The Dream "Love King"

Looks as if the Dream may be over with his trilogy of love albums coming to an end with “Love King”   because first love was against hate, then it was “Love Vs. Money,” and now love is king. In the title song he starts with spelling out the title and he is talking about girls everywhere ( girls on the label, different airlines, different locations, people talking on the phone, girls on his d, some drinkin’ patron, some who know Diddy, and when he’s “Coming Home.” It has this catchy finger-snap some heys, and a “you don’t know me like that” refrain. I’m sorry, could you please forgive me? What is that “Make Up Bag” for? Yeah? Uh Huh? Okay, now I see it. He is giving us advice on how to keep our girl from leaving and instead of mad, he’s going to make us broke. Spending five stacks on a make-up bag (Gucci, Valentino, Chenille , Marc Jacobs, and Louis Vuitton); does that ever work for long? It does have these nice keys, and T.I. dropping a verse, so please don’t bother with five stacks because I’m not worth it. Can You “F.I.L.A.” the love? With this looped horn/synth, and steady beat, and the return of the king of the south in his second consecutive appearance on this record might even make you fall in love again; from one King to another.  Is “Sex Intelligent?” Has anyone seen the “Seinfeld” episode when George became smarter for not having it, and Elaine went the other way? Silly, This song is one of the best, the vocals are nice, and there is nice looped piano, and the last minute has this human beat box, guitar echo, and multilayered vocals. The remix of the previous song follows and is a little more laidback with less going on. They both are good on stand alone songs, but if we were to compare I would say that I like the original better.What can be more fun than riding a “Yamaha” with friends? This song reminds of the year 1999 because of the instrumentals in the beginning, except the tempo is quicker, and the beat is different.  “The police hate us/Why?/ because they never seen a girl with an a—so fat/ Baby, don’t make me watch/If I can’t ride,” but seriously I cannot avoid seeing someone ride a Yamaha (real one) or someone riding a motorcycle when I hear this song, and the strings remind me of…Run… Janie’s Got A Gun. The next song is “Nikki Part 2,” a sentimental, sparsely arranged tribute to his ex-girlfriend, which has him having doubts, and wondering if he should continue with her. Is it a coincidence that the next song is also about an ex-girlfriend who has him falling into an “Abyss?” This song has this great beat and has some slight echo effect and distorted synth to help cause the visualizations of a waterfall over a heart chained up at the bottom of  the lake. The vocals are really nice too, along with the piano added later in the end, and the thunderstorm sfx. I wonder how that relationship “Turnt Out.” If it was anything like the song, it probably wasn’t happy in the least bit. He has his voice All The Way Turnt Up, and the song is just this cutesy slow-mo love-makin scene all scored and ready to go. Ok, so it’s more so filled with caresses than actual lovemaking, but it could work either way. Some Memories are coming back with that piano (muted) ,no Bulls--- just “February Love.” The sound seems really sparse, and does not have much added until after two minutes with the beat, some strings, and horns. This song is about haters trying to see a relationship they don’t believe will work, fail. One of those relationships that just require a chance, but the assumptions just attack it without reason. The next song uses an acronym with a double entendre. “Florida University?” No F-U! Which is used as the refrain directed toward an ungrateful someone. Of course it is only part of the story, but you cannot deny, the emotion that one feels when they give someone their heart and soul and they stomp on it like a little ant. It has some nice synth, and beat even if the message is sour, the rest is sweet. Now we are getting to some bonus tracks. This next one includes R&B “Veteran” R Kelly and some cutesy piano. Some songs are “Priceless,” and the longer they are the better, this song is nice but seems to cost too much of my time (6:04).Now, some people like to care for other people; it is just inborn, but some people just sneer when they hear “Take Care of Me.” A song where the love can become hate in any minute if the love is taken for granted and the heart worn on the shirt is stabbed. It has some great guitar and drums; this is more of a rock flavor with some great vocals. “All Black Everything” is basically about all the things money can buy in…emerald? With beat in the front, keys in the back, “hey” all around, and an “All black everything” refrain. “Sorry” but the vocals that sound like Jeremih Derulo, and the hand clap beat make me say silly things. The vocals are the main focus, as they should be along with the message in a song as this. IfICouldOnlyChoose8SongsIWould  Choose: Love King, Sex Intelligent, Yamaha, Nikki Part 2, The Abyss, Florida University, Take Care of Me and Sorry.