today i feel the same way. this is an amazing mainstream pop-R&B album and should have the same crossover appeal as Good Girl Gone Bad, except unlike that record, this has no duds. this has beautifully layered, dense synth compositions, harmonies and hooks. The-Dream is very much like R.Kelly in that he makes creating pitch perfect pop music sound effortless. but unlike Kells, who phones it in all too often and ends up with horribly uneven albums, The-Dream brings it on every track. he has the raw talent, along with producer and co-songwriter Tricky Stewart, to pull hooks out of his ass all day, but still commit himself and meticulously fawn over each of these tracks. you'll definitely hear other albums this year on the same level as Love vs Hate, but you won't find one that's on a level above this.

An excellent point.

he's right, and it is the best song on the album imo so i'll allow it!

i won't find an album on a higher level than this? i take that as a personal challenge.

if we take 'levels' to mean 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, etc. albums, this is in the 9's so there's no level above it, yes.

was waiting for a higher quality rip and found one today. now i'm blazed as all hell and starting this for the first time.

rockin' that shit is like my girls for black people.

Yeah, tight album.

Can't tell if the Mariah Carey track is awful, or awesome. Probably a little bit of both.

Right now the title track is my fave.

Haven't listened to this yet.

Top 5 OTY.

Animal Collective = 6.

lol

lol

Vamos/JScjack.

fags.

Serio8usly though, D/Ling now.

You can get so much pussy from having a leak of this guys. use it to your best advantage. When does this shit drop anyway?

NP: Zomby - Where were you in 92'

in stores on tuesday

Wow, this thing is excellent. Wasn't expecting Drake to be put to shame so soon.

The 2-part title track is some high concept Pinball Wizard-type r&b shit.
This disc is solid as hell, Mr. Yeah is my current jam. And wtf at the genre-bending 6+ min Fancy?
This guys truly in a class of his own.

Getting on this. Kind of shocked you know what the Eastenders theme tune sounds like, though.

Also Chrono, check out that soca thread I posted, shit should be right up your alley.

my parents were big fans/huge fags for a time

Pretty fuckin good. I love the synths on this. Everything I could want from something that would sound like this, pretty much.

Disclaimer: Dream and Tricky are pretty derivative (R Kelly + Timbaland + Prince) but are making some seriously fun music.

His first album "Love/Hate" was one of my fav pop albums of the past few years. I think this new one is more consistent but the high points on his debut ("Fast Car", "She Needs My Love") are higher. This new one is just single after single though. It makes the album fly by but also makes it seem a little less than cohesive for some reason.

In some ways, this is the album Timbaland should have made instead of dicking around with Chris Cornell.

if this doesn't make my top ten, then 09 is going to be legendary. seriously, this album is easily up there with the best pop albums of this decade (paper trail, futuresex/lovesounds, good girl gone bad). love vs. money is better edited than most of those, clocking in at less than an hour, while being just as consistent or more than them. fantastic and totally unexpected. i liked love/hate, but that doesn't even hold a candle to this.

Weird, I much prefer the last one, song wise. This sounds pretty much more of the same, but with less Doves Cry drums and more strip club shit. In other words, he's ripping off R. Kelly more than Prince now. And clearly one is a better choice.

lotta bad posts in this thread

R. Kelly is so much less frantic than this. an obvious inspiration ("we're doing it to Kellys 12 play"), but not even close to a rip. same with Prince. there's no sense that this is unoriginal, except in reference to his last album as this is really a continuation of that style, and as The-Dream said, "this is the first album on crack."

i was really big on 'love/hate' last year... honestly was surprised by how full of classics it was. the-dream continues to deliver the finest most visionary shit the r+b world has to offer.

'love vs money' = best thing i've heard all year. all positive words about this are otfm. and i'm definitely feelin' "rockin' that shit" the hardest right now, track is such a banger.

Missed out on Love/Hate last year and have both albums on my hard drive.

One of these days! I'm sure I'll love them. Er...

Picked this up yesterday, had no idea it was out already. Gon make them speakers knock before class.
The second part of Love vs Money is def Nikki pt.2. Itll be on repeat all morning.
And for such a great album, its sure got some ass ugly artwork.

Finally got around to hearing this all the way through.

Fucking awesome.

Me too. It's so effortlessly smooth and shiny. I can hear the R. Kelly comparisons, but they don't make me want to poke myself with sharp things. (That's not a comment against the objective "quality" of R. Kelly, I just can't stand his music); Walking On The Moon is especially amazing.

i am quite impressed with this record
some of it reminds me of R Kelly so much, particularly Put it Down
the line "I'm all up on you you like a monster truck" is very Kelly
that is my favorite track on the album
some of the synth sounds are fucking brilliant
good stuff

Fuck it, this is a million times better than anything R Kelly put out.

"They ask me can I dance like Usher, I tell 'em 'no', but I can make you sing like Mariah ohhhhhhhhhh"

Him and Carey sound amazing together actually, the Touch My Body remix was one of the best things she's done. Can't stop listening to Put It Down. Album of the year by a country mile.

1. Rockin' That Shit
2. Right Side of My Brain
3. Fancy
4. Put it Down
5. Sweat it Out
6. Take You Home 2 My Mama
7. Mr. Yeah
8. Let Me See the Booty
9. Walkin' on the Moon
10. Love vs Money
11. Hater (the iTunes bonus track)
12. My Love
13. Love vs Money 2
14. Kellys 12 Play
15. Money Intro (doesn't really count obvs)


maybe?

13. Love vs Money 2
14. Kellys 12 Play

dog those two tracks are wayyyy better

Seriously. You can't discount a song that is just one big tribute to "12 Play".

i had the same reaction. he really has a song called kelly's 12 play? thats awesome.

anybody have a new link for this? I've run into a lot of deleted links /passwords

who's discounting shit? i love all of these tracks.

if you're gonna make a criticism like that you gotta rerank them and decide which songs should be ranked lower.

Okay okay

pretty much in the order of the amount I've been rocking each track/going back to each song. Take her home to my mama should be higher, but I always skip it to get to Love v. money p1.

1. Put it down
2. Love Vs. Money
3. Right Side of My Brain
4. Kellys 12 Play
5. Love Vs. Money 2
6. walking on the moon
7. Mr. Yeah
8. Sweat it out
9. Rockin That Shit
10. Fancy
11. Take You Home 2 My Mama
12. My Love
13. Let me see the booty
-- intro

haven't heard the itunes track

naturally, i like my list better

And I figured I'd sway you with my irresistible logic and decapitalizations.

i definately agree with your top 5

i shudder to think there are people who like "Love vs Money 2" more than "Rockin' That Shit"

and Love vs Money Pt. 1, and Mr. Yeah, and Sweat It Out, and Right Side of my Brain.

...and thats not to say Rockin That Shit isn't fire, cuz it is...some tracks are just even hotter. I think the middle chunk of this album (from Put It Down to Mr. Yeah) is easily the strongest selection of songs he's recorded yet. In comparison the opening few tracks are pretty weak (esp Walking On the Moon).

that 2nd list isnt much better -- fancy is easy top 3

I'd say the album is incredibly consistent (especially for a mainstream pop/r&b/whatever album), but the front of it is probably my favourite part, and Walking On The Moon as a 'pretty weak' track kind of melted my brain.

h__p://www.megaupload.com/?d=YYU0O3UE

Sorry but its true. "Walking on the Moon" is the "Fast Car" of the album: its lite and inoffensive, but not all that memorable. That Mariah track is listenable, but still pretty weak. Like i said before, Rockin That Shit is good, but far from the best track on the album. It really picks up with Put It Down, and the quality remains high pretty much the rest of the way.

i've listened to this like 20 times already, with some songs in the 40-50 range

OH YESSSURRRRRRR

and you have yet to hear an Elvis Costello album.

kids these days......

if i ever meet u i swear im gonna beat u 2 a bloody pulp

terrible post. fast car is 'lite and inoffensive'??? u are an idiot

that said i do agree that it gets better towards the end. but naw, 'rockin that shit' is still pretty amazing

I've been having a lot of fun listening to this album. This guy has got crazy ambition, which means he's probably gonna be too "weird" for some people in the R&B world.

EDIT: Umm, "Fast Car" is a pretty ace track. One of the best on Love/Hate.

^^^exactly. its his best prince rip