New Common Record
My life wouldn't be complete without music. I'm passionate about music, as are my friends and family.When hip hop first bloomed on South Bronx basketball courts and in house parties nearly thirty years ago, the emcee ruled the world. Thank God Common is a part of it all. Since his arrival on the scene more than a decade ago, hip hop purists have turned to Common for a retreat into nostalgia, a reminder of how good hip hop music used to be.
I just spent the entire weekend listening to the new Common album on my iPod shuffle. I'm convinced it's his best work to date, and possibly one of the tightest hip hop records to come out within the last 3 or 4 years.
It has definitely pushed me to see Kanye West's production abilities in a new light.
Rather than have me pontificate on its merits until I turn blue in the face, I'll let Pizzo do all the talking:
Call it a reality check, the result of a bad break-up, or simply an artist coming back to square one, but with Common's new album, Be, like the song says, he's back. Produced almost entirely by fellow Chi-Town prodigy, Kanye West (with the exception of two Dilla tracks), Be is a tightly knit, classic package; one that could have serious ramifications on how hip-hop music is created, sold, marketed, and presented in the next few years. As Com takes the Illmatic approach for this record (short album, little room for error), he succeeds in creating a classic record, where every song speaks directly to the listener, complete with the best production in the game as of now.
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