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Common’s been in the game for over 13 years by now and getting a new look from time to time according to where his course of life brought him to. He was there in a time we call the classic Hip Hop area, releasing his second album, proving not only why Chicago deserved a marked spot on Hip Hop’s map, but making his skillz as a charismatic rapper on the cutting edge plain to everybody who would listen. His third and fourth albums brought back Soul into Hip Hop, catching up with something later to be called Nu-Soul or Neo-Soul. Two years ago, being bored with what was going on in Hip Hop, he released his fifth album “Electric Circus”; a journey into different realms of music aswell as mindstates. Now after his excursion, that a lot of cats obviously didn’t digest, he re-enters Hip Hop with an album of which the formula simply must be called “classic”. Focused on drum breaks and sample mastery, the ingredients to “Be” no more need anything else than Common rhymin’ and talkin’, bringing you thoughts, perspectives, emotions, truth, street talk and knowledge and therefore pure rap. Kanye West, his Chicago fellow, is handling all of the production except for long time collaborator Jay Dilla who is throwing in some heat. Mostly Kanye’s work on here is convincing and rolling in around 85 bpm, sometimes I just wished for less sped up vocal samples. But in the end it’s all good, coz they fit incredibly well, Common’s smooth voice and rhyme skills over Kanye’s fliping proficiency – what else would you ask for from two top notch Hip Hop cats? |
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