American rapper T-Pain, whom fans applaud for his Grammy awards, Nappy Boy Entertainment record label, and popularization of working with Auto-Tune to add to one’s style, is a celebrity who promotes automotive culture. For a few years now, T-Pain has been into drifting. And, in his latest music video, Loud, which was released last month, the rapper’s drift-spec Ford Mustang RTR can be seen putting in some serious sideways work.
The music clip takes us to the racetrack, where the now-retired S550-generation pony (we’ll get back to this) makes full use of its N/A V8 to turn those rear tires into thick clouds of smoke.
The singer can also be seen riding shotgun in an E46 BMW M3 Convertible that sports track-savvy bits like a roll cage, but the ‘Stang remains the main vehicle in the clip.
Despite having professed his love for slip angle maneuvers since 2018, it’s not clear if T-Pain took the wheel for the video. For one, the artist needed to perform for the camera, and with proper drifting requiring serious coordination, perhaps he decided to keep the driving and the said performance separated.
The location used to shoot the video is Lanier Raceway, an 0.375-mile paved oval track found just outside Braselton, Georgia.
T-Pain’s S550 Mustang RTR drifter
T-Pain took delivery of his S550 Mustang RTR two years ago, with the tuner and race team’s leader, Vaughn Gittin Jr., sharing some of the skills that made him a Formula Drift championship with the rapper.
The muscle car is a Spec 5 RTR pony, albeit without a blower, but it features the kind of coilovers and wide-angle steering kit that are mandatory on a drift-prepped car.
Speaking of which, the Nappy Boy Automotive’s Instagram account recently shared two videos of the S650 (2024) Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD drift cars doing their thing at last weekend’s Palm Beach season opener for Formula Drift 2023. Alas, RTR driver and YouTuber Adam LZ crashed the Mustang RTR he’s sharing with Vaughn Gittin Jr. for this year, albeit with the driver being able to get back into the game once the crew was done fixing the vehicle.
And since T-Pain often takes to social media to talk about honing one’s drifting skills, we’ve added an Insta vid belowโthis clip shows three-times Formula Drift champion James Deane manhandling the Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD on the Californian tarmac.
Keep in mind that, aided by nitrous, the V8 heart of the pony makes up to 1,300 hp, while this sends the power to the rear wheels via a sequential transmission. And it’s the footwork that should take center stage for anybody willing to learn a thing or two from the said athlete.