The-Dream Love/Hate II has a release date: 10 July, more than 17 years after the original, and the comeback record arrives with one of the more loaded guest lists in recent memory, and an active civil lawsuit running in the background that the artist has yet to address publicly.
The sequel to his 2007 debut album Love/Hate will be released through The-Dream’s own imprint Radio Killa and Republic Records, the Universal Music Group label. The announcement follows The-Dream’s return to the spotlight in May, when he spoke to Variety in a wide-ranging interview that made no mention of the allegations against him or the ongoing legal proceedings.
The-Dream Love/Hate II: Who’s on the Record
The guest list reads like a call sheet from a different era of hip-hop and R&B, brought back together. Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, T.I., Kelly Rowland and Rick Ross are all confirmed. Usher features on “Tampa,” the lead single released alongside the album announcement, and that collaboration alone signals The-Dream is not quietly slipping back in, he is going loud.
The original Love/Hate, released in 2007, established The-Dream as a songwriter and producer of the first order, a figure whose fingerprints would end up across some of the biggest records of the late 2000s and 2010s, on sessions for Beyoncé, Rihanna and beyond. A sequel has the kind of nostalgic weight that makes an already crowded release calendar stand up and pay attention.
The Lawsuit Still Active in California Court
Whatever the commercial momentum behind The-Dream Love/Hate II, the legal context is not going away. The-Dream is currently being sued by Chanaaz Mangroe, a Dutch singer and songwriter, in California’s District Court. The suit, filed in 2024, alleges rape, sexual battery and sex trafficking, and relates to alleged abuse said to have taken place over several months in the mid-2010s. The-Dream has denied the allegations.
The case remains active. According to the report, The-Dream’s legal team filed orders as recently as last week requesting a deadline extension to gather evidence, which indicates proceedings are still in relatively early stages rather than heading toward a conclusion. That a major label release is now scheduled for July, with no public statement from the artist addressing the lawsuit, will put both Radio Killa and Universal Music Group in a familiar and uncomfortable position: releasing a high-profile record while a serious civil case moves through the courts.
The Variety interview in May was described as wide-ranging, yet the lawsuit and allegations received no mention. For readers of that piece, the comeback was framed purely around music: the new album, the collaborators, the legacy of Love/Hate. That framing may prove harder to maintain as the July release date approaches and the court proceedings continue to generate filings.
Mangroe’s case is one of several high-profile civil suits in US music that have kept artists and their label partners navigating the space between press cycles and legal calendars. There is no indication from the court record, as described, that any settlement discussions have concluded or that the case is close to resolution.
The-Dream Love/Hate II drops on 10 July through Radio Killa and Republic. The “Tampa” single featuring Usher is out now.
