MUSIC R & amp;B singer Lloyd hits the scene with baby face, tough attitude

His debut album went to No. 11 in its first week.
By JIM FARBER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
R & amp;B has a fab new ab man. The one-name singer Lloyd boasts the six-pack torso of Usher, and even has that superstar's baby face.
"I'm still trying to get my goatee," he admits. "Sometimes I have to draw it on with a magic marker."
And yet, Lloyd's lyrics feature more F-words than a gangsta rapper in full spew.
"Sometimes the [words] might come across as too harsh," the 18-year-old admits. "But I'm being upfront about my experiences, and that's fulfilling to me."
It's financially rewarding, too. Lloyd's balance of teen-idol cutes and tough-talking swagger shot his debut CD, "Southside," to No. 11 in its first week on Billboard's latest Top 200 Albums chart this summer. The sales were fired by a major R & amp;B hit with the title track, a duet with fresh-voiced singer Ashanti.
New title for label
Lloyd is the first male R & amp;B singer signed to the company that brought listeners Ashanti, the label formerly known as Murder Inc. "Southside" doubles the debut releases under the company's circumspect new title, The Inc.
"Everyone knows what the company still is," Lloyd says. "But when people hear 'Murder,' they shy away from it."
Lloyd has had his own experience with murder. The singer was just 2 when his father was shot to death.
Lloyd, whose last name is Polite, grew up with his mother in Atlanta. He sang from such an early age that by the time he was 10 he was referred by the music director of his elementary school to an important acquaintance -- former Klymaxx singer Joyce Irby. She was putting together a boy band called N-Tune. Though the group got a deal with Warner Bros, no album was released.
"There were a lot of confrontations with the parents," Lloyd explains.
Got discovered
After the band went bust, Lloyd began making his own demos. But his looks first got him attention. He was working in a studio when an Arista A & amp;R man liked what he saw and asked him if he sang or rapped. Lloyd played his tape, which led to a meeting with label chief L.A. Reid.
Though Reid was soon booted from Arista, he took Lloyd with him to his next job, as head of Universal Records. Reid thought Lloyd would pair best with Irv Gotti at Murder Inc.
While a story goes that Gotti sent Lloyd to the gym before he even went to the studio, Lloyd says it was the other way around.
"He did send me to the gym," Lloyd says. "But if I sounded like crap, I would just be a muscle-head."
Lloyd does acknowledge how big a part looks play in modern pop.
"In front of the camera, you got to be fly," he says. "That's my motto -- fly or die."