Akon is shedding light on his past friendship and competition with T-Pain, revealing that the “Buy U a Drank” hitmaker once dropped $1.7 million on a Bugatti just to outshine him.

Appearing on the Bag Fuel Podcast, Akon was asked whether T-Pain ever reached out to him for financial help. Instead of a simple yes or no, he offered a detailed story that revealed some friendly—but costly—rivalry between the two artists.

“With Pain, it was a little different because Pain had got to a certain level of his career where he was competing with me too,” Akon said. “We would have real conversations. I’d be like, ‘Yeah, Pain. I don’t think you need to buy that car.’”

When the Cars Became a Competition

Akon went on to describe a pattern he noticed: T-Pain seemed intent on one-upping him whenever he bought a new vehicle.

“I noticed that every time I bought a car, Pain would come and try to outdo it. Then he pulled up on me in a Bugatti,” Akon said.
“At that time, the car was like $1.7 million. Now you get a Bugatti for about $3 million, but back then, that was unheard of.”

He continued with a laugh:

“So I saw that car, and I said, ‘Oooh, Pain, I don’t know.’ He said, ‘I’m shtting on these n**s.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you are. You shtting on me too, I gotta give it to you.’ But he was sh*tting on everybody.”

Akon Once Thought T-Pain Would Go Further in Music

Akon previously opened up about T-Pain’s career trajectory in a VladTV interview, expressing his belief that the artist could have been even bigger.

“I thought T-Pain would be further in his music career,” Akon said. “One of the major reasons is that T-Pain never left the hood. He confined his music to urban music… That was it.”

Akon added that he had seen potential for T-Pain to cross over into pop, EDM, and even Latin genres, much like himself.

T-Pain Responds to Past Comments—Without Naming Names

While T-Pain hasn’t directly addressed Akon’s recent remarks, he did seem to respond to earlier criticism through cryptic tweets back in 2021.

“The very ppl that held me back is tellin y’all how I could’ve been bigger,” he tweeted.

He followed up with a message of growth and self-reflection:

“I’m not angry at all. I’ve grown. I’ve learned how to keep moving forward and not look back… I’m in control. See y’all on the brighter side. Love y’all.”

Despite past tensions and perceived rivalry, both artists have continued to shape the sound of modern music—one Bugatti at a time.