NE-YO v THE DREAM

thank you for not making this PRINCE v NE-YO v THE-DREAM or something

anyway Ne-Yo all the way.

teh-draem

battle of the hyphened R&B stars

ne-yo

NE-YO
Songwriting credits
Year Song Artist Album
1999 Don't Worry Youngstown Let's Roll
1999 Lose My Cool Youngstown Let's Roll
1999 Pedal To The Steel Youngstown Let's Roll
2001 Away With The Summer Days Youngstown Down For the Get Down
2001 Dance Floor, Pt. 2 Youngstown Down For the Get Down
2001 Down For The Get Down Youngstown Down For the Get Down
2001 Float Away Youngstown Down For the Get Down
2001 So Tight Youngstown Down For the Get Down
2003 That Girl Marques Houston MH
2004 I'm Sorry Christina Milian It's About Time
2004 Let Me Love You Mario Turning Point
2005 Kick It Wit You Cassidy I'm a Hustla
2005 So What Dawn Angelique Been a While
2006 The Letter Heather Headley In My Mind
2006 Y'all Ain't Nothin' Christina Milian So Amazin'
2006 Unfaithful Rihanna A Girl Like Me
2006 So Glad Chris Brown Chris Brown's Journey
2006 Make Em' Clap To This Paula DeAnda Paula DeAnda
2006 Walk Away Paula DeAnda Paula DeAnda
2006 When It Was Me Paula DeAnda Paula DeAnda
2006 Gallery Mario Vazquez Mario Vazquez
2006 Irreplaceable Beyoncé B'Day
2006 Like This Snoop Dogg Tha Blue Carpet Treatment
2006 Put It in a Letter Mic Little Mic Little
2006 Minority Report Jay-Z Kingdom Come
2006 My Story The Blays The Blays
2007 If Mario Go!
2007 What's It Gonna Be Mario Go!
2007 Wonderful Marques Houston Veteran
2007 Ms.Philadelphia Musiq Soulchild Luvanmusiq
2007 Flaws and All Beyoncé B'Day Deluxe Edition
2007 Hate That I Love You Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad
2007 Good Girl Gone Bad Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad
2007 Question Existing Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad
2007 I Get Lonely Corbin Bleu Another Side
2007 Ain't Nobody Stupid Paula Campbell I Am Paula Campbell
2007 Work in Progress Mary J. Blige Growing Pains
2007 I'm You Leona Lewis Spirit
2007 I Got Nothin' Left Celine Dion Taking Chances
2007 Happily Never After Nicole Scherzinger Her Name Is Nicole
2008 Rock with U Janet Discipline
2008 Can't B Good Janet Discipline
2008 Discipline Janet Discipline
2008 Let Me Know Janet Discipline

THE-DREAM
Writing credits

* 3LW - "You Ain't Ready"
* Ashanti - "Medicine"
* B2K - "Everything"
* Bayje - "Still in Love"
* Bayje - "Missin' You"
* Boss - "Butterfly Effect"
* Billy Crawford - "Bright Lights Big City"
* Brit and Alex - "Beautiful"
* Brit and Alex - "Heart Breaker"
* Brit and Alex - "Preachin' to the Choir"
* Brit and Alex - "Thats My Baby"
* Britney Spears - "Me Against the Music" (feat. Madonna)
* Brooke Valentine - "Ghetto Superstarz"
* Celine Dion - "Skies of L.A."
* Chris Brown - "You"
* Dear Jane - "Talkin' 'Bout Hisself"
* Dear Jane - "I Loose Everything"
* J. Holiday - "Bed"
* J. Holiday - "Laa Laa"
* J. Holiday - "Suffocate"
* Janet Jackson - "Greatest X"
* Jesse McCartney - "Leavin"
* Lucy Walsh - "Forever Since"
* Lucy Walsh - "So Uncool"
* Mariah Carey - "Touch My Body"
* Mariah Carey - "Touch My Body (Remix)" (feat. The-Dream)
* Mary J. Blige - "Just Fine"
* Mary J. Blige - "Shake Down" (feat. Usher)
* Mary J. Blige - "Stay Down"
* Mýa - "Like Crazy"
* Nicole Scherzinger - "Powers Out" (feat. Sting)
* Nivea - "Complicated"
* Nivea - "I Can't Mess with You"
* Nivea - "Indian Dance"
* Nivea - "Let It Go"
* Nivea - "Okay" (feat. Lil Jon & YoungBloodZ)
* Nivea - "Red Cup" (feat. The-Dream)
* Nivea - "Watch It"
* Shawn Desman - "No More"
* Shawn Desman - "Man in Me"
* Shawn Desman - "Ooh"
* Steph Jones - "La La Means Love"
* Sugababes - "Gotta Be You"
* Rihanna - "Breakin' Dishes"
* Rihanna - "Lemme Get That"
* Rihanna - "Sell Me Candy"
* Rihanna - "Umbrella"
* Usher - "Moving Mountains"

"it was Keisha..."

somewhere between these two polls R. Kelly is racking up votes...

dreamer

altho "so sick" is probably better than any of dream's solo songs

ugh no way

i like ne-yo better for his own songs, but i guess i like more of the dream's ghostwriting. abstain!

R&B singers don't have ghostwriters, they just have songwriters.

umbrella and falsetto pwn any ne-yo thing

i like ne-yo better for his own songs, but i guess i like more of the dream's ghostwriting. abstain!

-- Jordan, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:58 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

opposite for me maybe

if seeing two hot girls say "Falsetto" is sexy and start grinding on each other couldn't make me like that song, nothing will. Ne-Yo can be overly bland sometimes, but compared to that chinless helium-voiced hack going AYY AYY AYY into infinity, he's a genius.

wow dude

the-dream: alex :: nickelback: the rest of the world

you just took your SATs did you

lazy zing thread, lol you young

THE DREAM v ALEX v NICKLEBACK v THE REST OF THE WORLD

I think I can win this one.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

damn is this lopsided

The-Dream's recorded a better album than any of Ne-Yo's ("Livin' a Lie" is one of my singles of the year), but damn if I don't prefer the way Ne-Yo's lyrics slither around those Stargate beats on his singles. "So Sick," "Sexy Love," and "Because of You" is a helluva run, and I'm not even counting "Fade Away" on the new Mary J.

damn if I don't prefer the way Ne-Yo's lyrics slither around those Stargate beats on his singles

Agreed. I didn't know that Ne-yo wrote "Fade Away" but that would make sense. His tracks on Janet's new album are 3 of the best (haven't heard the bonus track) whereas The-Dream's is one of the two I don't like (isn't "Greatest X" the one with the guitar line lifted straight from the Beverly Hills 90210 theme?).

That said, I bought Because of You based on my love for the title track, but so far I don't hear anything that's even remotely as good. And I love "Livin' a Lie", "Ditch That...", "Touch My Body", and "Umbrella" enough to vote for The-Dream.

That said, I bought Because of You based on my love for the title track, but so far I don't hear anything that's even remotely as good.

Yup.

My mistake--"Never Letchu Go" is the one with the 90210 guitars.

I will say this in The-Dream's favor: he has the better go-to producer of the two. Tricky Stewart is way more versatile and consistent than Stargate.

I won't disagree, but I can listen to variations on those clickety-clack rhythm track and "Human Nature" harmonies all day.

*rhythm tracks

seriously tho the-dream's album does so much more than ne-yo's, even if ne-yo has a more confident+consistent handle on songwriting ... when the-dream is on he's on and he definitely makes better use of his overdubs, style + asides + yeah his production is way more on point

ILM has voted: The-Dream must produce a Ne-Yo album.

STYLE v ASIDES v YEAH

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i wonder how many ne-yo voters have heard dream's album

In My Own Words>>>>>>>>LoveHate>>>>>>>>Because of You

The Dream

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SHE NEEDS Mii lOVE! SHE SED iM LikE DA AiR ND WiTHOUT ME SHE'D DiE!
lOL MY SONG!!

love/hate is so brilliant. one of those albums where after every time you listen to it you think a different song is the best. i think it's pushed over the top by having lots of really good ideas (the "can i get a 'A'!" chant at the end of "playin in her hair" and not too many Good Ideas (the soulja boy chants in "luv songs"). it's a pretty quirky album but annoyingly so, and i'm kind of surprised at that coming from the-dream.

should be a closed parenthesis after "playin in her hair"

i just think it sounds good.

please tell me that "I Luve Your Girl" isn't one of the reasons people rave about his album. wtf is wrong w/ that dude, shit is horrible.

love/hate is so brilliant. one of those albums where after every time you listen to it you think a different song is the best.

It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

please tell me that "I Luve Your Girl" isn't one of the reasons people rave about his album. wtf is wrong w/ that dude, shit is horrible.

-- Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, April 29, 2008 2:11 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

this is the only song i dont really like on the album

i luge your girl

lol

i guess the sentiment is pretty shitty but i think the chorus is pretty irresistible for singing along to. look at shorty rooooooolll, look at shorty goooooooooo etc.

also "radio killa/trick beat the track up like gorillas" is a pretty catchy thing to toss off in the intro

not like it makes the song any better just that it gets stuck in my head all the time

i hate that part

that song is pretty wack and forgettable, definitely compared to the rest of the album

yeah i mean there are 6-7 better imo i do like it though

i wish he would've made 'fast car' the 3rd single

i could give a fuck if the sentiment is shitty, it just sounds awful. i don't even know how this guy was able to sell songs as a writer if he did scratch vocals on the demos.

nah I luv ur girl is one of the best songs on the album. " FUUUUUUUUCK THAT NIGAAAAAAAAAAA".

the g-unit remix "I fucked your girl" is pretty good as well.

worst song the album is "mama" , even though it's not bad.. and I find myself skipping "ditch that" a lot even though I like it because it messes up the flow btwn "purple kisses" and "luv songs"

it's not really exemplary of the sound of the album though, so if you don't like it you should still check out the album

if you don't likle "i luv your girl" I have to steal one of deej's lines and ask "do you even party?"

'mama' is great

he was on 106&Park yesterday and he said his new album is already finished and it should be coming out this year.

There seem to be a lot of moments throughout the album where he needs to finish off a verse or something but doesn't know what to say, so he repeats a phrase over again or just makes noise (see "Luv Songs": "It's nine in the morning/I'm horny, you're horny/Ooh-ooh, Ooh-ooh"). I found this kind of goofy at first but it's become endearing over time.

It took me a while to come around to "Fast Car" for some reason. Now it's one of my favorites.

i always forget how awesome "purple kisses" is

the spoken word bridge in "ditch that" sounds like some chromeo shit. that whole song is awesome. "closer" sounds a lot like it though im not sure which is better

I've really been feeling "I Luv Your Girl" and "Nikki" lately...when this thread got bumped I revisited this album heavily and have been thankful for it

I love it when put dem pretty lips on meEEEEEEEEE
PURPLE KISSES
PURRRPLE KISSES

is this album becoming an ILX cannon classic now? Because that would be pretty funny.

it already is

would have pushed thru even earlier if Tim F. had heard it

why would it be funny

yeah im trying to bump this thread so ppl remember it-- but i dont even know who really liike it besides brainwasher, me and deej and rev begrudgingly (ok potm12 as well-- what about rtc? thread of missing tape store?)

likes it

i remember matos or jess or someone slamming it on idolator but BIG UPPING "livin a lie" which is one of my least favorite songs on the album

is brainwasher going to be giving us some "lol white people like r&b" pseudo-forks shit here or something

there are albums that you just know ppl will recognize based purely on the sound coming from the speaker and this is one of them.

hes just talking about how he was talking it up and no one was paying attention for awhile

A-T-L-A-N-T-A G-A IS WHERE I STAY

I think I'm like the only frequent R&B poster who doesn't like the guy, maybe rtc too. I still think Tricky Stewart is pulling most of the weight in that creative partnership, the production >>>>>> the lyrics/melodies in most of their stuff.

rtc like him he was just having trouble writing about him

tricky only produced like half of the album, this guy named L.O.S. produced the rest

i think i might agree with that but a lot of the metaphors are pretty hilarious/great. like the whole idea of "luv songs">>>>>>>>>anything and every metaphor on "double up" that people were raving about

also now that Chris Brown has made like 3 songs that I genuinely like he's definitely my least favorite voice on the radio.

xpost - I was referring mainly to their for-hire work to other artists, although with The-Dream solo stuff I think I prefer the Tricky productions to the Los Da Mystro ones anyway.

i forget which song but dream even gets in a better sex planet line than anything on "sex planet"

actually 'sex planet' has a uranus joke scratch that

speaking of r kelly

what is with that raheem devaighn "customer" remix? did he really have the gall to say "I have some good lemonade"?

hahahaha I like that remix but I really hadn't had a chance to pay attention to the lyrics yet

alex I agree that prod.>lyrics, vocals whatever...dream is half production half personality, I think I just love all the "Ayys!" and "yezzirs" and all that

So I finally started listening to "Livin' a Lie" outside the context of the album, after several months of Matos raving about me how its the best song ever and me not really being that excited about it. And it is pretty great, but totally unconvincing after almost an hour of Dreamer making a dick out of himself.

Bmore OTM about Tricky Stewart being the stronger half of the partnership.

nah those melodies are totally a huge part of why the songs are great. songwriting is real important to his stuff.

living a lie is good but its not like some huge album standout or something

"Livin' a Lie" = single of the year.

melodies are great, I'm not a big vocal expert or really the type to care about lyrics, but obviously melody is most important so that's kind of a given... I really care of the melodies weren't there.

Not so crazy about the "ella"s though

Xp

really wouldn't care if*

crazy

i mean it's good but idk how one could think it's even that much better than "ditch that"

xpost to alfred

i cant think of anyone who doesnt post on ilm or who isnt constantly thinking about their village voice poll saying "this is the best song of the year" when that song is on.

its a great track but theres this thing where critics jump on to some random R&B and decide to make a huge deal about it in a weird way.

ultimate example of this

yeah, "Ditch That" is the sleeper. I only discovered it last week. All those key/tempo changes!

i cant think of anyone who doesnt post on ilm or who isnt constantly thinking about their village voice poll saying "this is the best song of the year" when that any song is on.

its a great track but theres this thing where critics jump on to some random R&B and decide to make a huge deal about it in a weird way.

Yes, because I never listen to R&B.

I never got the "Umbrella" love, but "...Lie" is the first track to make Rihanna sound like a human being.

deej, you know that's dumb shit, especially when I've got Mary's "Fade Away" blasting on my computer speakers now.

its not even that yr necessarily 'wrong' it just has a tendency to sound really disconnected w/ a hint of forced transgression

im not talking about whether you're a 'real' R&B fan or something stupid like that Alfred! i'm talking about whether you vote in critics polls

lots of xps: Really, Good Girl Gone Bad isn't any less innovative than Chain Letter was, and unlike the latter, not a total mess.

deej are you clowning critics polls?

really this is an excuse for me to lol @ the chicago reader

but all critics practice forced transgression!

haha wow, yeah, I (over)rated the Brooke Valentine album as much as anybody, but 1500 words about how it's a tragedy that "D Girl" tanked and a follow up was never released?

the first track to make Rihanna sound like a human being.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:46 PM (Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:46 PM) Bookmark Link

bullshit

lol did this dude just compare Brooke Valentine to Sly Stone.

Rihanna is simply a traditionalist rather than an innovator—Otis Redding rather than Sly Stone, High on Fire rather than Khanate.

hi im a critic :D

http://i27.tinypic.com/6eq2h1.jpg

bullshit

-- rev, Thursday, May 1, 2008

I'm a Ciara-Amerie man myself.

anyway rock critics jumping on an album by a fringe artist and making it a 'huge deal' so it's not really news. at least love/hate is good enough to deserve it.

btw wtf is this album officially called? Love Me All Summer/Hate Me All Winter? Love/Hate? LoveHate?

anyway rock critics jumping on an album by a fringe artist and making it a 'huge deal' so it's is not really news.

I'm not sure how Ciara qualifies as "human-sounding" and Rihanna doesn't.

i guess what im saying upthread, and this may in some ways be an untenable point but i think theres some legitimacy, is sometimes it just seems corny with echoes of 'hell hath no fury' when a bunch of dudes rally around some random R&B album track

anyway rock critics jumping on an album by a fringe artist and making it a 'huge deal' so it's not really news. at least love/hate is good enough to deserve it.

the dream isnt really a 'fringe artist'

I'm pretty sure he meant B. Valentine

Ciara's timbre is pretty cool, but her songs are written around this; with Rihanna I feel like the tracks are forcing her to be friskier than she is. She sounds forced.

deej, i meant fringe in terms of general rock criticism-- it's obv not the same as people making a huge deal out of the field but not the same as lil wayne either

oh i dont have issue w/ them rallying around the dream! i dont think thats corny. its a great album. i think its weird to pick an album track from it and be like 'this is genius!!!' when its yes a great track but not really a standout in an album full of standouts, i think maybe part of my problem is it sounds like when someone picks up on a single track like that that they aren't actually checking for the rest of the record

ok i agree with that

i dont mean to make it seem like im moving the goalposts everytime i say something, im just kind of thinking thru this thing out loud

Ranking the tracks:

"Livin' a Lie"
"Ditch That"
"Falsetto"
"Fast Car"
"Purple Kisses"
"I Luv Your Girl"
everything else

alfred doesnt actually like the album, he likes "traxxx"!!!

your two favorites are like the least representative

i was thinking about making an album poll but at this point it would be repetitive

i think 'falsetto'->'luv songs' is my favorite stretch and at any point any one of those is probably my favorite but i love the whole thing

'nikki' is basically the only one i don't really like

your two favorites are like the least representative

-- deej, Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:06 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

wtf is wrong liking the songs that are unrepresentative of album the most!? i just mean in general, not just this particular example.

alfred doesnt actually like the album, he likes "traxxx"!!!

Ha! When you're a critic, contribute to year-end lists, drink the Kool-Aid, etc, you can't waste time learning to love perfectly average songs, brah.

wtf is wrong liking the songs that are unrepresentative of album the most!? i just mean in general, not just this particular example.

-- Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:09 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i dont mean there's anything wrong w/ it in general, just 'rong' in the lol opinions sense that what im getting from this album is a vibe that isnt really hitting with him

'nikki' is great! that whole stretch is the heart of the record

Ha! When you're a critic, contribute to year-end lists, drink the Kool-Aid, etc, you can't waste time learning to love perfectly average songs, brah.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:11 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

'luv songs' =/= 'perfectly average'

It's ok. I'm pretty sure you and I don't share sexual preferences either.

what does that have to do with liking luv songs

alfred doesnt like tits or 'luv songs', which is o_O in an 'opinions are like assholes' sense

okay guys I have a question.

"the american dream. mmhmm. and you know what I mean.."

what does he mean?

Loving tits and assholes without fear of reprisal.

It's ok. I'm pretty sure you and I don't share sexual preferences either.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:16 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

what does that have to do with liking luv songs

-- J0rdan S., Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:17 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Alfred does this "oh I guess that's a record for you STRAIGHT people" thing all the time, I don't really get it either.

i'm not straight either and i jam "luv songs" so im doubly wtf

dude, all I said was a variant on different-strokes-for-different-folks.

it doesn't read that way though

Alfred does this "oh I guess that's a record for you STRAIGHT people" thing all the time

Yes, ALL THE TIME. Plz to post every time sexuality's come up when I discuss music in print or on ILM.

(I'm enjoying the teasing, but c'mon)

when its yes a great track but not really a standout in an album full of standouts, i think maybe part of my problem is it sounds like when someone picks up on a single track like that that they aren't actually checking for the rest of the record

"Livin' a Lie" and "Ditch That..." were definitely my gateways into this album thanks to Rich Juzwiak's House of RnB mix. I agree that they're the least representative tracks on the album (well, besides "Mama"!) but they're also the most immediate. They were reason enough for me to buy the album.

Ranking these tracks is not easy!

Luv Songs
Livin' a Lie
Fast Car
Falsetto
Purple Kisses
Ditch That
Playin' in Her Hair
Shawty is Da Shit
I Luv Your Girl
She Needs My Love
Nikki
Mama

i'm not straight either and i jam "luv songs"
^^^^^^^

(I'm enjoying the teasing, but c'mon)

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:28 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

see, you're bringing homosex into it again!

does anyone like "Mama"? To me that's the only totally blah tune.

i think it's okay but by the time it comes on im ready to move on to something else or replay other songs on the album. if it was like the 6th track or w/e i'd let it play through tho

whoa this got different quick

anyway, "Livin A Lie" is my second worst song on the album, I pretty much love them all though and can;t really distinguish that well between most of them...it is definitely an Album to me

and yeah the two songs at the end drag it down a bit

xpost I'm glad it's at the end so I can start it over

Luv Songs
Falsetto
Fast Car
Livin A Lie
Purple Kisses
I Luv Ur Girl
Playin In Her Hair
Nikki
Ditch That
She Needs My Love
Shawty is Da Shit
Mama

or something like that. Every song is great though pretty much.

j0rdan otm about mama

it's weird cuz i think if livin a lie/mama were in the middle of the album i'd be like "well this album is really great except it's got these two average songs" but w/ the tracklisting the way it is i like forget they exist sometimes and finish the album @ luv songs thinking "A++++ album" in my head

re: "Mama"- I don't hate it. It's just awkward after listening to lines like "She keep them thongs chewin' on her asshole".

lol yeah, it's like that last song on T-pain's Epiphany album, "Sounds Bad" . An emotional ballad after all of the party tracks is just kind of weird.

I can't believe you guys aren't feeling "nikki" and "shawty is the shit" more

I like shawty is the shit, I just never listen to it because I got burnt out on it before the album was released.

and I prefer the edited "shawty is a 10" version w/o fabolous.

'shawty' was in my top 5 singles last year and imo 'nikki' is just surrounded by a bunch of better songs so it kinda pales in comparison

yeah i rarely listen to it anymore either except i prefer the 'shawty is a ten' version with fabolous

does anyone like "Mama"? To me that's the only totally blah tune.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:35 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i love this song. must be a straight guy thing

and I prefer the edited "shawty is a 10" version w/o fabolous.

-- The Brainwasher, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:46 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

this is the incorrect opinion to have

fabo's verse is awesome-- he's not a great rapper anymore (ever?) by any means but he's kind of the perfect dude for songs like these

i.e. "dip it low" remix

lol yeah, it's like that last song on T-pain's Epiphany album, "Sounds Bad" . An emotional ballad after all of the party tracks is just kind of weird.

-- The Brainwasher, Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:42 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

"Sounds Bad" is by far one of my favorites on the album! and it's still pretty midtempo and silly (he says "frigidator"), I think "Suicide" is a much bigger disruption to the tone of the rest of the album.

Luv Songs
Falsetto
Playin In Her Hair
She Needs My Love
Shawty is Da Shit
Fast Car
Purple Kisses
Nikki
Mama
Livin A Lie
Ditch That
I Luv Ur Girl

does anyone like "Mama"? To me that's the only totally blah tune.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:35 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i love this song. must be a straight guy thing

-- deej, Thursday, May 1, 2008 8:51 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Nah, us queers are all mama's boys. ;)

the intro of "Shawty" worked way better on the original, the added Fab verse kinda steps all over it.

but basically nikki on up is all around the same level xxp

Luv Songs - Falsetto - Playin In Her Hair - She Needs My Love - Shawty is Da Shit- Fast Car - Purple Kisses - Nikki
Mama
Livin A Lie
Ditch That
I Luv Ur Girl

i would switch 'i luv your girl' and 'nikki' but otherwise i think deej is otm

and out of all those the only one im actually zzz on is 'i luv ur girl'

does the Fab version even have that first "shawty rock to the beat for ya boy" bit before the beat kicks in? I can't remember but I don't think it does. (xpost)

Are they going to make "Livin' a Lie" a single or what?

xpost yeah, it's the r kelly version that doesn't have that part.

does the Fab version even have that first "shawty rock to the beat for ya boy" bit before the beat kicks in? I can't remember but I don't think it does. (xpost)

-- Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:55 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

yeah then fab goes "it's loso in case you ain't know so"

why do you hate "i luv ur girl" so much deej lol

xpost yeah, it's the r kelly version that doesn't have that part.

-- The Brainwasher, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:57 PM (16 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

obviously the best version of all

"I Luv Your Girl" is just starting to climb, so if there is a 4th single it probably won't be for a while.

whoa that's a single???

obviously the best version of all

-- PoMXII, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:58 PM (51 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

i cant tell if you're parodying yourself yet or not but that version is trash

I'm excited to hear Kells' new album "12 Play: 4th Quarter" because obviously working with The-Dream & T-Pain has rly rubbed off on him if "Hair Braider" is anything to go by, so maybe he'll take their style to a different level.

but I'm hoping less rap&b than double up, which kind of sucked.

why do you hate "i luv ur girl" so much deej lol

-- The Brainwasher, Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

ad libs at the beginning grate, singing that whole opening on the same note is zzz, productionwise+melodically the most boring track

the personalized version of "Shawty" that The-Dream did for Big Tigger's radio show is kinda good, even if it displays that he's an even worse singer live than on studio recordings.

PoMXII- Yeah, there's a video for it too.

they need to make "fast car" the last single and then get on to the new album already.

where did that jeezy verse come from??? lol that was hilarious

the other thing is i luv ur girl comes right in between huge awesome catchy pop single and smooth prince album highlight

and as a single it has young jeezy

lose/lose

and out of all those the only one im actually zzz on is 'i luv ur girl'

That's the first one I heard, so I remain kinda fond of it, mostly for that falsetto chorus.

they need to make "fast car" the last single and then get on to the new album already.

Seems like "Livin' a Lie" would be such an obvious hit though! I'd definitely be interested to see how it charts.

the other thing is i luv ur girl comes right in between huge awesome catchy pop single and smooth prince album highlight

and as a single it has young jeezy

lose/lose

Agreed. Young Jeezy sounds massively constipated.

I like the new loverman Jeezy but starting your single off with his political commentary is goofy as hell

the line also makes no sense at all, which is becoming more and more common for him

yeah that verse is :/

so.. how did ne-yo win this poll again? lol

right?

now we can all agree. Group hug!

i wonder how many ne-yo voters have heard dream's album

-- deej, Friday, March 14, 2008 8:44 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

note the similarities between ditch that http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vnrgdzq9xQM and david banners fuck em http://youtube.com/watch?v=uOYbFADoINE

The first Ne-Yo album is better than The-Dream's album by an order of magnitude.

Ne-Yo won because a better singer, a better songwriter, and less imminently punchable.

The first Ne-Yo album is better than The-Dream's album by an order of magnitude.

-- The Reverend, Friday, 2 May 2008 01:25 (49 minutes ago) Link

dan perry jr

rong + says 'order of magnitude'

Whatever, dude. There's probably at least 5 Ne-Yo songs and at least 5 more that Ne-Yo's written that I've liked more than anything Dream's touched.

Also, half of Dream's output it total horseshit and he's never written or sang anything I'd go so far as to say I loved.

I have The Reverend's back all the way, even the saying order of magnitude thing.

you know what guys

we will not tolerate this hate speech on our property

After listening to this record and Because of You back to back tonight (the latter probably for the last time), I don't know what Ne-Yo and The-Dream have in common other than they're red-hot commercially and have done interesting things with Rihanna. The-Dream's made a better album, sure, but so what? The lineage is different: he's part of the Maze-Rick James-Prince-Roger-Troutman school, while Ne-Yo's got Luther, MJ's "Human Nature," and Alexander O'Neal in the brain.

Dude, compare LoveHate to the good Ne-Yo album. Also, what they have in common is pretty damn obvious.

Ne-Yo hasn't made a good album yet.

bullshit

-- rev, Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:50 PM (Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:50 PM) Bookmark Link

speaking as the ilx user who created this poll what they have in common is theyre both rnb songwriters who became crazy popular solo artists right now - also the writerly sophistication

hey guyz, both ne-yo and the-dream great.

ne-yo just has boring production for the most part and his songs can be very formulaic/samey. And Prince, R Kelly& Timbo influence >>>>>>> MJ influence.

also, they're both on def jam

also both kind of ugly and bad dancers, which makes their transitions from behind-the-scenes to stardom all the more impressive.

also, they have hyphens

even if the formula has become a bit predictable by now and he's kind of got a Barry Manilow blandness to him, I think Ne-Yo has really some really strong melodies and lyrics -- "When You're Mad," "Irreplaceable," "Get Down Like That," those are A+ compositions.

lol i forgot dream-hyphen

i still like "so sick" almost as much as anything on the dream album

I never really liked "So Sick." "Sexy Love" and "When You're Mad" are the best singles from the first record.. and Because Of You is actually really good .. title track, "Make It Work," "Do You," "Crazy"...

and "addicted," love that one very Prince

but not in annoying way like "sex with my ex"

even if the formula has become a bit predictable by now and he's kind of got a Barry Manilow blandness to him, I think Ne-Yo has really some really strong melodies and lyrics -- "When You're Mad," "Irreplaceable," "Get Down Like That," those are A+ compositions.

-- Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, May 1, 2008 8:44 PM (Thursday, May 1, 2008 8:44 PM) Bookmark Link

this is otm, although I'd pick different standouts

except for the part mid-sentence where I completely lost track and said "really" twice.

and I'll take Ne-Yo's predictabilities over Dream's intentional formulas xp

oh, I just completely read past typos

I think Ne-Yo has really some really

i read this and immediately the "a milli" beat started playing in my head except it was "some really some really some really some really some really some really some really some really some really some really some really some really some really"

lolololol

is brainwasher going to be giving us some "lol white people like r&b" pseudo-forks shit here or something

-- J0rdan S., Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:11 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

No, that's deej re "critics," and it frankly is sort of pissing me off.

But hey, if he's an expert at reading a strawman's mind . . .

i was being pretty even handed in this thread

BIIIIIIIIITCH

just saw too $hort live XD

I just don't see any evidence for what you were claiming. A lot of us listen to a lot of stuff.

meh, I see what deej is talking about all the time... like last year w cassie's "is it you."

out of all the songs they picked that one and hyped it up

I missed it. I don't listen to much radio, and I don't get many promos anymore. Last year I liked the R. Kelly, Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Blige and Ghostface albums, among other things.

"last year, i listened to a lot of albums i heard because of other critics"

meh, I see what deej is talking about all the time... like last year w cassie's "is it you."

???

I think you might be overestimating the hype on that track...I really only saw four or five people openly adoring it, and that's including myself, the lex and you (i thought??). And we've all enjoyed Cassie's other stuff, too, so it's not as if we suddenly started liking Cassie because of that one song.

Also, that being said, "Me & U," "Is It You?" and "Official Girl" are all unbelievably stellar, single-of-the-year material.

PURPLE KISSES

this thread is about people who make good music so take your cassie talk to other threads please

;-)

the other day i heard the awz backing vocals that are in the second or third chorus

neo, never herd him. the dream caused lyfe-change 4 me

Yes, yes, carry on with your Paula DeAnda talk

tape store, u talkin abt may????????

me, i just listen to my nat king cole album

"game unforgettable"

isn't it kind weird how "I Luv Your Girl" is a big hit now, like 9 months after the album was released....

Also, that being said, "Me & U," "Is It You?" and "Official Girl" are all unbelievably stellar, single-of-the-year material.

cassie has enough amazing new leaked tracks to constitute the album of the decade now, as i keep telling her pr. i luv 'is it you?' for life and even then it's only, like, my fourth or fifth favourite of them ('turn the lights off' for the win).

why has the-dream not released 'ditch that...' and 'livin a lie' as singles? or indeed any singles in the uk at all. can't believe i nearly slept on his album cuz of how bad 'falsetto' was.

I think "Playin' in Her Hair" has become my favorite.

isn't it kind weird how "I Luv Your Girl" is a big hit now, like 9 months after the album was released....

-- chinchillas they can fit on gorillas, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 9:31 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

yes it is

seeing as how "closer"- basically ne-yo's "ditch that" but better AND he's more famous- flopped, idk if releasing any of the big whamping songs on here as singles would be a good idea

imo he should put out "luv songs" as a single

second part @ lex

the dream was robbed.

also falsetto is great so fuck you

xxp: yeah, but on the other hand Rihanna is more famous than Ne-Yo and "Livin' a Lie" is probably better than "Closer" so maybe that's the big whamping song to go with

as far as "Falsetto" goes, I find it impossible to hate on a song with a fake Ernie Isley solo

'closer' flopped?? it's doing really well here. don't see they're all that similar bar the ubiquitous 4/4 anyway - 'ditch that' is a huge full-on banging club track complete with blackout-style madness at the end (the first time i heard it i thought it was some awesome new bulldyke rapper, i still think if missy has any sense she'll record it for her own comeback), 'closer' is all light and yearning, and that gorgeous guitar is almost balearically blissful.

'livin a lie' = the better version of 'hate that i love you'. both make me want to do karaoke.

ya "closer" hasn't even cracked the top 40 on the big chart or r&b over here-- it's cool thats its doing so well over there tho

i mean i'm not saying their identical matches, but to your average discerning radio listener...

ha "Ditch That" does kind of sound like Missy

it's top 5 with physical release still weeks away here, and has a real strong shot at no 1. as ever the success of any given r&b or hip-hop joint in the uk seems semi-random and completely perplexing - happily so in this case

the first time i heard it i thought it was some awesome new bulldyke rapper

Haha I thought the same thing too at first.

man "love hate" is top to bottom terrific. well done the dream.

isn't it kind weird how "I Luv Your Girl" is a big hit now, like 9 months after the album was released....

-- chinchillas they can fit on gorillas, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 9:31 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

o_O this was like barely 6 months after the album was released.

yeah and that song was also the third single

so in conclusion, not weird at all

it's settled down to a consistent, regular listen to me, but on first blush i really thought this album was a masterpiece, like shoot out the lights + 1999. yeah yeah hyperbole much etc.

hay guyz i finally found a thed-ream song i like, "fast car" is pretty good

yeah you should like that one esp if your big hurdle is the vocals, it doesnt require much vocal dexterity

i still think the-dream's record is a classic
did tim f ever listen to it?

i guess my major problem w/ "i luv your girl"-- even tho i still really like it-- is how shitty and insistent the hi hats are in the verses

deej otm

yeah the drums and the whole production on that song sound just way off to me, I was kinda surprised Tricky Stewart came up with something that weak, it sounds very amateurish.(xpost)

that is still my least favorite track on the record

^^i've been thinking about this recently

i usually still play it, but it's def the most out of place on the record esp wrt the production which is pretty fantastic elsewhere (i mean his voice doesn't even sound remotely real on that record-- it's like ladybug is singing it or something)

of course i mean his voice wrt to "i luv your girl"

worst part about that song is i kept hearing that the bridge that gets censored out on the radio version was some great bit that people loved, then i heard it and i'm like shit, that's it? it's not even some crazy over the top vocal like "Falsetto," just more weak-ass half-singing.

hmm i've never heard 'i luv your girl' on the radio. it is an odd choice for a single, much more skeletal and circular than a lot of the other stuff on the album. (how is 'fast car' not everywhere? the shameless princiness of it would seem to have CROSSOVER writ as large as can be). i like it tho, a lot of great moments strung out over it: the multitracked "bad... bad... bad", "just found out it's her birthday", the half-buried stay-flyisms

no idea what the problem is with the hi hat either

hey, the new Ne-Yo song sucks!

"Closer"?

the one that rips off "flashing lights"?

if you like ne-yo but not "closer" kill yrself

I'm the undead, champ.

The first 45 seconds = awesome.

i honestly figured he'd come out with something like that thicke single

closer is the best ne-yo single ever imo-- my only problem w/ it is that it kinda sounds like his vocals get lost in the chorus but i might have a shitty zshare mix + im severely nitpicking

holy fucks, Ne-Yo wrote "Let Me Love You.." and therefore penned both of my fav rnb tracks of this decade, the other being "Because Of You."

oh fuck yeah i am loving the dreams album right this second

mindmeld

its the only shit ive listened to this weekend

this time ive been obsessed with "nikki"/"ditch that"/"livin a lie" esp "nikki", chorus is so epic with those strings. originally it was my least fav on the album (besides "mama" but im really ambivalent to that) but the whole thing is just really tense and well structured

also i realized how close the chorus of "i luv your girl" sounds to "look at shawty looooooooo"

IWZMKN LV TO NIKKI

fast car into nikki is a hardcore muhfuckin transition nh

I have no idea why I even nhed that

btw this is way closer to a contemporary hip-hop album than a contemporary r&b album right (w/ the exception of "purple kisses" and maybe "luv songs" but that still has really hard drums and bass)?

naw naw naw dude not at all its all about the 80s linn drums

fast car into nikki is a hardcore muhfuckin transition nh

-- The Reverend, Saturday, August 2, 2008 11:55 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

ya this is fucking great, also at the end of "nikki" into "she needs my love" he basically mashes up his own songs (no herb-o)

yeah yeah tru that whole fast car nikki shawty need my love stretch is the fuck

shawty need my luv dawg shawty need my luv

I take bakc all the bad thing s I said about the dream except for the ones I meant

like pillsbury cookies

from fast car onward this thing knocks the fuck out (and thats only cuz ive heard the first two so much on the radio)

def one of my favorite of the decade

SHAWTY GON HEAD GET UP ON THIS MIC
THIS MIC

"she be on me like a kid on a bike" is kind of a wack line

I dunno about one of the best of the decade but def one of the best of the year for real

I see the whole ditch that nigga sounds like awesome dyke-rap thing

wait is this better than the justin album?

either one I guess

woah the bridge of ditch that sounds particularly awes

"we make lv songs" - so obv but so perfect

wait is this better than the justin album?

-- The Reverend, Sunday, August 3, 2008 12:20 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

y

justin may have better singles but it tails off at the end, which is where this has its best shit

woah the bridge of ditch that sounds particularly awes

-- The Reverend, Sunday, August 3, 2008 12:23 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

lots of great bridges on this album

no, it's not better than the justin album, but it's v. awesome. The JT ballads are all fantastic, esp. "(Another Song) All Over Again"

i cant wait for shipley to show up and tell us that both these albums suck

no, it's not better than the justin album, but it's v. awesome. The JT ballads are all fantastic, esp. "(Another Song) All Over Again"

-- Tape Store, Saturday, August 2, 2008 10:34 PM (Saturday, August 2, 2008 10:34 PM) Bookmark Link

yeah I 'm inclined to agree with this. at any rate another song >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> mama

xp: hahaha

I forgot al hates JT

bridges are always my fav parts of songs

^^^ not true

but a lot of the time

ya this is fucking great, also at the end of "nikki" into "she needs my love" he basically mashes up his own songs (no herb-o)

-- J0rdan S., Sunday, August 3, 2008 12:06 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

its called 'blending' dude

or 'mixing'

also, i still dont get wtf ppl hate about 'mama'

its not really hatable just zzzzzzzzzz

okay guys I have a question.

"the american dream. mmhmm. and you know what I mean.."

what does he mean?

-- The Brainwasher, Thursday, May 1, 2008 8:19 PM (3 months ago)

I don't really hate JT, Justified and later N Sync are still my shit, I just thought that last album was mostly lousy.

btw dudes did you hear that The-Dream wrote stuff for Ne-Yo's album, should be interesting to see how their styles work together.

its called 'blending' dude

-- deej, Sunday, August 3, 2008 4:56 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Link

thank you DJ Dee 2005

I danced to "Fast Car" this weekend.

also, i still dont get wtf ppl hate about 'mama'

-- deej, Sunday, August 3, 2008 4:57 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i think it's okay but by the time it comes on im ready to move on to something else or replay other songs on the album. if it was like the 6th track or w/e i'd let it play through tho

-- J0rdan S., Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:37 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Link

no problem New Jack Sargent

xxp

i remember brainwasher saying that dream said he already recorded his next album and was readying it for release this december, but i gotta imagine they're gonna try and push another single off this album. livin a lie? fast car?

"would have pushed thru even earlier if Tim F. had heard it"

"did tim f ever listen to it?"

Ha ha deej did i not tell you this has become like my favourite album of the year? Me so predictable.

Anyway I wanted to bump this to talk about LL Cool J's "Baby" which is more like a The-Dream song than an LL song. "You're my baby/my baby/my baby" - classic "Shawty Is Da Shit" style chorus. For once LL Cool J sounds a bit flummoxed by the concept of a sugary love song.

ain't it "I'm your baby"? anyway at least "Shawty" had an actual chorus with several lines, instead of just one line over and over and a "yeahhhhhh" at the end. I kinda like that goofy-ass song, though, great drums and LL saying ridiculous embarrassing shit like "peace signs on the eyes like John Travolta" and ending a verse by shouting "SHE MAKES ME TINGLE!"

Yeah you're right it's "I'm your baby". My favourite clunky LL line is:

“I’m really not sure if her breasts are fake/’cos with whipped cream on ‘em they taste just like cake.”

???

anyway at least "Shawty" had an actual chorus with several lines, instead of just one line over and over and a "yeahhhhhh" at the end.

oh ffs what is this Hongro "good songs do THIS" horseshit -- STOP BEING AN ALEX ON ILX

(sorry -- just got an eyeful of alex's / some dude's top-to-bottom "The-Dream sucks :p" flouncing, & I couldn't stands no more)

haha. all I meant was that Tim's description of it as having a 'classic "Shawty Is Da Shit" style chorus' seemed wholly inaccurate to me. fwiw these are probably 2 of my favorite songs w/ The-Dream on them as a performer (though not my favorite of his as a writer).

haha - it's all good.

still not sure if that TWIST @ the end of the LL track is awesome or corny or corny awesome or what

it ain't trickin' if you're GOAT

Nikki is the best thing in the world right now..."Naw, I ain't mad, HELL NAWW, I AIN'T SADD"

^^otm

those strings!

For the record I meant that "I'm Your Baa-by/Your Baa-by/Your Baa-by" reminds me (specifically) of "Shawty is da Shee-it/Shee-it/Shee-it".

Yeah there's no equivalent of the heavenly "It was Keisha..." bridge, but, well, it is supposed to be LL's song.

Yeah I love "Nikki" so much, weird to see people cool on it in this thread.

Lloyd - I Need Love / Sterling Simms - All I Need

Lloyd's version is better, but I think it's gonna be Sterling's 1st (5th actually...) single, should be a success for him finally. Great song, one of Dream's best in a while.

xp that was pretty much just j0rdan s. and he came around on that a week ago

and someone named 'lou'

yeah, "Nikki" is the sh-sh-sh-sh-sugar honey ice tea

I hear "Nikki" on the radio more than any other non-single from his album. i fucking hate it, wish they'd play "Fast Car" instead.

I hear "ditch that" all of the time

yeah "nikki" seemed kinda plodding to me for a while but it clicked for me a few weeks ago, as has basically everything on this that i thought was second tier (like "livin a lie")

'nikki' is so opulent and overwhelming though, def a highlight for me...SHE-SHE-SHE-SHE LOVES ME BACK! and the segue into 'she needs my love' is really awesome.

otm on both accounts

I love how the album does the same faux-concept album thing as FS/LS only in a more understated way.

re: "Nikki"- My rankings upthread no longer apply. It wasn't a stand-out for me at first but I like it just fine.

Dream needs to stop rockin the bug eyes. He already looks like something with six legs and wings to begin with.

Instead of studying econ, I've been listening to Nikki on repeat for a long time. CHILLS

"but it's awful cold in that house he bought you/and i've gotten over living without you/so springtime, summertime, falltime, winter/i'm here to leave you with the last thing you'll remember"

that "falltime" part is always where i start gnashing my teeth and thinking about what a hack this guy is.

i think my favorite one now is "playin in her hair"

"i feel like an outworked boxer in the very first roooouuund/tried to keep my guard up but she caught me and im goin doooowwwn"

also i realized how close the chorus of "i luv your girl" sounds to "look at shawty looooooooo"

― J0rdan S., Saturday, August 2, 2008 11:54 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

^^this is all i hear now

Year of the Gentleman flipped it right round Ne-Yo>The Dream

there is nothing special about YOTG at all.

Maybe it just got me at the right moment

anyway, Dream's second album is called Love vs. Money and is out in December.. that should be good.

Great name!

<3 vs $

In regards to his new album, The-Dream stated:
“ This album’s gonna be the same thing - a little more beefed up, I’m just gonna give you more. Every album I’m just gonna try to give you more of me, and what I think about certain things... This album is just gonna be the first album on crack, basically.[2]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003873089

An encore to the heartbreak track "Nikki" from the first album will also appear on the set. The Dream says his third project will most likely include a song in the vein of "Nikki" as well, as he hopes to release a full album of the Nikki chronicles at some point.

this fuckin guy

favorite cuts include the '60s-inspired "You Aint Sh*t"

tfg pt. 2

and "Kelly's 12 Play," inspired by R. Kelly's debut album.

tfg pt. 3 + Public Announcement wept

Dream's new single "Lemme See The Booty":

http://www.zshare.net/audio/50631705135b33d7/

The beat is INSANE. Lil Jon killed it.

The beat sounds like that Usher single that never took off and then wasn't even on his album.

This kinda sux

"lil jon kills it"

anyway i'm not surprised that the dude w/ the screename"put a ring on it" is into this song considering they are stylistic twins

i like single ladies and booty but i'm hoping the whole album isn't in this spare, chaotic direction

This kind of backing just highlights how bad his vocals are. LoveHate mostly worked because it was lush.

yeah i agree w/ you

i mean the beat is fun to listen to and is interesting and engaging from a technical standpoint, but i want stuff that sounds like "playin in her hair" and "purple kisses" and "nikki"

lol @ dream backlash

It's not so much that I'm backlashing against him, as this isn't really what I want from him or something he can pull off.

...as much as this...

um yeah it's not backlash just the song is only kind of good

well it's kind of great actually so it's more of the fact that i'm not totally enthused about this production trend

i've never had a problem w/ his vocals btw

i was just joking about the backlash

and yeah, I like his voice so I'm not bothered by the sparse production...this is like "i luv ur gurl," i'm sure the album'll have more of the layered stuff

yeah i don't disagree about the album as a whole but "booty" and "single ladies" are all over the place and discombobulating (which is cool but can get tiring) whereas "i luv your girl" is really low-key and unobtrusive like snap music

btw i want to start a petition to re-title the album this:

<3 vs $

― Darryl Strawberry (The Reverend), Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:38 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

“Kiss”

U.S. 7" single
Single by Prince and The Revolution
from the album Parade
B-side "♥ or $"

i think i like a lot of the details more than the song...the echoed "eh...eh....eh" is great. i look fwd to the rest of it growing on me.

Most of you guys are insannnnne, this track is fucking awesome! MINIMALSEXYELECTROSPRING! EH EH AHHH!!!

looking back it's kinda funny that the official dream thread started out as a ts: ne-yo v. the-dream with the-dream losing.

not that funny, when you consider that The-Dream had just been out for a few months at the time, Ne-Yo would probably still win if the poll were done again today,and there are several Ne-Yo threads but pretty much just this one for The-Dream.

i voted dream

feelin it'

it's called "cringing" apparently

how did you know what face I was going to make when I listened to that song?

how did you know what face i was going to make when i read that "zing"

yeah, not too impressed w/ that... hopefully it's not on the album.

He changed his single to "Rockin That Thing":

http://www.zshare.net/audio/516822100f886fb0/

Album pushed back to February...

he should probably lay off the whole "radio killa" thing until he's got a single that definitely isn't going to flop.

i would give everything i own to see The-Dream recreate this entire thing in live action. not sure who would play simon & theodore.

kinda love 'rocking that thang', actually. it's got that hard-to-pin-down "epic lullaby of the everyday" feeling he's good at ekeing out. although that doesn't seem quite it either.

los da mystro possibly more key to dreamery than tricky at this point? at least while tricky's busy showing off his impressively dead-on pastiches of other producers.

don't you think?

'single ladies' - swizz
'high price' - bangladesh
'touch my body', 'luv' - jd
'let me see the booty' - lil jon
'touch my body rmx' - polow and by extension timba (altho way more in spirit than in exec really)

i like how its almost as if tricky's deliberately underlining the fact that he's been more of a jobbing bryan-michael coxish type jobbing industry producer for like the last 15 years who got big with a huge record and refuses to replicate/"be an auteur" on the back of it

yeah i know what you mean...really feeling Los more these days, although i think Tricky is still pretty talented.

the tricky background check was inspired by listening to the 1996 braxtons album the other week and getting stuck on this song, and then being shocked @ the credits! the other one of his on there is a note-perfect swv 'right here' rip, although neither can stand up to 'so many ways' obv.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Christopher+Stewart

if anyone got any more of these lying around put em up put em up

haha of all that is still trumped by los' one background nugget, but nevermind eh

los da mystro possibly more key to dreamery than tricky at this point?

i almost started a love/hate songs produced by los vs love/hate songs produced by tricky poll but i think we have enough posts about that album

i would've voted for los though

"it's got that hard-to-pin-down "epic lullaby of the everyday" feeling he's good at ekeing out. "

I haven't heard the new song but this seems spot on w/r/t the-dream's charms. A lot of my favourite moments on the album are him hanging out with his girl, "talkin' bout dis/talkin' bout dat", mussing her make-up before they're about to go out ("you got you're hair did/I'm about to mess that shit up" being maybe my favourite line in a pop song this year), watching Oceans 11 before sex even (though this was probably included for rhyme scheme purposes only).

I'm actually a bit surprised at how the production credits breakdown on the album, though I guess you could say L.O.S. pretty much does all the prettiest tracks. Tricky Stewart covers more range I guess.

tricky does the bigger tracks - i prefer that.

rtc brought it up elsewhere, i forget where, but the-dream's rmx of shontelle's 't-shirt' is u&k.

ugh, wrong your/you're in my post, I hate that.

yeah, the shontelle remix is a good example of what tim's talking about, although personally i do find that affecting warmth far more easily perceived (imagined even, perhaps) in his collaborations (whether duetted or just songwritten) than it is during much of love/hate.

hay tim have u heard that 'touch my body' remix yet btw! i was kinda champing to go off on one about it but you're the only one that subscribes to my ostentatious newsletters tbh.

incidentally this is where you go "other duets?" and i cackle and do a big cloak move thing and then man like dbs scoots along with the zshares. probably.

haha i think i just wasted a full half hour sternly pondering the-dream, kill me! this is totally what gets my goat about this thread though - is it seriously only me that finds his appeal so complicated? did everyone pick it up and go "wau yes love it" first time they played it? cos it's not enough having al go "he's annoying!" and everyone else go "this is a great album!" and then 400 posts of the itchy & scratchy show when YOU'RE BOTH RIGHT AND IT GOES HAND IN HANDDDDD

rtc like him he was just having trouble writing about him

― deej, Thursday, 1 May 2008 20:17 (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this was some savage shit btw and i will kill u over it one day :(

is it seriously only me that finds his appeal so complicated?

yes.

fwiw, rtc, I spent a lot of time being all conflicted about this album before I finally gave in to it

i spent 0 seconds being conflicted about it

i remember reading on idolator about ppl hating the sentiments of his songs, but rtc do you find him annoying from an aesthetic standpoint or do you have issues w/ his subjects/morals/whatever? to me the songwriting here was always brilliant - "and i feel like an outward boxer in the very first round / tried to keep my guard up but she caught me and im goin down" is such a sweet (and fresh!) lyric. idk man to me he was always on point. i never had any reservations

ummm "out worked boxer" >_<

i guess to me the album sounded to me like the greatness and diversity of radio r&b of the past few years distilled into one album

yeah, a lot of my problem with it initially is dude is dick, but I learned to love his dickishness

i dont get how he is a dick

i wasn't really conflicted any further than that i slept on the album for ages cuz i hated 'falsetto' so much, and only checked it out after rich juzwiak put 'ditch that' and 'living a lie' on his fourfour mix. i still hate 'falsetto' and skip it every time though but its obnoxiousness doesn't really bleed into any of the other songs.

if anything i get where al's coming from a bit more - i dunno how good a songwriter the-dream really is, lines like "springtime summertime falltime winter" (and loads more across the album) do seem awfully hackish out of context, but he sells it on record.

man, "Falsetto" is the most classic slow jam from a record with several

it's the actual falsetto bit i can't listen to

it's a bit nails-on-blackboard

uptempo mix of 'falsetto' be miraculously great though.

(almost as good as 'outward boxer', one of my fave wire songs.)

will answer reservation q's in a bit once i've reread everything i already said on rolling r&bs on the past - we do all so hate endlessly repeating ourselves round here, after all.

in the meantime, what are yall's thoughts on 'rocking that thang'? i look forward to seeing it on your 2010 lists.

yo rtc i remember empathizing with yr confusion -- i think i recognized immediately that it was great but what was weird was just that it was great in spite of his frequent corniness -- like there are some lyrics on this thing that would be huge clunkers on anyone else's record. def a 'more than the sum of its parts' experience

For a long time I've assumed it was "I feel like an out worked boxer on the very first round" but I had this mental CLICK last week and now I hear it is "I fell like an out worked boxer on the very first round."

I didn't find "Falsetto" obnoxious really, but (especially post-"Bed") in isolation it seemed like the schtickiness of his schtick was this perhaps ignominious distillation of all voluptuous sex-obssessed mid-noughties synthy slow jams, R Kelly X pixeldust with nowhere to go.

And then of course the album presents this as like a corner that you have to turn around to make it to the unexpected territory of "Nikki", "Luv Songs" et. al. Like he's orbiting the earth twice so that he can use that force of gravity to shoot off into space. In the context of the album "Falsetto" works really well, it's like the exhausted gooey centre of the "Fast Car" --> "Nikki" --> "She Needs My Love" journey.

Love/Hate has a booklet with the lyrics, and the lyrics read "And I feel like an out work boxer in the very first round."

"Fast Car" --> "Nikki" --> "She Needs My Love" --> "Falsetto" is so key to this album

it's like the exhausted gooey centre of the "Fast Car" --> "Nikki" --> "She Needs My Love"

i think this is the big key - the song is supposed to feel like this relieved release after the tension of the previous two. it's kind of palpable in how "falsetto" is so spacious musically as opposed to "nikki" and "she needs my love" which are pretty busy

that boxer lyric is why "playin in her hair" is my favorite on the album - that and the "can i get a ay? aayyyyy!" part

Ha that's like me and "I'm about to mess that shit up" in "Purple Kisses".

BTW "Rockin' That Thing" is brilliant heart-tugging mush (totally <3 the synth-horn sound he's rocking here), although the falsetto here is verging on Prince circa 1987 roleplaying and there's not a huge amount of his own personality coming through here.

Pat Benatar's "We Belong" came on afterwards on my iTunes and it totally worked.

^ overuse of "here".

My favorite part of the album is in "Fast Car", when he's going on about how sweet she is and how much he trusts her and how great she is, then disses her for the bad girl

the lil jon single is a big FAIL tho

yes. Very much so.

"My favorite part of the album is in "Fast Car", when he's going on about how sweet she is and how much he trusts her and how great she is, then disses her for the bad girl"

Compare/contrast with Ne-Yo's "What's The Matter", where he sensitively deconstructs this social phenomenon.

"Let Me See The Booty" >>>> "Rockin That Shit", which is nice enough but it's just a retread of the 1st album. "Right Side of Ya Brain" is the best track from this so far though.

i like "let me see the booty" outside of the context of the dream i just don't see how it would work on the album

Who cares about 'album context' this song is generic as Dick

i capitalized 'dick' bcuz i posted that from my phone

but yeah

this aint bad

heres a mix someone did of a bunch of dream songs http://www.zshare.net/audio/52990013e04c8348/ havent listened to it yet enjoyio

thnx ice craem

rockin that thang is so gr8, good way to end the mix

why did jim jones and ne-yo get into a fistfight

because Ne-Yo was with some Def Jam lackey who's the brother of one of Jay-Z's best friends, apparently.

"why did jim jones and ne-yo get into a fistfight"

I was hoping this was the first half of a joke.

love/hate song with mariah

feelin it

http://www.zshare.net/audio/53891333925f82cc/

my b - love vs money song with mariah duh

also album out feb 17

lol @ "who's been lovin you lately?/ who's been willing to go half on the baby?"

wtf is the immense synth riff from 'rockin that thang' reminding me of

'stripper love' is big too, and yeah def feeling this mimi.

this DRAEM/Mariah tune is dope

imo "right side of my brain" is a worthy little brother to "cry me a river"

btw

who's in love with yo ass like crazy?

i like how on "right side of ya brain" the customary "aaaayyyyyys" are all screwed and sad sounding

same song duh - what's it even called anyway

"Rockin' That Thang"
"Walkin' On The Moon" ft. Kanye West
"My Love" ft. Mariah Carey
"Put It Down"
"Sweat It Out"
"Take U Home 2 my Mama"
"Love Vs. Money"
"Love Vs. Money: Part 2"
"Fancy"
"Right Side Of My Brain"
"Mr. Yeah"
"Kelly's 12 Play"
"Let Me See The Booty" ft. Lil Jon
"Touch & Feel"
"Nothing But Love"

"Kelly's 12 Play"

hahaha

^^^hahaha thats such a the-dream type joke/probable metaphor -- should be real awkward but itll be real well written, sort of like ignoring the soulja boy style "YOUUUUU"s in "luv songs"

the crank dat ref in "luv songs" is awesome - the o_O one is "Mr. Yeah"

lil jon tribute song perhaps

"Love Vs. Money"
"Love Vs. Money: Part 2"

I'm hoping these flow into one another, the segue being announced by a sudden irruption/eruption of melodramatic strings.

right side of ya brain, right side of ya brain, right side of ya brain...you loved me baby, unlove me baby

so insanely looking forward to this album

"rockin that thang" video is v great - i wasn't so hot on the song until like last night but yeah. my fav part i think is when he goes "we beat it up like gorillas..." and you're just waiting for those DREAM DRUMS to come in. also "i wanna change your name to mrs. nash"

haha i was just about to post that video and say something about him taking the shades off being NAGL.

qu'est-ce que c'est DREAM DRUMS?

I've always wondered why someone who looks so much like something with six legs and wings to begin with would rock big, bug-eyed shades.

looking thinner too

anyway idk what you're saying but by DREAM DRUMS i mean those exhaling (tm) drums that are on "bed" and "purple kisses" and the like

btw "my love" - potential smash?

when you've got a chubby face like him you can wear those huge shades and look aaight imo

i'm just being a pedant and objecting to referring to drums by the songwriter and not by the producer... I always associated those swinging toms with Los (who did "Bed" and "Purple Kisses") but since Tricky produced "Rockin'" maybe Dream is the common link. go figure.

i've only listened to "My Love" once but it left zero impression on me. I liked "Touch My Body" alright but i can't see a whole album of maria/dream collabs not being really lame.

i'm just being a pedant and objecting to referring to drums by the songwriter and not by the producer

i actually knew you were going to do this but i didnt feel like looking up who produced what

btw i'm starting a favorite song poll cuz i love this album and ilm is real boring today

someone revived a swan lake thread

you know, i find it really weird that this dude hasn't had a really big hit yet (and his profile barely exists in the uk).

haha i was just about to post that video and say something about him taking the shades off being NAGL.

i know right, the O_O to o_o metamorphosis makes his eyes look weird and piggy.

not keen on the video - some of the dance moves are good but the lighting sucks and the split screen effect is lame. but the song is just HUGE, love it so much. i also really really love 'let me see the booty' and 'stripper love' and the mariah one now. so yeah, hugely hyped for the album, though hoping it's not one of those deals where it arrives and i realise i've heard it all already.

also, i haven't heard the explicit version of 'rockin that thang', but i really cannot imagine the chorus going "rockin that shit"

weird cuz i heard "rockin that shit" before "rockin that thang" and now the latter sounds off to me but i deleted "shawty is da shit" off of my itunes because it sounded so wrong after "shawty is a ten"

I agree with Lex, an explicit version of "Rockin That Thing" seems like a bad idea.

But I prefer "Shawty Is Da Shit"...

Maybe it's mostly what you heard first.

i prefer 'shawty is da shit', definitely

also i think i have the clean version of 'stripper love' cuz he sings "tipper love" on the chorus

I'm much more excited for Electrik Red's How To Be A Lady than I am for Love vs. Money. The Electrik Red album sounds a lot more adventurous.... I'm not really feeling "My Love", I mean it's alright but.... whatever.

explicit "shawty" at least rhymes.

weird cuz i heard "rockin that shit" before "rockin that thang" and now the latter sounds off to me but i deleted "shawty is da shit" off of my itunes because it sounded so wrong after "shawty is a ten"

― happy house of representatives (J0rdan S.)

haha yeah i'm in the 'ten' camp too
tim f otm, i heard the clean version at a party for the first time. it supplanted "throw some Ds" with my friends and i, w/r/t overused hip hop phrases

and yeah i think same here re: Elektrik Red, I think he writes for female singers better than for guys (or himself).

electrik red is going to be great too - although i'm kind of wary of them all being really muscular "we fuck you"/"ditch that" style 'Bangers'.

TS ne-yo- vs the dream-penned beyonce songs

the outro of "we fuck you" is insane tho

I really love this new song he wrote for Mario though, "Boom In It":

I wouldn't mind an entire Mario/Dream album...

i heard something about an entire kanye/dream album in the works, not sure whether i imagined it or not

ya it's supposedly called Love King and is supposedly coming out this year, which, you know

Yeah I heard that. Hopefully that doesn't happen.

electrik red is going to be great too - although i'm kind of wary of them all being really muscular "we fuck you"/"ditch that" style 'Bangers'.

― happy house of representatives (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, February 11, 2009 10:05 PM (5 minutes ago)

I dunno, the stuff that leaked is pretty varied... I don't think "So Good" is a 'banger' per se.

talking of electrik red, does anyone have any listenable mp3s of 'freaky freaky' and 'friend lover'? mine say they're 320 but they sound like total ass.

btw i'm feeling that mario tune.

shawty is the shit is better

because the 'shawty is the sh-sh-sh-sh-sugar honey ice tea' line doesnt work without it

the edited version without fabolous is the best one.

I completely ignored "Shawty Is a Ten" until I got into the album so I'm more used to hearing it as "Shawty Is the Shit".

I'm gonna risk sounding like and idiot and ask what he means by "you should tip her" in Shawty is the Shit. I'm assuming he just means don't let her get away or something... probably a phrase that makes more sense if you hit up the strip clubs often.

http://ruletheweb.co.uk/b3ta/bus/VQKNNRQL/I%20AM%20OFTEN%20PLEASED/BY%20RAKIM/AND%20DE%20LA%20SOUL/bus.jpg

that

oops haha

its kind of weird conglomeration of standard putting-the-girl-on-a-pedestal shit crossed with strip club track that i kind of chalk up to the-dream's process of obviously writing his lyrics somewhat improvisationally

I hate when I fail to copy something and it just pastes the last thing on my clipboard. Was supposed to say:

probably a phrase that makes more sense if you hit up the strip clubs often.

^^^that

(not that I do so myself)