Album: Love vs MoneyArtist: The-Dream
Rating: 4 Stars
"[The Album] flows from one song to the next like one long story. The ending of one song is the beginning of the next song." - Shatara
As with most albums, I give myself a 3-4 day grace period. I rarely fully love any album when I first hear it. The vibe of this album was more up tempo than the last and featured some downside effects of relationships in comparison to The-Dream's first album. I would say that Dream delivered and surpassed my expectations for his second album. It's still a toss up between Shatara and myself as to whether this album is better than Love and Hate. However, this album would get my vote because I could play it from beginning to end whereas I found myself skipping several tracks on the previous album.
Top 3 Tracks:
9. Love vs. Money: Part 2
You give her money, She wants love
You give her love, Shes back at money
She'll run from man to man
Makin plans to plan
No secret ya'll know who we talkin bout
Dream got angry on em' on this track! It's always exciting to hear an r&b singer show aggression because it makes the song that much more real. Also, this song is a direct continuation from Love vs Money and shows my "emotional stages" theory in full effect. Dream goes from sadness to anger and back.
11. Right Side of My Brain
You touch me baby, then you untouch me baby
You feed me your lies, words like mine
You want me baby, then you unwant me baby
Outsmart me baby, and I'm back on crazy
Any song that leaves me feeling the emotions the singer felt is a winner in my book.
12. Mr. Yeah
She said all these ni**as be poppin' that bullsh**
But I be in it like a preacher in a pulpit
It ain't they fault cause I'm sure that they mean you well
But everytime they fail she runs right back to Mr. Yeah
Dream was going hard on this track too. It was reminiscent to Pleasure's "Boyfriend #2" with being the fall back dude. Great beat and this track goes hard in the car as well.
Honarable Mentions: Kelly's 12 Play & Love vs Money.