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10 Things You Didn't Know About The-Dream - The official first week numbers are in for The-Dream's 5th studio album, IV Play, and it's landed at No. 2 on Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop" chart. Though the sales are lower than his 2007 debut, they topped his last, Terius Nash 1977. In today's landscape, that's reasonably surpising, especially considering that he told Hot 97's Juan Ep, Peter Rosenberg and Ebro Darden that he doesn't "really like to perform." But perform he does; he's on the Lights Out tour with Kelly Rowland right now ("I owe it to the people," he said). Check out 10 other things we've learned about The-Dream. —Sia Barnes(Photo: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)

Photo By Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

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10. Family Connections - The-Dream is deeply connected to his history. He and his grandfather would go together to "clean off the graves" of his ancestors, and he paid his aunt $12,000 to trace their roots back to at least the 1850s.(Photo: John Ricard/BET)

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9. Quick With the Draw - He talked "Single Ladies" into existence. "I got your first single," he told Beyoncé, before he even wrote it. The original track was started by his producer partner, Christopher "Tricky" Stuart, who was about to trash it. The-Dream came in and added instrumentation and the catchy content about putting a ring on it. "It took about 20 minutes," he said of composing the first draft of melody and lyrics "from top, down."(Photo: Columbia Records)

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8. He Plays a Lot of Instruments - The-Dream plays a lot of instruments, starting with the trumpet in the third grade. He was inspired by his best friend, Chris, a U.S. soldier, who, said The-Dream, plays better than he does. But Dream also said that his ability to play multiple instruments is one of the keys to his success in the studio.(Photo: John Ricard/BET)

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7. First Deal Came From a B2K Song - After The-Dream wrote "Everything" for B2K's final studio album, Pandemonium!, a man named Laney Stewart hooked him up with a publishing deal and it was big business from there, including Britney Spears and Madonna's "Me Against the Music." Around that time, The-Dream also developed a close relationship with Stewart's brother, Tricky, Dream's current production partner, and the two started going in on such chart-topping singles as Rihanna's "Umbrella."(Photo: Scott Gries/Getty Images)

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6. He Keeps It All in Perspective - With such major hits under his belt, The-Dream certainly could care less about industry pettiness. "If I see somebody going crazy and it's like, 'Yo, I need this five percent of publishing, I'll probably just give it up from my side," he said. Admittedly, "It's rolling the dice," but Terius knows his worth and he wholeheartedly believes that The-Dream will "be here tomorrow," so no need to argue.(Photo: Brad Barket/PictureGroup)

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5. Hits Like Umbrella Stay Reigning in His Account - The-Dream credits Rihanna's "Umbrella" featuring her Roc Nation boss, Jay-Z, as his turning point. He said, once Jay-Z and L.A. Reid (who were both at Def Jam at the time) wanted to know who was behind the soon-to-be chart-topper, the whole industry's ear perked. To this day, the 2007 single still earns him at least a milli per year.(Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

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4. J. Holiday's "Bed" Was Another Major Turning Point - The-Dream realized he could be behind the mic and in front of the camera after he wrote "Bed" for J. Holiday, which sat for 5 weeks atop Billboard's "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs" in 2007. "I felt like there was a gap [in R&B]," he said, the music was missing a grittier sound, so he decided to fill it. By the end of that year, he released his critically acclaimed Love Hate debut, led by "Shawty Is a 10 (Shawty is Da S---)"(Photos from left: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

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3. The-Dream Is Also The Sandman - The-Dream has no problems with being generous with his craft. He said, "Someone can ask me for something off my album and I'll give it to them." For him, this music is more about being a producer than a performer. "I've always been honest with myself. I definitely have a great tone, B [Beyoncé] says it all the time, but 'singer' means a lot of things."(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)

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2. He's Influenced the New Wave of Gritty & Blues - The-Dream cites R. Kelly, Sade, Prince, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding among his influences, while industry insiders credit The-Dream with the new alt-R&B sound we hear today from such artists as Drake and The Weeknd. Though he humbly questions that, "I don't know how much somebody would be listening to me," he will say that his favorite sub-genre-shaping song, "Fancy" (off his sophomore release, Love vs. Money), was definitely taken and chopped up by "everybody."(Photos from left: Christopher Peterson/Splash News; Santi/Splash News)

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1. He's on "No Church in the Wild," and He Ain't Even Know It - The-Dream's generosity is not just about money, it's about credit. He's the one who said, "Put 'ball so hard' everywhere you see a gap on this song," for "N----z in Paris," but he's not in the liner notes for it. He is, however, credited for the eight bars he sung on "No Church in the Wild" (that everyone thought it was either 'Ye or Frank Ocean). Dream didn't even know they kept his vocals for that until after it came out. "Got a Grammy for that," he said. Next up: he hinted at a new Jay-Z project that will include a song the two went in on circa Watch the Throne.(Photos from left: John Ricard/BET; Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images; Michael Buckner/Getty Images For BET)