By the time {$Cassie}'s first album was released in August 2006, her first single had been on the {~Billboard} {\pop} chart for nearly four months and reached nine million plays through her {/MySpace} page. The page, set up in late 2005, was part of a strategy that sparked a lot of chatter and eventually landed the model-turned-vocalist on {$Diddy}'s {@Bad Boy} label. With plenty of anticipation already in place, {$Diddy} stepped aside, and allowed his new signing -- along with her musical partner, {$Ryan Leslie}, a studio do-it-all with credits on songs by {$Britney Spears} and {$Donell Jones} -- to run her course. {&"Me & U,"} the decidedly unwholesome track that excited so many {/MySpace} users, became one of the spring/summer hits of 2006, following the likes of {$Ciara}'s {&"Goodies"} and {$Teairra Marí}'s {&"Make Her Feel Good"} as a sexy, assertive single with an intricate and space-filled arrangement that doesn't batter the ears into submission. The looming synthesizer patterns, along with {$Cassie}'s upfront vocal, combine with an ice-cream-truck melody to give it a slightly twisted and threatening edge contained by none of its like-sounding predecessors. The second single, the snapping and swirling {&"Long Way 2 Go,"} is just as irresistible in its flippant playfulness. {$Cassie} scolds a hopeless suitor with such cutting nonchalance -- she's basically swatting a fly -- that you can see her delivering the lines by cellphone as she eyes a display of designer shoes. As a vocalist, {$Cassie} has enough character and ability to sell her material without fail. And there will never not be a need for a vocalist who doesn't handle each stage of a relationship as if her life depends on it. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide