T-Pain Quit School Days Before the End of 8th Grade Over a New Dress Code Policy

T-Pain has had one of the most impressive music careers of any of his peers. He did it all, interestingly, without graduating from 8th grade. The “Rapper Ternt Sanga” recently confessed that he quit school days before the end of 8th grade. The reason? A new dress code policy.

During a recent interview with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay, T-Pain clarified his middle experience and how it ended quite abruptly. “I made it all the way to the last eight days of eighth grade, and then after that, I dropped out,” he said.

When asked if his parents had anything to say about him leaving school, T-Pain said they actually “had a part of it.”

Detailing the story, T-Pain said it all started when the “school implemented a dress code” that all the boys “had to tuck their shirts in.” Sharpe noted that this didn’t sound “too extreme.” T-Pain saw his point but raised the stakes. “It’s not too extreme, unless you’re fat,” he quipped, “because now all the girls you like can see exactly the shape of you.”

Recalling a conversation with his coach, T-Pain was told, “If you don’t tuck your shirt, we got to fail you.” He begged for mercy because he was terrified of his crush finding “out how fat I am.”

T-Pain later clarified that he knew there was more to the situation beyond. “It wasn’t just her, it was just my self-esteem,” he said, then went on to further recall how it all went down. According to the rapper, the dean of his school came through and gave him several warnings about tucking in his shirt. T-Pain understood the situation but was simply unwilling to comply. This meant he was expelled.

The girl T-Pain was trying to impress eventually “got on drugs,” he said

“The last eight days of eighth grade, which means I had to repeat the eighth grade,” the Grammy-winner explained. “My grades were good enough to go to high school. But in order for me to pass to high school, I would’ve had to take the last exams in eighth grade. Since I got expelled because of my shirt, I would’ve had to repeat the eighth grade.”

Now, let’s jump back a little. Remember how T-Pain said his parents were “part” of his decision to quit school? Turns out it was kind of accidental. “My dad was like, ‘Oh, they don’t care about grades, they care about their image. You not going to school anymore.’”

At this point, T-Pain said his dad decided to homeschool him, but that did not go according to plan. “My dad abruptly forgot that he said that, and he let me stay home for another year. He had no idea,” T-Pain concluded with a laugh. “I’m sure he had an idea, but he was like, ‘Oh shit, I forgot I gotta go to work.’”

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