2. Tory Lanez’ ‘I Told You’
A couple of hours before Frank Ocean’s Endless was live on Apple Music, Tory Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, dropped his debut album, I Told You. After 15 mix-tapes spanning the years between 2009 and 2016, there was a community of music fans, looking forward to his debut LP. Given the many jabs Tory has taken at Drake over the last few years and his constant bragging, he had a lot to prove on ‘I Told You’. Did he live up to the high stakes he’s built for himself? We explore that below in our review of I Told You.
Sounds like…
A kinda disjointed mish-mash of everything from trap music, to more conventional hip hop to smooth contemporary R&B with a touch of Lanez’s Bajan roots (on LUV). ‘I Told You’ is mainly a hip hop album, with Tory Lanez rapping on most songs, but as Lanez has flexed several times in the past, he’s quite a good singer, maybe even a better singer than rapper. At risk of sounding biased, the best musical moments on I Told You are mostly the R&B songs on the album, as Lanez’ constant declarations of his superior skills in his rap verses, do not get in the way on those songs. Instead, he flexes his fairly impressive falsetto, shows he’s one of the singer-rappers with better vocals and his knack for a catchy tune. The versatility of sounds on the album, however, make it difficult to point to a sound that is his – at times he sounds like Future or Fetty Wap and at other times is reminiscent of Trey Songs (Cold Hard Love) and The Weeknd (Flex).
Speaks of…
his journey from the ‘streets’ to relative stardom. I Told You is somewhat an audio film, with 14 tracks and 14 skits that tell the story of Tory’s struggles to shed his street-ways and focus on working towards a successful musical career. The concept is, however, overdone on ‘I Told You’, with the constant interruptions by skits making it kinda difficult to enjoy the listening experience. This is not least because it makes the album significantly longer – it’s quite intimidating to commit to listening to I Told You when a 28 tracklist is revealed when you try to stream it (the streaming services separate the songs from the accompanying skits). The theme of Tory’s journey plays out in the song lyrics, with doses of the bragging that often features in rap songs and love-themes playing out on the R&b records. There is also an introspective, poignant moment considering the weight of a former girlfriend having multiple abortions on Question Is.
Early faves…
LUV, Cold Hard Love, Question Is, Say It, High
The critics are saying…
Over the last few years, Tory Lanez has grown into a relatively versatile artist, a better singer than rapper, but decent at both… [He] is a promising talent who has a long way to go before he can be considered Drake’s peer, but he’s already nailed at least one Drake-ism: the bloated, overwrought album.
– Sheldon Pearce @ Pitchfork
Ironically enough, I Told You doesn’t actually tell us much other than that Tory is really proud to be famous. He sounds torn between a street dude from the States, a humble guy from Canada and some kid from the middle of nowhere with immeasurable aspirations to be a popular rapper.
– Scott Glaysher @ HipHop DX
Our verdict…
Some good songs, but hardly the standard of the debut we expected from Tory Lanez. But there are strong signals in I Told You that Lanez can pull off a good album – he is clearly multi-talented and can straddle the lines between Hip Hop and R&B which the likes of Drake and Bryson Tiller have shown has the potential for great success. There does need to be some sort of crystallisation of a sound that feels authentically his for this to happen.
Read all about it…
Genius.com’s feature on the album tracklist and skits
Pitchfork’s album review, as well as, HipHop DX’s
