[Review] Common: Be


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I have never seem any discussion on Neowin about Common. Maybe an introspective mix of jazz and rap, with a somewhat eclectic style does not appeal to the same suburban white kid that gobbles up 50 Cent and Eminem like Fat Joe in the buffet line. But in reality, Common is one of the most respected MCs in hip-hop today. From Talib Kweli's, "truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense. I have never seem any discussion on Neowin about Common. Maybe an introspective mix of jazz and rap, with a somewhat eclectic style does not appeal to the same suburban white kid that gobbles up 50 Cent and Eminem like Fat Joe in the buffet line. But in reality, Common is one of the most respected MCs in hip-hop today. From Talib Kweli's, "truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense... the next best thing I do a rhyme with Common Sense " and Jay-Z's "Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense,...But I did Five Mil?I ain't been rhyming like Common since," Common has carried the torch for underground hip-hop for the last 10 years.

In his latest album, Be, Common comes full circle with his musical style and lyrical flow. He has joined forces with Kayne West to create both a memorable and unique album. Trust me, this sounds nothing like Kanye West, this is Kanye helping Common sound like Common.

Be is soulful flow that only lasts about 40 minutes. It is a concentrated mix that seems to last only minutes as one song compliments the other. The album lacks skippable tracks; each one can be as memorable as the next. The only exception is "The Food" which is the live recording from the Dave Chappelle show in all it's under produced and flat bass line goodness. Not that "The Food" is not lyrically on point, but the production factor alone causes me to skip the track so I don't fall out of the moment that is the rest of the album.

"The Corner," Common's first release, discusses the inner city with the eye of a journalist. It is unjudgemental and honest. It is also unique, and people buying the album expecting every track to be this hard will so solely disappointed. Other notable songs are "Testify," a tale of a girl who testifies (and lies) to keep her boyfriend out of jail. "Go" sports John Mayer (that's right) on backing vocals and has a refreshing 70's feel to it. "Faithful" could be the best jazz, rap mixture to date with John Legend providing a solid hook that could almost hypnotize the listener.

His last album, Electric Circus, was so experimental in nature it pushed away many of his most loyal fans. His fans said things like, "Common's lost it," and "Erica has turned the brotha out." In Be, Common responds to his fans, "They say a nigga lost his mind... But in the scheme of things I never lost a rhyme... The thin line between love and hatred...I'm the black pill in the Matrix, the saturated life." Common does not preach, he is a 30 something year old man, discussing issues as a 30 something year old man should. Raw, but truthful. Be, is where Common is at right now, in the moment.

If you are a 50 Cent fan or an Eminem fan, is this album for you? No, and frankly I don't want it to be. Common says it best with "They say dude think he righteous; I write just to free minds from Stony to Riker's."

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Common's Be album is awesome. His bonus track is sweet too! Most of the songs on the cd is awesome. I have the food studio version, which is twice as good as the live one. The one thing i like about this album is the beat, and Kanye does a good job on that. Not to mention Common lyrics which gives you something to think about.

For example, in "faithful" " What if god was a Her" The apperance by John Legend and i think Bilal at the end was awesome.

My Favorite:

Common - Be

Common - The Corner

Common - Faithful

Common - The Food both live and studio verson

Common - Again Faith Evans remix

Worth the money

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agreed, good album. I always enjoy Common, heck, I respected him even more when he released Electric Circus because it showed he was exploring his art. Like Water For Chocolate is still my favorite album though, Be is very good, and you're right, Kanye did a good job, completely opposite of what I expected.

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I was 110% completely disappointed with this album. Then again, I am not a fan of Kanye at all.

I think Kanye had way to much influence within the album, and I cannot stand how he just has to say something on any track he produces aka like Puffy or Diddy or whatever he calls himself these days.

The Corner is a brilliant song, it will go down as one of my top 40 Hip Hop tracks ever, and considering I have been listening to HipHop since the early 80's, that is saying alot. I got The Corner without even knowing about it, as a result of a free iTunes Pepsi Cap, and I love it. According to iTunes I have listened to it 79 times already. The Corner is really very reminiscent of classic Hip Hop, has a very Special Ed I Got It Made feel to it, which is what I am all about. I think The Corner set me up to be disappointed as I thought by some off chance the other tracks would be just as good.

The very first track sums it all up for me. It starts off with an Amazing Jazz Bass line, and then this horrible Casio-ish Pre Fabricated Keyboard Sound kicks in and utterly destroys it. I pretty much feel the same for every track. They all have a great backbone, but then something is thrown on top of it and just makes it all feel terribly wrong. Shame too because Common is by far one of the best MC's around today.

I really, really wanted to like this album, I just really do not like it.

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