Review #11: Common

Common-Be
(GOOD/Geffen)
8 out of 10

Picture links to Common's website

The state of mainstream hip-hop today is that of a skydiver whose parachutes are defective. Most artists take bland beats, rudimentary songwriting skills, and an astronomical ego and try to churn out an album full knowing that it’ll sell like hotcakes as long as they brag about the right things. It’s causing the game to move at full speed with nowhere to go but down. It’s times like these when great albums are totally necessary to attempt to reverse this pattern. Lately, this album’s been the sixth from Chicago MC Lonnie Lynn a.k.a. Common Sense a.k.a. Common. Common’s fought misguided hip-hop before, in his legendary 1994 hit “I Used To Love H.E.R.” 11 years later, he’s teamed up with his buddy Kanye West, who’s produced and released on his slightly Christian label GOOD the album “Be”. The result is raw and real yet still positive and optimistic.

West’s production is actually not the really spectacular thing about this record. It has its high points, but in reality it’s nowhere as good as his work on various other tracks and his own debut, “The College Dropout”. As he’s been doing a lot lately, he samples like a very poor man’s Avalanches. If this and his latest single “Diamonds” are any indication, it doesn’t bode well for his upcoming “Late Registration”. But enough about the ultra-famous producer. Let us get to the superb MC spitting verses here.

In the same storytelling style as the aforementioned “I Used To Love H.E.R.”, Common is stunning on the short yet epic “Testify”, a startling poem about a court case gone surprisingly wrong. Common snarls each word as if the events described in the track directly affected his life. Kanye shines on the track too as he loops samples from Honey Cone’s “Innocent Til Proven Guilty” to create an amazing, catchy beat comprised almost entirely of vocal cuts. Another tasty little slice of ferocious ghetto politics is “The Corner”, a musical doctrine in defense of the various paths (legal and illegal) that impoverished urbanites take to make ends meet topped off by fiery spoken-word bits by The Last Poets. Also, as a much welcomed treat, a live cut of “The Food” from Chappelle’s Show was placed on the album. The performance in itself was the best musical piece ever featured on the program. Performed in a kitchen while Chappelle tooled around with various utensils, it was placed with the show’s most memorable moments. The addition of the song to the album is a reminder of how incredibly professional the performance was put together and how great the song itself was, especially when you consider that it was aired only on Comedy Central.

The most peculiar track on the album has to be “Go!”, where Common raps about his fantasies over a twinkling synth accompanied by singer-songwriter John Mayer. Before you cry mash-up, though, realize that Mayer’s only role on the track is to sing “Go!” several times. Since I’m a huge fan of Mayer’s work, however, and considering the subject matter of the song, I really think that the track could have benefited from more input from Mayer. It’s this slight sense of restriction of experimentation that somewhat hurts the album.

The biggest mistake on the album would probably have to be the album’s closer, “It’s Your World”. It’s 8.5 minutes long, most of which is comprised of unnecessary and tacky spoken-word input from a group of children and Common’s father. It is reassuring to know that inner-city children have dreams, but I’d rather not have learned this on a highly anticipated rap album. However, the track is supposedly broken into two parts. If so, the first part (the actual song) should have been placed on the album while the second (the spoken word), could have been placed as a b-side on a single or on a special edition.

The rest of the album is full of jams that are great although surprisingly unmemorable. Common’s skills never waver in terms of the verses, but the tracks are slightly diluted when West’s production lacks elements that really distinguish themselves from other tracks. Nevertheless, the entire album, from beginning to end, is tit-for-tat much better than anything chopped & screwed. Put another notch in Common’s belt and let’s hope stuff like this is remembered 10 years from now as a landmark as opposed to crunk-hop.

Key Tracks: “Testify”, “The Food (Live)”, “The Corner”