When Cher used Antares Auto-Tune in 1998 for her song "Believe," few R&B or hip-hop artists paid much attention. But when T-Pain used Auto-Tune in 2005 for his song "I'm Sprung," he became a trendsetter in hip-hop music. In 2008 the Auto-Tune bandwagon swelled with artists eager to get a crack at using what has became known as the "T-Pain Machine." This year has seen an increase in the use of the technology by some of today's most popular artists; Rihanna, Chris Brown, 50 Cent, and Diddy have all experimented with the synthesized sound.

Auto-Tune reached new heights in hip-hop once two of the game's heavy hitters, Lil' Wayne and Kanye West, decided to add the effect to their repertoires. Both Lil' Wayne and Kanye, along with rappers like Snoop Dogg, prove that rappers often use vocoders when they attempt singing. Lil' Wayne released "Lollipop" in March, and it topped Billboard charts for weeks. However, Kanye one-upped his peers with his Auto-Tune saturated album, "808s & Heartbreak." In interviews, the ever-confident Kanye credits T-Pain for spreading Auto-Tune to the masses while noting that his 2004 album "The College Dropout," made use of Auto-Tune. Kanye's pre-trend use of the synthesizer could be yet another sign of his occasionally ignored artistic brilliance.

As the year comes to a close and artists look to the future of music, I hope hip-hop leaves the Auto-Tune trend in 2008. While the sound has become a trademark for T-Pain, who will most likely never sing without its aid, it should be left to him and him alone. The creativity and thrill of using the technology have both been exhausted, and now everything is beginning to sound robotic. It is time to put the Auto-Tune effect to rest.