Disco de Common: “Be [PA]”

Wow, Common's "Be" is such a monumental comeback after "Electric Circus". For as much as "Electric Circus" sucked, that's how good "Be" is. This is truly a four or five star album.

This is Common back at what he does best. Dusty, authentic, scratchy, old 70's R&B/Jazz samples with straight-ahead rapping. Tremendous production from Kanye West gives us some of the best beats heard on a newer hip hop album.

This has a great atmosphere to it, a tight compact theme. This is taking hip hop back a few years, but that's fine because there hasn't been a whole lot of outstanding hip hop in the last few years. This one sounds like it'll age nicely. Highly recommended.

I could not think of any words that better describe this album. A lot of people were disappointed with Electric Circus, and Common really came back strong with this effort. As much as I think Kanye West is conceited and overrated when it comes to rapping, you cannot deny that he is one of the best producers in the game right now. It seems like his production style would get old, but it never really does, and he puts forth some of his best efforts on this album.

1) Be (Intro) - I know this might sound crazy, but this beat is one of my favorite beats that I have ever heard. Kanye's production here is absolutely awesome. There is probably no better way to start off an album, the instrumental alone is classic, but Common's lyrics on top of it make this track amazing. A great way to kick off the album.

2) The Corner - The intro leads in very nicely to the first single, and again, another sick beat laid by Kanye. Here though, Com's lyrics outshine the beat, especially the first verse.

3) Go! - This one features John Mayer, a somewhat odd combination, but his vocals are very minimal and only on the hook. I like this song but my only problem with it is that much of the track is the hook being repeated again and again. Another verse by Common would have made this track better.

4) Faithful - Kanye goes back to the well here with the high-pitched vocal samples and Common explores the question of whether God is a male or female. John Legend and Bilal appear at the end and absolutely kill their background vocal part, a nice way to finish off this track.

5) Testify - Again Kanye comes with a nice beat, but this one is all about Common. He tells the story of a murder trial that has quite an interesting turn of events at the end. This is a great showcase of Com's storytelling abilities.

6) Love Is... - As the title suggests, this one is about love. It seems like it's getting repetitive, but the beat and lyrics here are both nice as well.

7) Chi-City - This is one of the standout tracks on the album to me. The beat is a bit different than most of the prior beats, a bit more rugged, and Common drops absolutely great lyrics here. This takes it back to the days of Can I Borrow A Dollar? and Resurrection, some classic Common right here.

8) The Food (Live from Chappelle's Show) - At first I thought that a live version wouldn't be as good as a studio version, but I was proved wrong. Kanye laces a nice beat and Common complements it with some nice lyrics. My only complaint here is Kanye on the hook gets a little annoying after a while.

9) Real People - This is a rather odd beat, the best comparison I can make is that it reminds me of some 80's TV show theme song. That sounds corny, but I like this beat as well. The beat isn't the story here though, Com's verses are. He drops some great lyrics and this is really a showcase of Common at his lyrical best.

10) They Say - This is another standout track. Kanye laces a crazy beat, I love the piano. Common spits two verses, Kanye spits one, and John Legend does the hook. Com's second verse in my opinion outshines all the rest. John Legend comes through as usual with a soulful, brilliant hook, and Kanye drops a verse that would sound better if he weren't spitting it on a track with Common, because Common is simply the better rapper. Overall though, a great track, one of the best on the album.

11) It's Your World Part 1 & 2 - The final track on the album brings the album to a close nicely. Not the best track on the album, but solid nonetheless. At the end Pops shows up as well which is always welcomed at the end of most of Common's albums.

Even though this album is only eleven tracks, it still will, in my opinion, go down as one of the best albums in quite some time. Too often now people substitute quality for quantity, but a short album can be great if you put the time and effort into each track, as obviously was the case here. Illmatic was arguably the greatest hip-hop album ever created, and it was only ten tracks. Be isn't quite in the class of Illmatic, but by modern standards, it could be considered as a great album. The replay value is very high, I am still listening to this the year after I bought it and I plan to be listening to it for a long time as well. We can only wish that all albums released nowadays could be given as much thought and effort as this. Common really created a gem here, and if you thought Common was over the hill after hearing Electric Circus, you were wrong. Like the man himself said, "Heard The Corner now they say that n*ggas back."

This is the album that makes you stop hating hip-hop for all that it's become and start loving hip-hop for all it's done.

This is an album for lovers -- lovers of other people, lovers of rap music, lovers of humankind.

I just saw Common perform many of these songs at a concert at the House of Blues here in Chicago.

The sound was incredible.

The vibe was priceless.

The sheer quality of the music was awe-inspiring.

This is a brilliant album from a brilliant artist who has found his voice, found his sound.

If you get teary-eyed listening to this album, reminiscing on A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and other phenoms of the past, know that there are many others like you.

This album is a thing of beauty and I'm happy to give it my highest recommendation.

I think you'll agree.

Classic...that's not a word critics use lightly. Unfortunately, this game hasn't seen an overall flawless album since...EXACTLY. Peep the quick "classical" lineup: Illmatic...classic. Midnight Marauders...classic. Reasonable Doubt...classic. These albums embodied everything we as music journalists look for in an album; a rhyme-readied MC with an open mic, loose lips and a conscious mind of the jewels he's about to drop over production that'll make your head nod, and your heart well with the type of pride and emotion that at times is unexplainable. Be (G.O.O.D. Music/Geffen), Common's latest effort, backed heavily by Mr. Roc-A-Fella himself, Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music label...is a classic. Let's be real, Hip-hop has been lost in the matrix for a minute now since the greatest alive retired, and just like Morpheus, another bald headed orator-who has been shunned by others because of his change of lifestyle, which was evident on his gravely misunderstood Electric Circus album (E. Badu, what up!)-has presented the music to give listeners the blue pill that will take us on a journey unlike any other heard in a while.

We know that the Hip-hop nation is more than familiar with the sinister single "The Corner"-which gave hardcore Common Sense fans a perpetual hard-on that Lonnie Lynn Jr. has returned to his Resurrection days. But before you take it back to '92 like Starter caps, know that Be is more a culmination of the various stages that Common has bestowed on us since he first touched the mic, rather than a resurrection. With that in mind, Common does stay true to his proclamation of love, peace and the heavens above on tracks like the aptly named "Love Is" and "Faithful," where he bravely declares, "I was rolling around and my mind it occurred/what if God was a her?/Would I treat her the same/would I still be running game/on her/and which type ways I would want her." Moreover, Common returns to his days of witty wordplay fueled by vigor that's just as thick as the Windy City air in December on Kanye's jazz-influenced gem "Real People," and on his hometown ode "Chi City"-where Com cocks hammers at his gaudy contemporaries "In the middle of chaos and gunfire/so many raps about rims/surprised niggas ain't become tires") and vehemently proclaims, "they ask me where hip-hop is going/ it's Chi-Ca-Going/ poetry's in motion like a picture now showing."

Along with his vivid lyrical wizardry, Com plays the role of storyteller, painting pictures of extravagant court trials ("Testify"), sexual fantasies (the John Mayer-inspired second single "Go") and teenage introspective on "It's Your World." On the latter he actually interviewed a wayward Chicago prostitute about her path to decadence, manifesting itself into the song's second verse, "she said it was her toes but I can tell her soul hurt/she was cold turk/growing up she got to know hurt/very well in a world where self-hate is overt"

Yet, Common's versatile rhymes are only half the battle as Kanye, who produces nine of the CD's eleven tracks, creates, arguably, his best work ever-which only heightned anticipation for his "Late Registration" album. But, not to be outdone by Yay's excessiveness, Jay Dilla creates smooth melodic joints that easily hold their own on this complete album. Let's just hope-for Hip-hop's sake-the recent string of bootlegged copies of Be, doesn't hurt Com's chances of seeing platinum success. Still, if us critics look back, some classics don't necessarily become Billboard favorites, they just stand the test of time. And Be will make the grade.

We've all been waiting for the resurrection of Common. Whether you liked "Electric Circus" or not, you knew deep down you missed the Common that sounded hungry. After his verse on Kanye's "Get `Em High" and his appearance on Chappelle's Show, it looked like his next album would usher the return of Common. "Be" has finally dropped. It is his most focused effort since "Resurrection" because its production is almost completely handled by a fellow chi-town resident. Instead of No I.D, we get his one time apprentice and current hot commodity - Kanye West.

Musically the album feels like a balance between "Resurrection" and "Like Water For Chocolate", heavy in samples, yet a solid amount of live instruments. "Be" starts out with a simple bass cello plucking, almost identical to John Coltrane's "Resolution" from Love Supreme. Slowly other elements come together, until Common's voice drops and blesses the mic. The title track is short, focused and to the point perfectly capturing what the album is about to accomplish. The single "The Corner" is the actually the darkest track on here. The incredible depth of sampling drives the track. For the lighter "Go!" Common uses a nice stop-and-go flow to rhyme ("Freaky like the daughter of a pastor/ said I was -bate for her to master/ 'Little Red Corvette', na she was faster").

To me, "Faithful" is simply beautiful. It's one of those introspective Common raps at its perfection. The typical Kanye West speed-up sample is taken to the next level, and used almost like a muted horn throughout Common's verse. You can't even be mad there are only two verses, because they're so deep and satisfying on their own. "Testify" allows Common to masterfully tell the story of a court testimony. Although it's short, it gets the Slick Rick stamp of approval.

Kanye releases a hold on "Be" and turns over the production of "Love is..." to former Common collaborator Jay-Dee (aka J-Dilla). You can't tell at all though, it fits right along with the rest of the tracks, brilliantly sampling Marvin Gaye's "God is Love" amongst other things. The title is pretty self-explanatory, but it doesn't ever get cheesy like on "Electric Circus". Kanye comes back and trades the sped-up sampling for some classic scratching on "Chi-City". The horns and drums give the track a dark-jazz vibe. On here Common sounds the most intense, perhaps in part because he's repping his home town ("What you rapping for? to Get Fame or to get rich?/I slap a n***a like you... and tell e'm Rick James B***H!!"). Whatever the case, it's another spectacular track.

I've been listening to "The Food" Mp3 since this summer, which was directly ripped from the Chappelle Show performance. You might be surprised as I was when the track opens with Dave introducing Common and Kanye. Instead of re-recording the track, they left the performance as is from the show. It doesn't seem like a smart move at first, but then again why do it over again? The performance was flawless the first time, and it really adds a lot to the feel of "Be". Regardless "The Food" is an amazing track and as mentioned earlier Common is hungry ("It's all good in the hood like racks in gyms/ throwbacks and Timbs/ blacks and rims/ whether on ball courts/ attires of all sorts/ we never fall short/ with us it's all Force like Air one's/ some waves some handguns/ the days of the fair one is over for/cats is colder than 4 below/ with self I go toe-to-toe/ Wondering if it's for the art or for the dough/ Though I know to grow a n***a gotta learn to let go/ Though I know the dough I got to bring back to the ghetto").

Some Grover Washington type sax and upbeat horns lace the entire length of "Real People" the production could actually stand on it's own as a jazz track (I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing is lifted from one sample). John Legend lends the chorus to "They Say" and Kanye drops a verse. Overall it's laid-back and pretty simple. Really good, just nothing that stands out as outstanding. Well, except for Common who has been killing every verse and still hasn't faltered once on this album ("Played my cards right, they say I went too left/ They show me Strange Love like I was Mr. F/ Played chess in this game of pawns and knights/ now I claim King like Don a Frank White/ They say my life is comparable to Christ/ the way I sacrifice and resurrected twice/ they say the crochet pants and sweater was wack/ seen `The Corner' now they say `That n****'s back!' ")

"Be" ends on the magnum opus "It's Your World (Part 1 & 2)". The whole thing should be listened to at one time and the end provides a perfect closure for "Be" (it's always great to hear "Pops" at the end of a Common album).

As stunning as it sounds, it's not even debatable that Common lyrically surpasses any other of his previous efforts. No doubt Common has fully resurrected. Lyrically and musically it's a work of genius from start to finish. You'd be hard pressed to find faults in this piece of art, it's the perfection of what a Hip-Hop album should be. Is it a classic? Only time will tell what kind of impact it will have. Regardless, of what it will be... "Be" is a masterpiece right now.

(10/10)