I know what you’re thinking. Another R&B singer? One who’s playing up his ’80s baby roots with songs that are drowning in synthesizers, to boot? Do we really need a new version of J.Holiday or The-Dream?

In this case, hell yeah. Meet Panamanian/Trinidadian artist Casely, who’s dubbing himself “The New Prince of the South,” “retro-futuristic,” and anything else he can do in order to set himself apart from an ever-thickening pack of crooners (thankfully, sticking random punctuation in his name is not one of those things). I can’t front—just like the first time I heard “Bed” and “Shawty is a Ten,” I was a little skeptical of the dude. I mean, how many absurdly stretched out vowels can R&B take??? But then, Casely stopped by our offices to play his ear-crackish first single, “Emotional,” which just last week was the #3 most added song at urban radio. It was Valentine’s Day, and the 22-year old was smart enough to bring a rose for each and every one of us ladies…definitely earned his player stripes with that move. More importantly, he told us about his background (native South Floridian, classically trained pianist, former undergrad at Berklee College of Music) and about a few of his influences: Prince, Donnie Hathaway, Death Cab for Cutie (wha?) and Dru Hill. After I heard that last one, all the dots connected.

Dru Hill. You might think you don’t miss them, but guess what? The ghost of Dru lurks all around us, which means that subconsciously or not, we must be summoning it. And really, who else but Sisqo so excellently schlocked up Michael Jackson’s sound for a new generation of rumpshakers? Try to block out the trauma of “Thong Song” (my man really jumped the shark with those day-glo contact lenses), and you’ve got “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Big Bad Mama,” “Wild Wild West”…jams, all of them. Casely’s hip to this, and that’s why another one of his tracks, “Midnight,” is basically a new-school “How Many Licks,” only he switched out Lil’ Kim for Pitbull. (Casely’s the first artist on The Diaz Brothers’ new label under Epic Records, so that’s where the Pit connection comes in). You can check out that joint on his MySpace page, and be sure to look out for his debut album, 1985 (named for the year he was born, clearly), which is dropping sometime this April/May.

Keep your appetite wet in the meantime with the music video for Casely’s debut single, “Emotional,” below…and tell me you’re not hearing the return of the Dru, only better.

–M.H.

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