The record kicks off with “Bang Bang Pow Pow”, a banger with a beat, hook, and Lil’ Wayne verse so hard you’d think Pain borrowed the track from frequent collaborator DJ Khaled. But its aggressive swag doesn’t suit T-Pain, whose persona works best at the intersection of party jams, love songs, and flirty seduction. For example, strip club anthem “Center of the Stage” features great spots from Bei Maejor and R. Kelly. Kelly, in particular, brings out the best in T-Pain (remember his verse on the remix of “I’m a Flirt”?), who has the raw talent and smooth charisma of Kells, minus the Chicago crooner’s eccentricities.

Instead, T-Pain’s charm lies in his sweet, heartfelt corniness. “Default Picture” has it in spades. It’s so posed, it doubles as a Twitter ad, but Pain totally owns it, as cheesy as its lyrics are. In the song’s words and sound (chimes in the intro, that blasted Auto-Tune again on the verses), it’s as if Pain refuses to be embarrassed or self-conscious on rEVOLVEr. Sonically, he goes full-on house cheese on “Turn All the Lights On” with Ne-Yo and “It’s Not You (It’s Me)” featuring Pitbull, full of pop-house sheen, a pop trend with which Pain is playing catch-up on this record.

He’s trying some new things, too, like pairing up Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen on a slow jam (“5 O’Clock”, which works fairly well) and giving singer Chris Brown shine on “Look at Her Go” and “Best Love Song”. This is painful to admit, but these are two of rEVOLVEr’s better songs.

As toe-tapping or even eyebrow-raising as some of rEVOLVEr’s 17 songs are (overlong at 66 minutes of no skits, just music), there’s little to nothing here to put it over the top. But here’s hoping for more great T-Pain features, projects, and one-off singles.

Essential Tracks: “Center of the Stage” and “Look at Her Go”

For post-prison rhyme #2, Lil Wayne teams up with none other than T. Pain — apparently they use the moniker T-Wayne — for a track called “Hoes & Ladies”, off T-Pain’s new mixtape, prEVOLVEr (via 2dopeboz). Boy, Weezy’s really setting the bar high.

“Hoes & Ladies”

If that 15-year-old freestyle got you feeling nostalgic for the Jay-Z of old, then prepare to buy a more permanent residence on memory lane as HOV readies the release of The Hits Collection Volume 1 (via MTV News).

The greatest hits collection will be released in CD and vinyl. Along with the standard package, there’ll be a Deluxe Edition Package and a Collector’s Edition Box Set. The Deluxe offering will feature an additional disc of five previously unreleased tracks and a 32-page booklet. The box set will feature all that plus a 100-page coffee table book of photo’s through out Jigga’s life. Now that’s a whole lotta HOV.

The Hits Collection Volume 1 hits stores November 23rd via Def Jam. Between this and the Decoded book out November 16th, we know what the Jay-Z fan in your house is getting for Christmas…

The Hits Collection Volume 1 Tracklist:
Disc: 1
1. Public Service Announcement (Interlude)
2. Run This Town (Feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)
3. ‘03 Bonnie & Clyde (Feat. Beyoncé)
4. Encore
5. I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
6. Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
7. D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
8. 99 Problems
9. Empire State Of Mind (Feat. Alicia Keys)
10. Dirt Off Your Shoulder
11. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
12. Show Me What You Got
13. Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)…
14. Big Pimpin’

Disc: 2
1. Young Gifted and Black
2. Pump It Up (Freestyle)
3. My President Is Black (Remix)
4. Go Hard Remix (Jay-Z, Kanye West & T-Pain)
5. Most Kings (Feat. Green Lantern)

Aside from those items, it’s hard to find any more “positives” from this “We Are the World: 25″. For one, the song is completely overtaken by auto-tune midway through — you can thank Lil Wayne, Jamie Foxx, and T-Pain for this! That’s of course before it turns into a full-fledged hip-hop song, complete with club beats, which doesn’t make much sense when you consider that the first half of the song features Justin Bieber, Barbra Streisand, the dude from Maroon 5, a Michael Jackson montage, and a really pitchy chorus. I guess what I’m trying to say is the whole thing feels like a misguided and undefined mishmash of various solo talents that never really comes together. Oh well, it still was for a good cause…

If you feel compelled, you can download/donate via world25.org. And just for kicks, here is the original version of “We Are the World”, which is still really, really good…

According to ChartAttack.com, Mullen actually called the show’s producers and asked to be involved. Mike Henry, the voice behind the titular character, was more than happy to bring the apparently funny Mullen aboard.

“He came in and we hung out for a couple of hours,” Henry said. “We just recorded him doing a couple of different parts and he was very funny.”

The episodes, which don’t have air dates as of yet, will find Mullen playing a mobster in one episode and an Elvis Presley impersonator in the other. Thank you, comedy gods. As for West’s episode, that’s scheduled to air this spring. Also making appearances is the aforementioned will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas and T-Pain, who will voice a friend of Cleveland, Jr.

We’ll keep you updated regarding Mullen’s TV debut. Until then, catch him on tour with U2.

U2 2010 Tour Dates:
06/06 – Anaheim, CA @ Angel Stadium
06/07 – Anaheim, CA @ Angel Stadium
06/12 – Denver, CO @ Invesco Field
06/16 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Coliseum
06/20 – Seattle, WA @ Qwest Field
06/23 – Edmonton, AB @ Commonwealth Stadium
06/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ TCF Bank Stadium
06/30 – East Lansing, MI @ Spartan Stadium
07/03 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
07/06 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
07/09 – Miami, FL @ Land Shark Stadium
07/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field
07/16 – Montreal, QC @ Montreal Hippodrome
07/17 – Montreal, QC @ Montreal Hippodrome
07/19 – New York, NY @ New Meadowlands Stadium
08/07 – Turin, IT @ Stadio Olimpico
08/10 – Frankfurt, DE @ Commerzbank Arena
08/12 – Hannover, DE @ AWD Stadium
08/15 – Horsens, DE @ Casa Arena
08/16 – Horsens, DE @ Casa Arena
08/20 – Helsinki, FL @ Olympic Stadium
08/21 – Helsinki, FL @ Olympic Stadium
08/25 – Moscow, RU @ Luzhniki
08/30 – Vienna, AU @ Ernst Happel Stadium
09/03 – Athens, GR @ Olympic Stadium
09/06 – Istanbul, TR @ Ataturk Olympic Stadium
09/11 – Zurich, CH @ Letzigrund Stadium
09/12 – Zurich, CH @ Letzigrund Stadium
09/15 – Munich, DE @ Olympic Stadium
09/18 – Paris, FR @ Stade De France
09/22 – Brussels, BE @ Stade Roi Boudoin
09/23 – Brussels, BE @ Stade Roi Boudoin
09/26 – San Sebastian, SE @ Anoeta Stadium
09/29 – Seville, SE @ Olympic Stadium
10/02 – Coimbra, PT @ Estadio Cidade Coimbra
10/03 – Coimbra, PT @ Estadio Cidade Coimbra
10/08 – Rome, IT @ Olympic Stadium

According to HipHopDX and HotSpotATL.com, Freaknik will be T-Pain’s Cartoon Network Adult Swim special about the raucous spring break parties that took place in Atlanta in the 1990s. Weezy’s role will be that of Jesus Christ in the parody rap video “Ghetto Commandments”. Here’s the low down from Adult Swim folks themselves.

“Basically it was a Black Spring Break that went down in Atlanta and got shut down back in ’98 or ’99. So the show is going to resurrect that, and it’s going to be starring T-Pain and Lil Wayne and all these other artists like David Banner and some other dudes,” said Adult Swim creative director Jake Escobedo. “It’s all drawn, and T-Pain plays the ghost of spring break, the Spirit of Freaknik. He brings this party back to Atlanta and the artists have done all this music for it, and it’s amazing.”

There’s not much else to say other than to park yourself in front of a TV come March 21st.

Oh, and now our lives are truly complete.

Not that Ellen or Tyra really have anything to worry about, but could you imagine the guests on this show? They could have Jay-Z talking about childhood memories, Kanye West shouting out for his late mother, and not to mention, each of their respected sons! Well, maybe not Lil’ Wayne — at least for awhile.

Oy vey!

“Dancing Choose”

“Golden Age”

But the sounds of TV on the Radio weren’t the only thing to resonate from the speakers of one’s television last night, and there was in fact, one musical highpoint. Ahead of Tuesday’s release of its debut studio album, Incredibad, The Lonely Island offered up a brand new selection entitled, “I’m on a Boat”. The title says it all, and like may other of the the Andy Samberg led trio’s hilarious songs, this one features a particularity noteworthy guest. After all, what would a boat trip be without T-Pain and his autotune along for the ride?