Evan Nabavian is a silver surfer.
The governing conceit of T-Pain’s new single is the euphoria of having a woman who likes fast women and money just as much as he does. “FBMG” recalls Ray Lavender’s “My Girl Gotta Girlfriend” from 2007, which has a great ‘wait, seriously?’ moment when you realize what the song is about. Ray L comes home to the sound of his girlfriend cheating on him (“I open the front door, I hear moaning / For real somebody, I’m finna kill somebody.”) only to find out his girlfriend is cheating with another woman, which he quickly decides is awesome (“I just found out but it’s aight / Long as I can be wit her too”). There’s a super awkward video.
T-Pain does better than mere novelty. “FBMG” is a smash with a satisfying and effusive hook. The ten years since “Buy U A Drank” haven’t dented his ability to write endlessly catchy songs. (I don’t know if you can say the same for Ray L.) This is the kind of song, with its breezy guitars, that summers are made of. The really fun part: Young M.A, who is gay, plays T-Pain’s love interest, and drops a stone faced verse like she’s Styles P. I like that rap’s first openly gay mainstream rapper is a gun-toting, Hennessy-drinking Brooklyn goon. I hope she says “Free Max B” when she wins her GLAAD award. I hope she puts Ellen Degeneres onto sour diesel. I hope she beats down an effigy of Macklemore at Summer Jam. Okay, I’m done.
