By Rob Harvilla – The Village Voice
“What rhyme with ‘asshole’? Asshole.” Thereby does Terius Nash, a/k/a deliciously absurd r&b semi-superstar The-Dream, deliver the best five consecutive words of 2010. A perfectly executed terrible joke—the hokey throat-clearing sound between the two “asshole”s seals it. And so it goes with the whole of “Florida University,” triumphant closing track to his third-straight deliriously triumphant solo album, the modestly titled Love King.
It’s a wantonly juvenile kiss-off, the song, a poppy frat-party trifle you’d despise if, like, LMFAO or Maroon Five or whoever, was behind it, particularly given the lyrics. The last line before the chorus is, “So forget you ever heard of me/This is short for ‘Florida University’ “; the chorus, designed to be shouted en masse, is “Eff you/Eff you/Eff you/Eff you.” Ridiculous. A fifth-grade sensibility at best—maybe fourth-. Plus it can’t help but remind you of Tim Tebow. No way. You know better than to find this song amusing. And yet in Dream’s hands it is profoundlyamusing, and amusingly profound. The genius here lies in taking objectively terrible ideas—getting emotionally involved with this guy, for example, given his penchant for “Patrónin'” and general sexual profligacy—and making them seem like brilliant ideas. [Read More]