Source: Gary Gershoff / Getty
dropped a throwback video showing the first time he came up with one of his most famous lines—when he rhymed “mansion” with “Wiscansin.”
The line comes from his 2008 hit “Can’t Believe It” featuring Lil Wayne. If you’ve ever said “Wiscansin” instead of “Wisconsin,” this is where it all started.
In the video, T-Pain’s in the studio recording and says, “I can put you in a mansion, somewhere in Wiscansin.” Right after, he turns to his friends and asks, “That’s how they say that in Wisconsin right?” Everyone starts laughing, and you can tell they knew the line was going to stick. That one rhyme turned into a whole thing. Teddy Pain ended up naming a tour “Wiscansin University” and even dropped merch with the made-up school name.
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The song “Can’t Believe It,” where T-Pain says the made-up word “Wiscansin,” is from his 2008 album
Three Ringz. The track features Lil Wayne and became one of the album’s biggest hits.
Three Ringz is T-Pain’s third studio album and has a circus theme, with skits and interludes tying it all together. Other songs on the album include “Freeze” with Chris Brown, “Chopped ’n’ Skrewed” with Ludacris, and “Karaoke.”
The album blends R&B, hip-hop, and Auto-Tune-heavy vocals that T-Pain is known for.
Three Ringz was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
This vintage footage shows how Pain didn’t overthink it—he just had fun and let it flow. Sometimes the lines that hit the hardest come out of nowhere. Now fans finally get to see the exact moment the line that made everyone say “Wiscansin” was created.
Check out some of the reactions to the rare footage below.
