So, over the course of the past year, I’ve found myself moving more and more towards Team Drake. It’s not that he’s particularly talented (because, quite honestly? He isn’t), but his music has a personal, emotional vibe to it that’s missing from much of today’s hip-hop.

For his latest project, which is an R&B mixtape, Drake has decided to concentrate on his singing (which I think he’s better at than rapping anyway). The first taste of this mixtape comes via “I Get Lonely Too”. If the song sounds familiar at all, it’s because “Lonely” is a note-for-note cover of “FanMail”, the title track (and one of the best songs) from TLC’s decidedly mediocre third LP (which nevertheless sold a bazillion copies). Thematically, the song fits in with Drake’s somewhat melancholy music, and I gotta say that Drizzy, even with all of today’s voice-enhancing technology, sounds like less of a cyborg than T-Boz did back in the day. I’m just wondering how many kids are going to listen to this and think it’s an entirely new song. Is it possible that there’s now a generation of people who don’t remember TLC? Geez, does time fly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13LRJR0mE1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpH-UR8_B3o