best song The-Dream Love/Hate

so there's "my love" w/ mariah which is the next single which is really warm and sugary and has mariah wailing all over the place, naturally it's great

also there is "right side of my brain" which sounds like to me the-dream's version of "cry me a river"

i started to love "purple kisses" after i noticed the epic backing vocal on the hook that is mixed really low

voted purp kisses narrowly over luv songs

still *rollin my damn eyes* @ al in baltimore

I'm repeating myself but "Got your hair did - I'm about to mess that shit up!" is probably my favourite moment on the album, it seems very romantic/seductive to me.

i think my favourite moment might the hysteria of 'she needs my love's outro - "call 911, tell paramedics to bring her AIIIR, AIIIR, AIIIR" - it's like the-dream's behind a screen watching her lifeless body being stretchered away through the crowd, but he can't get through to the action and he's banging his fists on it in vain - impotent despite his power being the essence of the song.

I'm repeating myself but "Got your hair did - I'm about to mess that shit up!" is probably my favourite moment on the album, it seems very romantic/seductive to me.

― Tim F, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 4:53 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the article on him in the last issue of Vibe quotes a line from the new record about messing up a girl's bangs. I can feel your excitement already.

lol

i think my favourite moment might the hysteria of 'she needs my love's outro - "call 911, tell paramedics to bring her AIIIR, AIIIR, AIIIR" - it's like the-dream's behind a screen watching her lifeless body being stretchered away through the crowd, but he can't get through to the action and he's banging his fists on it in vain - impotent despite his power being the essence of the song.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 3:59 PM (3 minutes ago)

i'd agree with this, but i always hear another layer on the outside -- "i'm like the air, without me she'll die" reads to me very date rapey/emotionally abusive thing to believe. HE feels this amazing romantic tragic stuff but really he's making her, and himself, miserable with some controlling bullshit. she'll be fine dude!

i think something about the production suggests that the-dream's being shut out of what's happening. so i guess she'll be even more fine.

i'd agree with this, but i always hear another layer on the outside -- "i'm like the air, without me she'll die" reads to me very date rapey/emotionally abusive thing to believe. HE feels this amazing romantic tragic stuff but really he's making her, and himself, miserable with some controlling bullshit. she'll be fine dude!

Isn't it "She said I'm like the air, without me she'll die..."?

i think the "she needs my love" verses are maybe the best verses on the album. "flossin' keys to your phantom and you know that she's my girl/ still you try too get at her but she push the brakes on that shit like skkrrrrrr!". and then the way the beat clangs around. also the lol rap verse.

― happy house of representatives (J0rdan S.),

This is where I am at the moment. This song hasn't left my head in weeks. Also, is it just me or is this one of the most bizarre pop arrangements in a while? The part the bells and that vocal "oh-o-ah-ah" thing he does just blows me away.

"Livin' a Lie" cuts deepest, but "Fast Car" got me first.

"she needs my love" was initially one of my least favorite songs, i was kind of at odds w how metallic the beat was and i used to think the synths that rush in in the chorus were unpleasant but the beat during the verses is really undeniable

this is impossible but ima go "she needs my love" over "fast car". love that part at the end of "she needs my love" when his voice is super autotuned "ya better have do-octor on sta-a-andby-y"

gonna listen to this in the car on the way to tennis

"Livin' a Lie" is still the obvious winner here; it cuts deepest.

hmm..."she needs my love" over "fast car"? i can hear that. i really wish there was a single mix for "fast car". the fade into nikki is one of my favourite things about the album, but i like the song enough that sometimes i want ot listen to it on its own, and there's no sense of finality EVER. *sigh*

this album never clicked 4 me as much as crew here raved abt it but recently have gotten big into 'she needs my love' its srsly been stuck in my head 4 the past 2 days

also its weird 2 say never clicked 4 me and yet i do love songs 1-3 & livin a lie

"Ditch That"

Though I could have easily gone with "Falsetto," "Nikki," etc. Not sure "I can't tell nobody how we is! OOOOOH!" necessarily "cuts deepest."

Side, side, oh no inside, side, side oh no

RIHANNA BABY
DREAM BABY
What on this earth will we DO

hmm..."she needs my love" over "fast car"? i can hear that. i really wish there was a single mix for "fast car". the fade into nikki is one of my favourite things about the album, but i like the song enough that sometimes i want ot listen to it on its own, and there's no sense of finality EVER. *sigh*

― MTLiens (Alex in Montreal), Thursday, July 9, 2009 9:25 PM (Yesterday)

yeah i fuckin love right when nikki starts, it's like whoa shit just got real

"livin a lie" is such an afterthought for me cuz it's so far back on the album but when i play this through i always remember how good the song is - "nikki" was one of the songs that's awesomeness hit me very late, but it's one of the most dramatic things he's ever written esp when it kicks into "and she loves me back" *string pulses*

"she needs my love" has a dope beat and that pretty great rap but it's juuust on the second level imo, maybe not tho - i love the rush in of the chorus

"playin in her hair" is the best playful, club song on the album - you can see how "take u home 2 my mama" was borne out of it but of course "playin in her hair" is way better

also it birthed A-T-L-A-N-T-A-G-A IS WHERE IS STAY

eh there should be no comma splice b/w "playful club song"

she keeps those ch-ch-chewin on her asshole, i'm all up on her ass tho, runnin it like a cash drawer

those thongs** >:(

well "purple kisses" was def begat by j. holiday's "bed" but yeah you can def trace shit out from l/h to things on lvm and e red

What's the reason for this poll lasting seven months?

accident

Ah ok. I took to this album instantly by which I mean "Shawty Is da Sh*!" is one of the most deeply eccentric ballads (I guess you'd call it) I've ever heard. But I still can't get beyond being merely impressed with the second one. Even here, the album moves from intense love to intense like with "Playin' In Her Hair." And "Mama" is flat-out godawful.

Easily "Shawty Is da Sh*!" for me. His harmonies with himself sound like Thelonious Monk piano clusters and there's like, what, five different melodies in four minutes.

Still not sure how to position this album in relation to its Album of the Decade contender, Year of the Gentleman. Yet again, it boils down to that high points vs. consistency thing with the latter an easier overall listen but lacking something as epochal as "Shawty Is da Sh*!"

ah man idk, i feel almost completely opposite about the two albums - i think ne-yo's gets really mushy and samey at the end but has 3 of the strongest r&b singles of the past few years whereas dream's is the better, more consistent and enjoyable album

"Mama" is amazing!! That bit where the dying android whispers "I've been thinking of you/always thinking of you" totally slays me.

I feel like Love vs Money suffers slightly for the lack of a similarly mushy ballad.

the main reason why LvM isn't quite as good as L/H is that the production isn't as colorful

i think there's some truth in that yeah

"Livin' a Lie" is great but it doesn't really fit the mood of the album I think; I'm glad it and "Mama" come at the end.

The Rev otm about the production, he switches gears so many times on this album but it's so seamless.

I hum "Fast Car" at least three times a week.

i know i'm way way in the minority here but i definitely like the 2nd album more than this one. still waiting for one of these songs to grab me like "Fast Car" did on the first listen.

i way prefer LvM too, even without the "concept" a lot of its individual tracks feel like more compelling versions of L/H tracks - like 'luv songs' and 'falsetto' vs 'sweat it out' and 'put it down' isn't even a concept. then again i think i like the 1st half of LvM more than most (tho agree that the 2nd half is where the real O_O stuff is)

i think i voted 'nikki' anyway

'mama' is great sorry losers

i think ne-yo's gets really mushy and samey at the end but has 3 of the strongest r&b singles of the past few years

So wait. Which are the three?

man "fast car" through "purple kisses" are all such classics and for that stretch alone this might be better than the new one. the first two songs are great too but such outliers, can't really get with "ditch that"

i love ditch that, but after deliberating i think my answer is falsetto.

brilliant as it is, this is not better than love vs. money. the answer is still "nikki," btw.

And why exactly are they livin' a lie?

(almost) every song is this album is amazing, but how could it not be I Luv Your Girl? am i alone in this?

fast car/ nikki, highlight of the-dreams career thus far

wait til you get to purple kisses and luv songs

It's grown on me a bit, but I always thought "Fast Car" was kind of silly and out of place on Love/Hate. It still doesn't seem as fleshed out as his subsequent Prince homages to me.

it's certainly the barest, which is why i probably love it most

Never got the overwhelming love for Fast Car. Vastly prefer Nikki (pretty sure i voted for it in this poll)

'playin' in her hair' followed by 'purple kisses' is his pinnacle

voted "nikki" but i sort of hate alex for pointing out what a bad line "springtime, summertime, falltime, winter" is in one of these threads. now it bothers me every time.

― horseshoe, Monday, September 7, 2009 2:02 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

I like that line! There's a beautiful asymmetry to it, the way it sets up a pattern of two-syllable seasons then stops cold with this abrupt dead-end. It perfectly parallels the relationship he's describing.

i think 'fast car' is a way better prince homage than 'yamaha', which is way overrated imo

yeah i dont think its a bad line either

and schoolin' life is better than both xp

no it's not

getting the two of you mixed up

it really isnt, both dream songs are way better

lol we always seem to post right after each other aswell

I hadn't even realized you were different posters til now.

where's "ol"

'playin' in her hair' followed by 'purple kisses' is his pinnacle

― prolego, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 5:23 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

i could buy this

purple kisses
fast car
she needs my love
luv songs
falsetto
shawty is da shit!
playin in her hair
mama
livin a lie
nikki
I luv your girl
ditch that...

― k3vin k., Saturday, November 14, 2009 7:27 PM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

besides the first two and the last one, that's a reallll fluid ranking

― k3vin k., Saturday, November 14, 2009 7:28 PM (seven years ago)

i think i stand by this

purple kisses
fast car
she needs my love
luv songs
falsetto
shawty is da shit!
playin in her hair
mama
livin a lie
nikki
I luv your girl
ditch that...

― k3vin k., Saturday, November 14, 2009 7:27 PM (3 months ago)

bump "she needs my love" down a couple, slide "shawty is the shit" above "falsetto". theyre all so close besides "ditch that..." tho for me

ha xp

― vag gangsta (k3vin k.), Thursday, February 18, 2010 11:05 PM (six years ago

actually this

not sure if i've listened to this album this decade

hey it's been 5 years cut me a little slack

'playin' in her hair' followed by 'purple kisses' is his pinnacle

― prolego, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 5:23 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

this opinion holds up

tbh i considered doing so recently after seeing the dance troupe that deej recently posted on rolling raps did a routine to 'i luv your girl'... but then i looked at it and i could still play all the songs in my head just fine

'livin a lie' is sounding great in my head right now. alfred always was right on that one

Livin a Lie seems poignant now, like remember when r&b playing with housey beats seemed fun?

This may seem like heresy, but I could never get into this one. Probably because I heard the second LP first, and then when I came back to LP 1 it just seemed a bit too flat and not quite self-aware enough.

i always felt like that too, like i can't not be thinking 'i cd be listenin to love vs money'. i love fast car tho

that is wrong, just fyi

'livin a lie' is sounding great in my head right now. alfred always was right on that one

― r|t|c, Saturday, January 14, 2017 7:25 PM (

https://m.popkey.co/d86114/qxy0g.gif

i luv your girl shd be #1 i now think

falsetto is also just a perfect song

xpost "and I pray that y'all ain't serious/cos seriously, she's on my dick" still a good zing

ty also sry horseshoe, i kno. when i was younger i didn't like tomatoes + i knew that was wrong also