5 Things We Want From Tory Lanez's "I Told You"

At Midnight, we debuted the second official single from Tory Lanez's long-awaited and highly anticipated debut album. "Luv" not only continues to pave the way to Tory's album, it came with his album title: I Told You. Tory had previously teased a summer release on twitter, but this cements that even further and gets us even more excited for the impending album.

It's about time we take a look at our personal expectations for I Told You, or perhaps more accurately, our five-item wish list. It's been a minute since we churned out 5 Things We Want, but with Tory's album around the corner (?) we came up with a few important objectives, which hopefully come to fruition. There's nothing too unrealistic here, so we're thinking we should get at least 3 out of 5. What do you think?

Click through the galleries above and let us know what you're hoping to hear/find on Tory Lanez's Interscope debut.

The two official singles we’ve heard thus far fall safely within the pop-r’n’b–Tory category, however many of his Fargo Friday releases fall on the rappity-rap-Tory spectrum. Both “Say It” and “Luv” are prime radio fodder, with easy-going production and extremely catchy hooks (both of which interpolate/sample from ‘90s classics—maybe this will be a theme we see throughout the album?); even the Miguel-assisted “L.A. Confidential” falls in a similar lane, although it appears it’s not being pushed as a proper album single. Still, while we can appreciate and even listen to these records on repeat, we’re hoping that T Lanez whips out some hard-hitting bars on I Told You, a la "For Real," "Diego," and "Line Up The Flex," etc.  We have a feeling die-hard Tory fans will be looking for those bangers (at least, we will be), while newcomers to Tory may be more inclined to hear his softer side.

Lest we forget, Tory’s dexterity with multiple styles and genres (something which he refers to as “swavey”) is one of his great advantages in this here rap game—so let’s hope he plays to all his various strengths on I Told You, and not just the major label-approved pop sphere.

Today’s new single, “Luv,” features production from Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat (more on those two later), and while it’s dope as fuck, we hope that Tory’s day one collaborator makes the debut, as well as collaborator or two he picked up along the way.

Play Picasso is a name you should instantly associate with Tory, he’s the driving force behind many a Fargo Friday release, and by extension, he’s helped Tory curate and define his sound. It’s no secret that Tory has been in this game awhile, and he’s gone through many musical iterations—his mixtape discography alone should tell you this (he’s released over fourteen). What would Tory’s sound be like if he never linked with the “Cuban dude with long ass hair”? The two owe each other much in the way of their joint success—it would be hella surprising if Play didn’t have at least one (banger, please) on the album. Just peep some of their past collabs and try to say you don’t concur.

Another producer who helped in the Tory-come-up is Shlohmo. Well, WeDidIt in general gave Tory their co-sign when they teamed up for a free EP together, Cruel Intentions, however Shlohmo and RL Grime in particular are producers we’d like to see on I Told You. Benny Blanco’s Mad Love team is more than capable of handling the pop-leaning ballads like “Luv,” however we want the WeDidIt crew to cook up some of their darker, woozier, and ultimately more underground r’n’b sound for Tory to croon over. 

Although Tory mentioned during our interview this past March that he might just fuck around and drop a debut album without any features, we’re hoping for at least two well-chosen and well-placed guest appearances. We’ll even help choose them.

First up, how about a collaboration with the Prince of Toronto? Although it’s doubtful we’ll ever see  Drake and Tory team up for the Canadian city, we can hope that Tory co-signs one of the city’s fast-rising youth, Jazz Cartier, by blessing him with an album feature.  It’s not just because they’re both Toronto representatives, but just the fact that a collab between these two would sound dope. Jazz is already a master of the dark, banger-esque production, and imagine if they could find some middle ground between Jazz’s Hotel Paranoia sound and Tory’s sprawling, operatic-based music – basically, we need Lantz and Play Picasso to joint-produce this hypothetical Tory x Jazz song, amirite?

If Jazz Cartier takes care of the lesser-known but quality feature, we’d also like to hear Tory team up with an artist that is definitively bigger than he is, some sort of “great” that would lend his album a wow factor. Who exactly? Kanye West. There’s some history here. Apparently Ye has already been in contact with Tory’s team, after reaching out to him for the “Say It” instrumental—obviously the hope would be that he remixed it, but nothing has surfaced yet. Nonetheless it’s a good sign that Ye approves of Tory’s genre-bending music and would be open to collaborating— as in providing a hot 16—for Tory’s debut I Told You.

Although we definitely want to see some varied producer names and ensure Tory’s frequent/fan-favorite collaborators get some looks on his debut, Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat pairing up as the album’s executive producers would ensure a uniform and modern sound throughout—or perhaps more accurately, a modern take on ‘90s music. We’ll have to wait and see if the ‘90s samples and interpolations really does becomea running theme on I Told You, but if anyone can finesse those sounds to still sound ultra modern and sleek, it would be Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat. As a team, Benny Blanco could ensure the album doesn’t lack in its pop sensibilities (a good thing for Interscope), while Cashmere Cat could give everything a futuristic and unique edge, whether it’s electronic, hip-hop or r’n’b-tinged.

This one is probably not too far off base. Tory already told us he prefers albums in the “10-12” track range, saying, “the 18 [song tracklist] be too long sometimes,” and we have to agree. We only hope he heeds his own advice, and delivers 12 mind-blowingly dope records as opposed to an 18-song tracklist that falters in a few places. It’s quality over quantity, always. Not only do we hope for a slimmed down and succinct tracklist, we’re thinking the balance of themes should reflect the two sides of Tory: love and streets. If Tory’s not in his women-serenading mode on the r’n’b tip, chances are he’s rapping about working his wrist or some fucked up shit he’s seen in his youth— we’ll take both of sides of the coin for I Told You, and this should balance out nicely assuming he shows us both sides of his talent (see the first slide).