Roger Troutman fronted the Dayton, Ohio funk band Zapp and popularized the talk box as a lead-vocal effect, treating the human voice as a synthesizer years before Auto-Tune existed. He and Zapp's electro-funk catalog became one of the most sampled foundations of West Coast hip-hop, and its vocal futurism anticipated the vocal-processing tradition T-Pain would later build a career on. Troutman died in 1999.

the sound in question

1985

Computer LoveRoger Troutman