The-Dream "IV Play" Album Review

The-Dream returns with his 4th album (5th if you include 2012's mixtape turned album which was released under his government name, Terius Nash, 1977), IV Play, after putting in quality work behind the scenes for the likes of Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Pusha T, and Kanye West over the past couple years. While he handles the bulk of the albums production along with Carlos McKinney, he calls in a few of his peers for more help than usual this time to mixed results. IV Play's lead single, "High Art" features a decent verse from Jay-Z, while features on songs like Pu**y (G.O.O.D. Music's Pusha T and Big Sean), Slow It Down (Fabolous), and Turnt Up (Beyoncé and 2 Chainz) do little to add to value to their respective songs, sometimes due to no fault of the featured artist, sans one of the worst verses I've heard from Big Sean in a while on the aforementioned "Pu**y." The two best songs containing features are the Kelly Rowland assisted "Where Have You Been" and "Too Early" featuring Gary Clark Jr. The Dream that we have come to love and enjoy finally appears on the albums title track and "Michael" where he does his best Michael Jackson impression(vocally) and tells the temporary woman of his affection "tonight I'll settle for half, tomorrow he can have it all." The hidden gym on IV Play comes by way of "Self-Conscious", an ode to women encouraging them to be happy with who they are and not who the world wants them to be because he'll be there to love them regardless. In hindsight maybe some of the features on this album were ill placed but Dream still manages to show he is comfortable riding solo, which ultimately saves this album.

Final Grade: C+