When you think of T-Pain and his music, there's one word that comes to mind: auto-tune. The singer helped popularize the funky warped sound that spawned its own app and has sparked controversy for other artists including Britney Spears [1] and Kanye West [2]. But while he may be known for the funky style, T-Pain's recent NPR Tiny Desk Concert [3] proves that he's actually pretty darn good without it.

Sure, auto-tune-filled songs like his 2007 hit "Buy U a Drank" helped define him as an artist, but T-Pain admitted to NPR that his intentions with the sound were misinterpreted. "People felt like I was using it to sound good," he told All Things Considered. "But I was just using it to sound different." So though we've always thought T-Pain's songs were great for busting a move, we're now convinced that he's also worthy of a close listen.