T-Pain

If you're wondering why Kanye West sounds like a Daft Punk understudy on his album 808s & Heartbreak, the answer lies in one of his admitted muses, T-Pain, who keeps popping up on key hip-hop and R&B singles, from his own chart-climbing cuts (the sly, lifted lyrics — 50 Cent, Lil Jon, Lil Scrappy — of "Buy U a Drank"; the shimmering synths and finger-snap beats of "Can't Believe It") to such dance floor-decimating collabs as "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne).

Next Steps delivers more of T-Pain's starring and supporting roles.

T-Pain has made an art of stringing together concepts that mirror his flashy costume changes —Thr33 Ringz (2008) is the most glaring example of this ear-grabbing approach, using his "Ringleader Man" persona as the springboard for a variety show co-starring Ciara ("Blowing Up"), Young Cash ("Superstar Lady"), and Diddy ("Change"). Flash back to 2005 debut, Rappa Ternt Sanga, and we find the producer/performer's self-proclaimed "Hard & B" stance to the tune of heat-seeking hooks like "Ur Not the Same".

Picking up where Kraftwerk and Afrika Bambaataa left off, T-Pain has used the virtues of the vocoder to become one of the most recognizable voices in hip-hop, R&B, and pop. Whether you realize it or not, his stamp has been all over the charts since 2005, when he sealed a record deal with Akon's Konvict Muzik label — a deal that's resulted in three solo albums that have sold millions of copies, as well as repeat performances alongside stars such as Dizzee Rascal, Chris Brown, Kardinal Offishall, and Akon himself. As if all that weren't already enough, T-Pain's also a proven producer, dishing out laser-like melodies and airtight beats for Lil Wayne ("Got Money") and up-and-comers like Dolla ("Who the F*** Is That?").