Friday, May 14, 2010

The-Dream Creates a Nightmare for Music Blogs

I’m a bit surprised that this story has slipped below the radar: Did you know that pop singer/songwriter The-Dream has been working in union with the FBI in order to “catch” “music pirates”? Amazingly, The-Dream had no qualms with admitting to it out in the open, taking to his Twitter page to explain:
Job Done As u know there have been several leaks around many records I do I am please to say the Record Champagne which was apart of a FBI [LINK]
investigation, has lead to the three individual's who's been hacking us for the last two years. im sorry u guys have to here unfinished [LINK]
music so i took it into my on hands to have every record i make since Nov 2009 logged with a Federal encripted Tag & will also appear on LK. [LINK]
And Champagne is not on LK! it never was! [LINK]
Call it what u want to! The only people who have something to say are the ones that usually don't work for anything they have! If sombody [LINK]
Stole your car you call the police, if your mother gets robbed in the parking lot she calls the police! Don't try to act like y'all down [LINK]
To let someone contiinue to take from you when the people who are doing it are being directly disrespectful to what I put my hard work In to [LINK]
I'm not going to kill anyone so since everybody got something to say tell me what would u do! This isn't about people who buy they shit [LINK]
So what's the problem , oh yeah that's right y'all never worked for anything! So u would feel away, it's 99 cent nigga u ain't got a dollar [LINK]
get a job buy your shit the same way you pY the Man for gas and lights! I guess we all down with the Feds then! Buy yo shit! Don't steal [LINK]
From me Im running a legitimate business! As long as they taxing me 40% the Feds work for me and anybody else that pays taxes! This ain't [LINK]
The Trap! This is what Apple does, this is what Coca Cola would do! Stop fakin like y'all just got money to give away cause I don't!! [LINK]
Eskay recently posted a great article – I told you it’s no love lost! – titled On Rap Blogging and Music Leaks. In essence, it’s a verbal 187 on Lupe Fiasco and his diva-esque tendencies to flip the fuck out whenever one of his songs springs a leak. I’ve always been put off by Lupe’s pissy stance on so-called music piracy, particularly because it’s based on a true ignorance of how it all boils down in the grand scheme of things. As Eskay writes: “Once a song has been leaked onto the internet, it’s a wrap. It’s over. There’s nothing you can do about it, and by asking a few bloggers to take it down, all you’re doing is pissing off those few bloggers in your futile attempt to stop the unstoppable.” Technical foul on Lupe Fiasco! Now if that’s a TO, then The-Dream just earned himself an ejection.

I’ve always been weary of marrying “hip hop” to “R&B”, as so many “urban” radio stations have done (the “home(s)” for “hip hop and R&B”). (Let’s put aside the fact that current “R&B artists” are nothing more than “pop” acts. Real R&B artists are people like Albert King, Lowell Fulson, Bill Doggett and so on. But I’ve lost that debate years before I was even born.) Whenever I hear R. Kelly beefing with Jay-Z or Mariah Carey going at Eminem – on records, mind you – it makes me want to jump in front of a moving truck. But one hip hop/R&B comparison is apt: if Rick Ross lost some credibility when he was outed as a former C.O., then what does that make The-Dream? An informant? A rat? A stoolie? What ever happened to Stop Snitching? Wouldn’t it be appropriate to expect a unified effort by the blogosphere – particularly by the NMC, a.k.a. the taste makers – in boycotting any and all tracks and features by The-Dream? Bloggaz R N Dainja! I know I sure as hell won’t be posting any more of his music...


  1. hmm I kinda confused with your stance Ivan. Boycott The Dream's music but not Stones throw.

    ST may not work with the FBI but they shut blogs down and spend alot of time killing links. It's one thing to kill links to songs not released or just released but to kill links to mixes with ST songs released five years ago and only played for 2 and half minutes?

    To me the Dream is somebody who isn't gonna be around in Industry for long ,his music isn't that good, So posting or not posting his music isn't really factor for me. However dealing with ST is. ST may release some good tunes but their actions should be condemn by all. They should not be given a free pass because of the quality of their music. In my view until ST stops biting the hand they fuels their business they should be forced to pay for every blog post they receive. Since they show hate hate should be given back.

    btw , in case you didn't hear my blog got shut down (not by ST) a few days but I'll be back July 1.

  2. I respect Stones Throw a bit more because they're an independent label. Keep it real though, you don't see me posting their music with the same frequency as most other artists/labels. You're basing this argument on ONE "What's New from Stones Throw" post I published.

    I understand your point of view though.

  3. Stones throw took one of my links down after less than a half hour. They're diligent!

  4. Indeed they are!

    The other issue here is that The-Dream, an artist, is the one who is ACTIVELY seeking to get people busted. Stones Throw may have a similarly strict policy, but it's not like Guilty Simpson or Mayer Hawthorne are the antagonists.

    Fuck The-Dream.

  5. He wifed Christina Milian.

    For that alone, fuck The Dream.

    His voice is horribly annoying too.

  6. HAH standing next to "The Boss" you know that's how they refer to P.O. in prison? Boss man / Boss lady....

    Dear "The-Dream" maybe if you didn't make weak meaningless, soulless (oh yeah I just threw that word up and I'm an atheist), music you wouldn't have to try recoup some pennies "it's 99 cent nigga u ain't got a dollar" your words not mine homie.....SMH

  7. LMAO@ FUNK DOC.....



  8. This is Hip-Hop fam, a culture built on hustling and getting over by any means necessary. A lot of you niggas got rich rapping about this same exact mentality, yet when it comes back around full circle it’s a problem?

  9. Thank got the FBI is working on these large, important targets. Now that they found out who was leaking Dream MP3s, they can finally track down Bin Laden.

  10. doesn't he have a mixtape dropping soon. i thought that was free or we supposed to be paying for that. as far as this issue it's simple. if you are a fan and like the music most likely you're going to buy the album. if you aren't a fan and you download a song then what does it matter if you aren't planning on buying it regardless. either way you ain't paying for it whether you have it or not. i remember when i was young we taped singles off the radio. to me downloading is the same. nobody was coming for us for recording songs off the radio then taking em to the care and listening to em. this is pretty ridiculous and yeah why is the FBI worrying about things like this with so much crime, murders, terriorists, sex crimes, etc etc going on in our own country. truly pathetic

  11. i think anyone working with police is a cock blower and dreams music is wack so why even consider this clash,if it wasnt for the internet he wouldnt have a sale and most people want their buck back from that

  12. guess i'll continue to not download shitty music

  13. Hahaahahahaha! Look at "The Boss's" eyes! Who is The Dream? Looks like a light weight Lame Dash!

  14. who the hell is the dream? never heard of this guy. stupid name though.