“When I finally got the courage to ask somebody for help with my life, I went straight to David Banner and the words he gave me in the three hours of us talking, set a whole different trajectory of where my life was headed,” said the honoree and Masked Singer winner.

T-Pain also joked that it may be “a little early” for him to receive the Legend Award. “It’s a lil weird,” he teased. “I feel like I got two, three more songs we can probably do.”

(L-R) David Banner and T-Pain, winner of the Legend Award, attend Soul Train Awards 2023 on November 19, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.

He later thanked his wife, Amber Najm, in a touching moment. “The kind of person I was, the kind of person I’ve become, and to just be there as the same wife and the same woman through the entire thing and be one of the strongest people I know,” he expressed in his acceptance speech. “Dealing with the internet, dealing with my negatives and my flaws and staying with me. Just dealing with T-Pain and Faheem is a feat I have yet to figure out my damn self, so thank you, baby.”

Before concluding his acceptance speech, he issued a message to new artists looking to follow in his footsteps. “I don’t want you to chase this. I don’t want you to base your life on how many people in the crowd can tell you that you can have this,” he said. “I want you to know that you already got this. You already have this in your mind. I want y’all to be who y’all are unapologetically. I want y’all to be who you’ve always wanted to be. I want y’all to not care about what anybody thinks about that person. If you like it, I love it and I want some mo’ of it.”

T-Pain closed the Soul Train Awards ceremony with a nostalgic performance of his songs. In a span of 10 minutes, he ran through decades of timeless jams—sans special guests: “Got Money,” “Bartender,” “Good Life,” “I’m Sprung,” “Can’t Believe It,” “Chopped N Skrewed,” “Blame It,” “The Boss,” and “All I Do Is Win.”