T-Pain is not a fan of Black History Month. In fact, he believes people should stop celebrating it. While speaking to TMZ, the producer explained that Black people’s contributions to US history should generally be celebrated rather than just for one month.
“I don’t think we should celebrate Black History Month. I think we should just have history,” Pain said. He then went on to explain that the designation of the month is yet another form of segregation.
“They overshot it. We don’t want our own shit. You separating us again!” he said. “We want to be part of history, not just one month of it. I’d rather everybody stop celebrating that shit and just let us be part of history. And if you haven’t paid attention, it’s the shortest month of the year.”
T-Pain is not the only artist to discourage the celebration of Black History Month. The artist formerly known as Kanye West has also expressed his disdain for the annual celebration.
“Most Black people, we don’t know [where we come from]. We think we came from slaves,” Ye told Joe Rogan in 2020. “We don’t know our bloodline, and we’re given Black History Month, and we take that like it’s some gift to us. No, it’s a programming to us. Racism doesn’t end until we get to a point where we stop having to put the word ‘Black’ in front of it because it’s like we’re putting the rim a little bit lower for ourselves.”
“We shouldn’t have to have a special box, a special month,” the Chicago native went on. “What they show on Black History Month is us getting hosed down, reminding us that we were slaves. What if we had, Remember When I Cheated on You Month? Remember When You First Found the Text Messages? How does that make you feel? It makes you feel depleted and defeated.”
During his popular “Drink Champs” interview, Ye added that Americans should instead celebrate Black Future Month or Black Possibility Month. He’s since declared the month of February as the former.
See T-Pain share his thoughts below.