''I Told You'' is the debut
studio album by Canadian rapper
Tory Lanez
Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and convicted felon. He received initial recognition from the mixtape ''Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story'', rel ...
. It was released on August 19, 2016, through
Mad Love Records and
Interscope Records. Recording sessions took place from 2015 to 2016. The
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
on the album was contributed by Lanez, alongside several other
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
s such as
Benny Blanco
Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is als ...
,
Cashmere Cat
Magnus August Høiberg (born 29 November 1987), known professionally as Cashmere Cat, is a Norwegian DJ, record producer, songwriter and musician. He is best known for producing songs for artists including Kanye West, The Kid Laroi, Selena Gomez ...
,
Frank Dukes
Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...
,
DJ Dahi
Dacoury Dahi Natche (born March 10, 1983), professionally known as DJ Dahi, is an American DJ, songwriter, record producer and singer from Inglewood, California. Dahi is perhaps best known for producing " Money Trees" by American rapper Kendri ...
,
Pop Wansel
Andrew "Pop" Wansel (born April 27, 1988) is an American record producer, musician and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the son of Philadelphia soul musician Dexter Wansel, Pop grew up in the music industry and began writing and pr ...
and
Noah Breakfast
Chidera Anamege, now known by his stage name Chiddy Bang, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to its breakup, Chiddy Bang was an American hip hop duo consisting of Anamege, under the stage name Chiddy, and Noah Beresin, ...
, among others.
''I Told You'' was supported by two
singles: "
Say It" and "
Luv". The album received generally mixed reviews from
music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
but despite that, it was a commercial success. It debuted at number four on the US
''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 52,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s in its first week.
Recording and production
In an interview with HotNewHipHop, Lanez spoke on the album: "I was tryna come up with a title for mad long and that what was kind of slowing me down cause I didn't want to make music off the wrong title... I might fuck around and not put no features on it. It has to have features that I can put on it and then there's those days where I'm like 'you know, I don't really need any features on it'. I prefer albums in the 10-12
rack list range you know that 18 be too long sometime because sometimes I wanna listen to an album from top to front and 18 songs is like 70 minutes of music. That's too much for me to comprehend and understand and I really want people to look at the musicalities of what we're putting out as far as the product and how good it is."
Release and promotion
In August 2015, Lanez performed on the
Mac Miller's
''GO:OD AM'' Tour. On October 15, 2015, the singer announced that he will be headlining "The Swavenation Tour" with fellow American rapper
Boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie mus ...
. On December 25, 2015, these
mixtapes such as ''
Chixtape III
''Chixtape III'' is a mixtape by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez; it was released on December 25, 2015. It is the sequel to ''Chixtape II'' released in March 2014. The album includes a guest appearance from Ed Sheeran and production from Play Picasso ...
'' and ''
The New Toronto'' were promoted as the prelude for his
major-label debut album.
On April 1, 2016, the singer and fellow American rapper
ASAP Ferg announced that they will be performing in "The Level Up Tour", setting up the two to performed in a special joint set, trading off between their own tracks and collaborations. On June 10, 2016, Lanez revealed the title to the album and tweeted, "The Album is coming this summer".
On July 7, 2016, the singer announced that he will be headlining the ''I Told You'' tour, to support the album. The tour started on July 22, in
WayHome Music & Arts Festival
WayHome Music and Arts festival is produced by Republic Live and owned by Stan and Eva Dunford. It is a three-day music and arts festival held at the custom-designed camping festival grounds, Burl's Creek Event Grounds. The festival offers multipl ...
in
Oro-Medonte,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. Lanez will be traveling across
North America through December 2016, with stops at
Lollapalooza,
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...
, Made in America, and the Mad Decent Block Party.
Singles
On July 15, 2015, Lanez released the first
single from the album, called "
Say It". The song was produced by
Pop Wansel
Andrew "Pop" Wansel (born April 27, 1988) is an American record producer, musician and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the son of Philadelphia soul musician Dexter Wansel, Pop grew up in the music industry and began writing and pr ...
and Toro. The music video was released on August 11, 2015. The song peaked at number 23 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 10 on the US
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
charts. On July 29, 2016, Lanez released the second single from the album, called "
Luv" on
iTunes. The song was produced by
Cashmere Cat
Magnus August Høiberg (born 29 November 1987), known professionally as Cashmere Cat, is a Norwegian DJ, record producer, songwriter and musician. He is best known for producing songs for artists including Kanye West, The Kid Laroi, Selena Gomez ...
and
Benny Blanco
Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is als ...
. The song peaked at number 19 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 9 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.
Critical reception
''I Told You'' received a mixed response upon release. At Album of the Year, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 58 based on six reviews.
In a positive review, online publication ''HotNewHipHop'', who collectively rated the album an 80, described the album as an "ambitious and lavish" project that showed that Lanez's future seemed "only brighter from here".
Kevin Ritchie of ''
Now
Now most commonly refers
to the present time.
Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to:
Organizations
* Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization
* National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization
* Now ...
'' was also positive towards the project, saying that the album made "a convincing case for Lanez's pop appeal".
Commercial performance
''I Told You'' debuted at number four on the US
''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 52,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s (including 32,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week.
This became Tory Lanez's first US top-ten debut on the chart.
The album also debuted at number two on the US
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...
chart.
In its second week, the album dropped to number 16 on the chart, earning an additional 21,000 units. As of March 2018, the album has earned 538,000 album-equivalent units and 95,000 copies in pure album sales in the US, according to
Nielsen Music
Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
.
On March 16, 2021, the album was certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalenut units of over 500,000 units in the United States.
Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Notes
* signifies a co-
producer
* A skit is featured in between each track
* "I Told You / Another One" features additional vocals by Nichole Gilbert and Teisha J. Brown
* "Guns And Roses" and "4AM Flex" features additional vocals by Kadeem Brown and Elizabeth Ruiz
* "Flex" features additional vocals by Kadeem Brown and Mikhail McCreath
* "To D.R.E.A.M." features additional vocals by Javeon McCarthy and Kadeem Brown
* "High" and "Dirty Money" features additional vocals by Elizabeth Ruiz and Robert Brown
* "Question Is" features vocals by Brianna Cash and additional vocals by Teisha J. Brown, Nichole Gilbert and Elizabeth Ruiz
* "Loners Blvd" features additional vocals by Matthew Adam, Sebastian Jorge Rompotis and Sonstar Peterson
* "Say It" features additional vocals by Elizabeth Ruiz
Sample credits
* "Say It" contains elements and samples from "
If You Love Me", written by
Gordon Chambers
Gordon Anthony Chambers (c. 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer who has written songs for more than 75 recording artists including Angie Stone, Yolanda Adams, The Isley Brothers, Brandy, Trey Songz, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBel ...
,
David Hall and
Nichole Gilbert, as performed by
Brownstone.
* "Luv" contains interpolations from "Everyone Falls In Love", written by Anthony Kelly,
Wayne Passley,
Mark Wolfe and
Stephen Marsden, as performed by
Tanto Metro & Devonte
Tanto Metro and Devonte are the Jamaican dancehall vocal duo of deejay Tanto Metro and singer Devonte.
History
Tanto Metro (born Mark Wolfe in Kingston, Jamaica) acquired his stage name from working on the Metromedia sound system.Henry, Kris ...
* "Come Back to Me" contains elements and samples from "
No Letting Go", written by
Von Charles and Stephen Marsden, as performed by
Wayne Wonder
Von Wayne Charles (born 26 July 1972), better known by his stage name Wayne Wonder, is a Jamaican reggae artist. While his early recordings were dancehall and reggae, he later moved towards hip hop and rap. His most popular single is the 2003 ...
.
* "High" contains a sample of "In the Meantime", written and performed by
Tinashe
Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe ( ; born February 6, 1993), known mononymously as Tinashe, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe moved to Pasadena as a child to pursue a career in entertainment. Her notab ...
, Produced by
T-Minus
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
.
* "Friends With Benefits" contains a sample of "Stunt", written and performed by Tinashe, Produced by
Frank Dukes
Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...
& !llmind.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Musicians
* Play Picasso – instrumentation , programming
* Lavish – instrumentation , programming
*
Two Inch Punch
Ben Ash, professionally known as Two Inch Punch, is an English record producer, musician, remixer and songwriter. He has written and produced records with Jessie Ware, Sam Smith, Years & Years, Rag'n'Bone Man, Tory Lanez, Ty Dolla $ign, Damon ...
– instrumentation , programming
*
Noah Breakfast
Chidera Anamege, now known by his stage name Chiddy Bang, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to its breakup, Chiddy Bang was an American hip hop duo consisting of Anamege, under the stage name Chiddy, and Noah Beresin, ...
– instrumentation , programming
* Matti Free – instrumentation , programming
*
XXYYXX
Marcel Everett (born October 31, 1995), better known as XXYYXX, is an electronic musician and record producer from Orlando, Florida, formerly signed to the label Relief in Abstract.
His style is likened to Clams Casino, Zomby, Burial, James B ...
– instrumentation , programming
* Happy Perez – instrumentation , programming
* Sergio R. – instrumentation , programming
*
Frank Dukes
Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...
– instrumentation , programming
*
Benny Blanco
Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is als ...
– instrumentation , programming
*
Cashmere Cat
Magnus August Høiberg (born 29 November 1987), known professionally as Cashmere Cat, is a Norwegian DJ, record producer, songwriter and musician. He is best known for producing songs for artists including Kanye West, The Kid Laroi, Selena Gomez ...
– instrumentation , programming
*
Daystar Peterson
Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and convicted felon. He received initial recognition from the mixtape ''Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story'', rel ...
– instrumentation , programming
*
Pop Wansel
Andrew "Pop" Wansel (born April 27, 1988) is an American record producer, musician and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the son of Philadelphia soul musician Dexter Wansel, Pop grew up in the music industry and began writing and pr ...
– instrumentation , programming
* Autoro Whitfield – keyboards , instrumentation , programming
* Jameel Roberts – keyboards
*
DJ Dahi
Dacoury Dahi Natche (born March 10, 1983), professionally known as DJ Dahi, is an American DJ, songwriter, record producer and singer from Inglewood, California. Dahi is perhaps best known for producing " Money Trees" by American rapper Kendri ...
– instrumentation , programming
* Ben Free – instrumentation , programming
Technical
* Daniel "Play Picasso" Gonzalez – engineering
* Johann Chavez – engineering
* Noah" Breakfast" Beresin – engineering
* Daniel Fyfe – engineering
* DJ Dahi – engineering
* Kyle VandeKerhoff – engineering
* Juan Carlos Torrado – engineering
* Joe Gallagher – engineering
*
Mark "Spike" Stent
Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...
– mixing
* Geoff Swan – mixing assistance
* Michael Freeman – mixing assistance
*
Chris Gehringer
Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...
– mastering
Production
* Zvi "The Real Hoody Allen" Edelman – production coordination
* Andrew "McMuffin" Luftman – production coordination
* Seif "Mageef" Hussain – production coordination
* Astrid "Aaaaastriiiiid" Taylor – production coordination
* Sascha Stone Guttfreund – production coordination
* Joey Mingioni - production coordination
* Brandon "Bdot" Zajac - production coordination
* Donnie Meadows – production coordination
* Tanisha Broadwater – production coordination
Additional personnel
* Matt Adam – creative director
* Nick Bilardello – creative director
* Stephanie Hsu – coordinator
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2016 debut albums
Tory Lanez albums
Albums produced by Benny Blanco
Albums produced by DJ Dahi
Albums produced by Frank Dukes
Albums produced by Cashmere Cat
Albums produced by Happy Perez
Albums produced by D33J
Interscope Records albums