Do we like them?

Do we like The-Dream?

Our score: 4 out of 10. No harmful words or campaigns of his own turned up, but serious allegations in an undecided lawsuit keep this middling.

Terius Nash, who records as The-Dream, is a songwriter and producer who built his name behind the scenes before stepping out front. His 2007 debut Love/Hate went Gold, and he has long worked with producer Tricky Stewart, who co-wrote and co-produced the new single with him.

The big return is Love/Hate II, a sequel released 19 years after the original through RadioKilla and Republic. It runs to 17 tracks with T.I., Rick Ross, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, Kelly Rowland and Usher. He said he wanted “to make a record about where love is now”.

The messy part is the legal history. In 2014 he was arrested over a felony assault and strangulation complaint from an ex-girlfriend, which he denied. In March 2015 a Manhattan prosecutor said the case couldn't be proven beyond reasonable doubt, and it was dismissed.

The bigger cloud is a June 2024 lawsuit from a former protégée. It alleged abuse from 2015, forced sex, strangulation and sex trafficking. Through his representative he said the claims were untrue and defamatory. The coverage we read called the case unresolved, and we found no ruling or settlement, so nothing is proven either way.

On the harm test, honestly, there's very little. Searches turned up no comments from him on LGBTQ+ or trans people, no conspiracy theories, no climate or vaccine nonsense, and nothing about the company he keeps beyond mainstream R&B names. That is a thin record rather than a glowing one, so we say so.

He has also had smaller stoushes, like a copyright suit over a Mariah Carey track that was settled in 2014 with each side paying its own legal fees. We found no charity work or kind acts in the sources we could open, so there's little real good on the other side of the ledger.