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The-Dream Discusses The Weeknd Beef, Losing Money on Tour, New School Journalists

Posted Apr 6th 2012 11:55AM by Latifah Muhammad
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After taking a little time off from music, Terius "The-Dream" Nash is back on the road for his Kill the Lights tour. Despite three albums on the books and an impressive roster of hits for the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna and Justin Bieber, Dream's trek around the U.S. mirrors that of a new artist. Intimate venues, a limited number of dates and what he estimates will be a loss of more of $170,000 of his own money.

"I'm blessed to be able to come out here, be on the road and lose money," he tells The BoomBox. "To come out here and perform for people who love my music."

While he does have a solid fanbase, Dream also sees the media's lack of proper promotion as a hindrance to the publicity that the show has received. Rather than explaining that his choice to go on tour is solely based on performing for those who have supported his music, the Radio Killa often gets caught up in media twisters for all the wrong reasons.

"The new school of journalism is about blogs, right?" The-Dream states. "As soon as the new guy gets on, then they make him look stupid too. There's no unity in that case. No one's going to show up and write, 'This was a good show to go to.' The journalists don't understand how they're affected also, because its bull--- to read. Nobody wants to read it."

Watch The-Dream's "Shawty Is a 10" Video Feat. Fabolous

No stranger to controversy, the 34-year-old etched out a potential beef with fellow soft-voiced crooner The Weeknd during a set of shows last month. Although he never specifically referenced the Toronto singer's name, Dream quipped that, since his hiatus, a truckload of new acts have emerged with a similar style. The two exchanged Twitter jabs recently, but in the end, he maintains that his intention was not to address anyone in particular.

"I wasn't the first one to address that," he shares. "Evidently the world wants to know. Somebody said, 'There's a lot of Dream activity going on but Dream ain't out,' so I decided to say, 'Let's see if there's a lot of Dream activity. I'ma cast this net out, and we're going to see if Dream activity is going on.' And certain people felt a way so, what does that say?"

Based on his success in the last five years alone, Dream laments that he has no reason to attack other performers.

"I would never stand in the way of anybody else's [success] and I know where I am," the "ROC" singer admits. "We're not in the time of chivalry where we can say, 'This guy, I actually really enjoy his music and this is a part of where I came from.' [They're] going to act like they have no idea. That would be me acting like I don't know who R. Kelly is. C'mon man, like really?"

In the end, his commentary on being copied was meant to shed light on performers who don't pay homage to their predecessors, noting that the "point overall was about being influenced, and being OK with seeing it," but he also blames the media for twisting his words.

"When you leave out the context, sometimes it can be a light conversation and then you know, the new school journalists just write it," The-Dream notes. "It's never an explanation behind the context. They'll just leave it out there and then I have to go and clean it up."

When he's not cleaning up journalists' mess, creating hits for other artists and prepping the release of his forthcoming Love IV album, he can still be seen on stage. The Kill the Lights tour rolls into the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, Saturday (April 7).

Watch The-Dream's "Walkin' on the Moon" Video

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