Embattled singer and rapper
Tory Lanez arrived as a contender when his debut single "Say It," enhanced with a sample of
Brownstone's 1994 hit "If You Love Me," became a Top Ten hit on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart and reached number 23 on the Hot 100. The tender ballad eventually went platinum. Prior to the release of his debut album,
I Told You,
Lanez flooded the market with an album's worth of promotional singles, and he became just as known -- if not more known -- for his persistent provocation of fellow Torontonian
Drake. On
I Told You, a promising debut album,
Lanez shifts back and forth through a number of vocal approaches and continues to show that he's most affecting when in vulnerable falsetto mode, as on "Cold Hard Love" and "High." He's definitely more skilled at singing than he is at rapping. A smart selection of the best pre-album cuts and the highlights here would make for one of the year's better commercial R&B debuts. ~ Andy Kellman