about the new Lil Mama single, which features T-Pain and Chris Brown, to him. And I can see his point in a way; Lil Mama's follow-up single to "Lip Gloss," the not-bad-at-all "G-Slide (Tour Bus)," was one of those songs that managed to hit only in the alternate pop universe of TRL, and her album's been pushed back so much, she probably won't be very lil by the time it comes out. So starpower can only help her career. But!

Is it just me, or does Lil Mama simply demolish T-Pain when it comes to flow? I swear there was one part during T-Pain's first verse that caused me to have a vision of him running behind the song, panting all the way. Lil Mama, meanwhile, is namechecking Twista in her verses, which almost sounds like a dare for a future duet that would be a lot more fun to listen to than "Shawty Get Loose (Remix)," which also has the most generic Chris Brown chorus ever committed to tape. Perhaps T-Pain's presence on the song is actually a very shrewd move on the part of Lil Mama's label to position her as a fleet-tongued young lady ready to slay any dragon in her path, even if said dragon's fire is vocoder-assisted, but I dunno.

Lil Mama Feat T-Pain, Chris Brown - Shawty Get Loose (Remix) [YouTube via Blender]