18 tracks · 77 min
On Love King's "Sex Intelligent Remix," the-Dream announced the title and arrival date of his fourth album. 6-6-2011 instead brought the substandard double single "Body Work"/"F*ck My Brains Out," followed a couple months later by the hyper-indulgent "Internet album" 1977, credited to Terius Nash. In 2012, two middling singles -- "Roc" and "Dope Chick" -- poked radio in the eye rather than killed it. A week before Christmas, as the fourth Dream album remained unfinished, Def Jam altered 1977 and gave it a quiet official release. After several title changes and two years of delays, the fourth proper Dream album arrives with none of those previously released tracks and not much in the way of foreplay. It's more "Panties to the Side" than it is "Playin' in Her Hair," and there are only slight traces of the inspired creativity -- the ebullient melodies, the clever couplets, the emotional lows and highs -- that fill Love/Hate, Love vs. Money, and Love King. As the-Dream sleepily declares in the title track, he "can give a f*ck about the foreplay," and that's symbolic of the album. He's never been one for lyrical subtlety, but this set contains several stretches of monotonous, joyless ca…
