IV Play
“I can give a fuck about the IV Play/I want it now,” The-Dream sings on his fifth album. The Atlanta singer-songwriter’s romantic poetry makes Prince look like Art Garfunkel. But if his booty-poppin’ subject matter isn’t original, the kaleidoscope R&B butter-storms he cooks up give his sexcapades a hallucinatory drama. Check the white-noise synth slaps on “Pussy,” the sparse, swirling trills on “Turnt” (featuring Her Beyness) or his nearly seven-minute fun-house mash-up of the Neptunes and R. Kelly, “Loving You/Crazy,” where he croons, “Got me feeling like O.J., Elway/Bronco ready in the driveway, getaway.” To those about to try to fuck to it, we salute you.