The-Dream credits Playboi Carti with encouraging him to recycle ad-libs that he popularized in the mid-2000s.
In a new interview with Variety, the R&B singer-songwriter, who penned notable hits like Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” revealed that he’s dropping his first album in 13 years. The LP will follow his fifth studio album IV Play and was previewed by fellow Atlanta native Carti.
“I was playing the record and Playboi Carti works in the studio next to mine. And he’s like, ‘Yo, bring one of the records over,’” The-Dream told Variety music reporter Steven J. Horowitz.
“He’s doing something with somebody else, I won’t comment on what that is,” The-Dream continued. “I played him some records from the album. And he’s like, ‘Wait, big bro, where’s the ‘ellas?' He’s like, ‘What? Are you crazy?’”
“As soon as he said that I said, alright, cool. Thank you, young fella. I went on to make sure that I was adding them in places where it was tasteful and meant something for it to be there.”
Since the release of his 2013 album, The-Dream has mainly retreated to songwriting on Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, in addition to material by Jay-Z, Jay Electronica and others. This week, the 8-time Grammy winner was named among the 30 Greatest Living Songwriters by The New York Times.
