During his controversial interview with Vulture, in which he discussed a slew topics, including Michael Jackson and The Beatles, Quincy Jones also mentioned T-Pain and his remake “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).”
The Auto-Tune hitmaker, along with Robin Thicke, covered the Michael Jackson classic for Jones’ 2010 tribute album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra, but the iconic producer was not a fan his remake.
“I was not in favor doing 2010’s Q: Soul Bossa Nostra], but the rappers wanted to record something as a tribute to me, where they’d do versions songs that I’d done over my career,” said Jones. “I said to them, ‘Look, you got to make the music better than we did on the originals.’ That didn’t happen. T-Pain, man, he didn’t pay attention to the details.”
Hours after the interview was published, T-Pain responded with his own version events, revealing that he was opposed to the remake. “For the record I told my managers (at the time) and I told @QuincyDJones in his face ‘I don’t want to remake any your past records because I know I’m gonna fuck it up. I’ll never be able to reach the greatest MJ,’” he wrote. “It took them hours to pump me up to even go in the booth.”
“And I still hated it when I came out the booth,” he added. “Then the song came out and it was even worse than it sounded in the studio. This is legit one the reasons I don’t work with the managers I had anymore because if I said I was uncomfortable doing something they didn’t care.”
According to T-Pain, Jones did not fer any guidance on the day the recording. “But also to be real. It just seems like @QuincyDJones is pissed f at the whole world,” he continued. “I have nothing but respect for the guy so I don’t know why we didn’t hold the song or tell me exactly what he wanted when I kept taking the headphones f beggin for direction from the God.”