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Common Album: “Finding Forever”
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Release Date:2007-07-31
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Hip-Hop/Rap, Mainstream Rap, Midwest Rap
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Label:
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:4988005478108
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Review - :
In {&"The People,"} {$Common} rhymes "My daughter found {%Nemo}/I found the new {$Primo}," yet it is the late {$J Dilla} -- not {$DJ Premier} -- who is emulated by {$Kanye West} throughout {^Finding Forever}. {$Dilla}'s 2006 death has had {$Common} and {$Kanye} not just grieving but further contemplating the making of music that outlasts their time on the planet. This lends a kind of heaviness, a level of seriousness, and a sometimes overbearing sense of "What we are doing here is intended to be important," not present on 2005's {^Be} -- a taut and steady album with an unforced and seemingly less conceptualized liquid flow. This time out, {$Kanye} adopts a "What would {$Dilla} do?" approach to his productions. (As on {^Be}, most of the tracks feature his handiwork, with some duties farmed out to others.) Though the intentions are good, it's an audacious move: idiosyncratic and often brilliant producer attempts to channel the creativity of a master who constantly switched up his game. It doesn't help {$Kanye}'s cause that the album's sweetest track is the {$Dilla}-produced {&"So Far to Go"} (heard in original form on {$Dilla}'s {^The Shining}), sandwiched between two {$Kanye} beats that can be tuned out with no effort. There are some subtle references to {$Dilla}, and while it's perfectly acceptable that no outright mimicry is going on, the majority of the beats are slightly substandard, at least by {$Kanye} standards. {$Common} delivers plenty of lyrical potency, whether he's mixing the sad with the silly ("Doin' all she can for her man and her baby, drivin' herself crazy like the astronaut lady") or dishing out some serious {$Nas}-worthy disdain ("With 12 monkeys on-stage, it's hard to see who's a gorilla -- you was better as a drug dealer"). Sometimes, though, he's only providing more ammo for those who still maintain that his best album is his less than didactic debut, like the {$Cosby}-in-training "He had a fetish for shoes that's athletic/Pathetic on his {/MySpace} page half-naked." The album includes a handful of well-placed and effectual guest contributors, including {$Bilal}, {$Dwele}, {$Lily Allen}, {$Common}'s dad, and the one and only {$Primo}. Still, it's a shade less satisfying than {^Be}. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
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