The-Dream

Probably best known for writing Rihanna's mega-hit "Umbrella," The-Dream finally offers his own 12-song, R&B collection with Love Hate. At first, it seems to be a typographically challenged title that loosely describes a vague emotional state, but listen carefully, and it's probably a bit deeper than that. The entire record sees The-Dream in a flux-like state, where he's wrestling with the opposite sex—sometimes in his mind, and sometimes quite literally.

The-Dream is at his best when he's experimenting with sound arrangements; it's as if he listened to a whole lot of Prince at some point, and wanted to slip a bit of that in. And it works. "Ditch That...", while detailing a night at the club where the narrator is commanding a "shawty" to ditch the guy she's with, freshens things up with a funky, futuristic bass line. The second single "Falsetto" is a slow jam that explains what the shawty sounds like when making sex noises (hint: it's in the falsetto range). Silly, but that Prince-style guitar shredding at the end sure sounds nice.

It's these little nuances that make Love Hate is a promising debut; and even though he probably should have limited the use of the word "shawty" to his lead track "Shawty Is da Shid," should he continue to branch out his subject matter in the same manner he has his sound, The-Dream could be on his way to Rihanna-style success.

—Michael D. Ayers
12.20.07