| Show Common proves his raps yaps are just the opposite A r r t k 4 t tr r lil l ii J Jk k F r r fr Gerald Narciso Globe Weekly News In hop hip-hop street cred is everything Few rappers can get away with making conscious conscious conscious con con- music and still get respect within the hop hip-hop community Will Smith is a cut clean-cut selling platinum-selling rapper but I doubt people in Brooklyn proudly bump Getting Gelling Jiggy Wit It from t their cars Rapper Common n the other ther ha hand d i improbably PI t the the e only exception Common the Chicago bornand born bornand bornand and bred MC has given his audience soulful intellectual and socially conscious rhymes for the past decade In today's era rappers' rappers lyrics have become more predictable predictable predictable pre pre- than an episode of While his peers spit diatribes of prostitutes gats and ice Common has managed to rhyme about real social issues While critics and platinum multi-platinum artists like Jay Z have praised Commons Common's work he is to have much yet Commercial appeal His latest length full-length effort Be fi might be the album thai tha will help him cross over to 2 more mainstream audience The reason West Probably the most popular rapper producer today West produces nine of the 1 11 Common tracks He als J makes an appearance in fou songs Along with West othe profile high-profile artists such as a aJohn John Mayer and John Legend Legen d also make cameos on th the record Be is easily one of the best besl t albums out of any genre released this year Critics Critic from Rolling Stone and Vibe Vib Magazine seem to agree although they panned his last las album Electric Circus 0 On that 2003 record Common Commo n had strayed away from hi his S normal sophisticated style e and went with an experimental tal tat rock-esque rock sound Unfortunately his audience e didn't buy the new sound literally literally lit lit- and figuratively This Thi s time around Common is back bac backwith backwith k with the same jazzy and relaxing relaxing relaxing relax relax- ing theme as his 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate with an edgy twist to i it t thanks to West Vest The first single from th the e record the Corner is a an n edgy anthem about the Black Blac k Arts Movement in the The track Go is the kind o of f song that you can just groove e Common Continued t Common 6 from Page i. i Continued while driving night late-night with The freeway It has a silky silky- the on equally smooth beat beatr with smooth and sentimental and vocals thanks to to r rhymes by Mayer Y Yand guest and his appearances producer Common easy to get your makes it very tracks such vibe on soulful and Love Is In Faithful as Common stays Faithful respectful self and true to his and loyal to true vows to stay Samples from the his wife late great Marvin Gaye Gayes Gaye's s God is Love compliments Love Is quite well Just because Commons Common's music is insightful does not he cannot get a party mean cracking My personal live favorite The Food a performance which also features features features fea fea- fea- fea West is sure to get people people peo- peo tures off their chair and dancing ole One of the more unique sounding tracks on the on-the the album daring dar dar- daring daring dar dar- combines a They Say piano riff along with a ing John soulful chorus by Legend In that song about critics and sayers nay-sayers life Common raps They say is a So game I play Writing hard for my life Because Im I'm scared of a aday aday aday day job Overall the album is a rap classic It is not often that you youcan youcan youcan can enjoy every single track on a record For those of you who say that all rap is the same and rappers arent aren't real musicians must first listen to Commons Common's s Be before rushing to judgment |
