Be

You can tell Kanye west produced this album. Very 2005

This wasn't too bad, but just I can't shake the feeling that this is just a 2pac wannabe

Worth a listen. I liked the jazz sound. While listening I thought he sounded a bit like Kanye and then yesus appeared. Decent hip hop 6/10

Great lyrics

A nice, upbeat album for a sunny day. Totally fine but fairly unremarkable.

Great vibe and lyrics. Just not my thing.

Nice soulful hip-hop. A classic and while it’s not the greatest of its era, it definitely enhanced it.

Too much Kanye in 2024 but setting that aside this album is really solid. Common's lyrics are personal but still really interesting and creative. The beats are fantastic because whatever else you can say about Kanye (a lot), the dude could make a beat.

3 - It was okay, but a little bit generic for me

Chill hip hop that still maintains an edge.

Very accessible. Buttery smooth flow and no edges to take offense at, but I don't see any highlights either. Everything drifts along and hardly anything sticks. The lo-fi to gospel to jazz beats are nice. 3.5/5

Not really sure what it was meant to be

Don't know what to expect here, but I like the bass intro on the first track. If I had to guess I'd say jazz, but the Parent Advisory warning, tell me otherwise. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We'll see. Hm I like it. It's rap but not the shitty kind. 3 Stars

Interesting religious theme to some of the songs. Otherwise, it sounds like so many of the others.

It was fine.

Sorprendente.

Earnest

I didn't object to this. I knew the name but couldn't name a song when it came up. Turns out to be fairly proficient middle of the road hip hop from early 2000's. Less of the misogyny and gun, more of the grove and flow.

good as far as rap goes

It was good, some would say (un)Common(ly) good

Hip hop albums always tend to [[be]] the hardest ones for me to review. I figure I've talked about this [[be]]fore, but just in case: I'm a melody girl. It's always what I tend to focus on, more than anything else. Like, I hafta **really** love an album or something to really pay much mind to its lyrics—and even then... The point [[be]]ing, anyway, that when I listen to hip hop albums, I'm mostly focusing on the beats and how the flow interacts with them. It's missing the point of the genre to not pay mind to the words, I know, but that's just how I [[be]]. And these, by man I've many times now expressed my dislike for Kanye West... Are fine. "The Corner" has the best best, and then the rest are just fine. Not even Dilla's beat wows me that much, surprisingly. So... I guess I'm at a 3? I'unno. If I allowed myself the time to really dig into and analyze the words, maybe I could rate it higher, bit with my autistic and undiagnosed ADHD ass... This is the best I can do. Take it or, I'unno, let it [[be]].

This is my first time hearing Common as a recording artist, I enjoyed the album.

Not a fan of this genre, but still gave a listen. I much prefer reading the lyrics. Call me crazy. Call me old.

I have never listened to Common before but this album was very enjoyable. It has a really chill vibe that's great.

solid album

Quite liked this.

Whatever.

Not too bad. Pretty good. The religious references really bring it down. For me anyway.

nice hip hop grooves, produced by Kanye. Not one I'll go back to very often though. 67/100

Really like the sampling and beats. I like the more laidback hip hop, it gets less repetetive than the gangster thing though the laidback stuff still hits the themes as any other laidback hip hop(from the hood,love family, God, bad habits, still hard but gentle, protect his daughter) It's a nice album, nothing groundbreaking but nice

High 2

Some people really like Common. I am not one of those people. Solid effort, his lyricism just doesn't work for me on a consistent enough basis to warran more stars.

2.9/5 listened 2x. good but nothing to come back to listen to.

Really well produced, not very exciting though.

Some songs have some real nice samples and instrumentation, like the intro, Real People and It's Your World. I don't even mind John Legend while I usually find him a try-hard.

Not my thing.

Not my bag but pretty goo. Common is a great actor, too.

Dope beats and lyricism, positive vibe, don’t love it

"I wanna be a duck!"

The first couple of seconds made me think that this was going to be funkier than it turned out to be .. it’s a cool 2000s hip hop album .. just not my cuppa tea.

Surprised how turned off I am by the Kanye-stank that's all over this, start to finish. Past that, there are some nice soul samples, but Kendrick and others have spoiled the rap game too much for me to really get into this. It's a 2.5 for me.

Kinda groovy

I just didn't get into it. The first song intrigued me, but then I couldn't make it to the end.

Not something I would normally listen to but really enjoyed it. Closer to a 4 than a 2.

Thoughtful lyrical oldheads unite 💯 This is solid, it’s a good, summation of what Common is all about. Except there’s so much Kanye on here. Constantly. Hard working 3

3.5

Not something I would normally listen to, but wasn't bad.

Outside my usual wheelhouse but I enjoyed it. A strong 3. “I’m back like a chiroprac’”

This is the kind of rap that makes me want to try more rap. Probably not something I would listen to very often, though.

Common's kinda mid, sort of average.

Not my thing but didn’t actually mind it. Catchy and smooth.

This was an okay album, and every song sounded like it would playing during a cinematic shot of Las Vegas in a movie, or towards the end credits. I would say that it was maybe below average, but it was okay.

My 10-y.o. came home while I was listening to this and needed to comment "There's a lot of swears in that."

Meh

Not bad.

Ok

Common! I had never heard his music but knew him from Hell on Wheels and Silo. Decent.

Some decent tracks, good production. He's a good rapper even though I've hardly listened to him.

Pretty not bad

Was okay. Kanye and John Legend made this much better. 3/5

At first I thought it would be a cheesy 2000s album, but it got better as I listened. I thought it did a good job at portraying social economic issues within the US and especially challenges that African Americans face. The end was inspiring, and well executed.

Really solid. Chill with great flow

OK

It's fine. Not great.

I shouldn't have read who the producer was before listening to the album because I love Kanye's style and it definitely contributed to a higher rating. It's a solid album but it doesn't really stand out. I kinda wish someone else was rapping. Not a fan of the lyrics as well.

I wonder if Common still fucks with Kanye

Not a rap fan, but when done well it is good listening, and this was done well. Done very well in fact. I really enjoyed it. Musically it wasn't what I would expect to be with those vocals, but as a whole, they actually fitted very well. Would I buy it probably not, but you never can tell. And a very high 3 it is.

The intro on “The Food” really didn’t age well, did it? I had a Common album a couple months ago. It was long and pretty forgettable from what I recall. I also questioned some of the lyrics that seemed homophobic in nature. This is better. I didn’t hear anything that was controversial but I might’ve missed something. I did enjoy the part where he questioned how he would treat God if God was a woman. I thought that was a step up from the stuff I’d heard on the last album in terms of self awareness and open mindedness. Some of the instrumentals here are really fantastic. Whether they were samples or original, I don’t know. But I really could groove to some of them and that’s always a plus. I do think he gets a little self important and vain at times (he compares himself to Jesus at one point…? Or at least someone does; surprised it wasn’t Kanye honestly…). Overall this was a good listen. He’s got a lot to say, and evidence of growth is always welcomed. Three stars. Standout tracks: Testify, Chi-City, Real People

This was a pleasant enough listen but a bit too pop-rap to be truly mind-blowing for me.

A good album, not my usual style of music but I really liked it.

This is a great record. Very easy to listen to for the non-hip-hop folk as I think I am. Really it prob /should/ be a 4 star rating but it loses a point for being so over-the-top Kanye. I feel like this is an OK Kanye record that has Common on it sometimes haha

Super produziertes Album: aber mehr als einen Song dieses EVERY-TIME-GOOD-FEELINGS_VIBE-SONGS auf einmal halte ich meist nicht aus.

I like that his lyrics are more centered around promoting social justice and personal growth as opposed to just booty, bling and drugs. Super refreshing when he emerged back when and the beats stand the test of time.

I feel # #this is a slow burn. It’d probably take a few listens to really appreciate it. That being said, I listened to it once and have some initial reactions. This definitely feels dated, I didn’t look up when it came out but I’d guess around 2004. It’s definitely backpack rap, that’s not a bad thing, but that style just gets old after a while. It can be a bit preachy, focusing more on the message than the music. And that message oriented music across an entire album can be exhausting. Plus sometimes it veered into corniness. The beasts were pretty solid, some songs sounded like they were produced by Kanye, or a copycat, but this was definitely a Chicago album so I’d be willing to bet Kanye worked on it. Overall an enjoyable album that I won’t be throwing on all that often.

Yeah some of this was pretty OK.

It was alright, but i'm not big on 2000s rnb so it just wasnt for me

Flows quite smoothly, but not overly interesting.

This was okay, but I just couldn't get into it. It was like a spoken word fusion of jazz and rap. I admit that my mindset wasn't the best for listening to this style of music. I was distracted and couldn't give it the attention that it deserved.

Nice rap

Paia. Deve ser bom, mas não tava no momento

the guy’s got a pretty good flow. quality hip hop.

Gear: Grado Hemp Artwork: sympathischer Kerl! Sollte man nicht meinen, dass der es auf John Wick abgesehen hat Mix: Bass-Intro ballert, Vocals smooth und mit Soul, rundum bekömmlich gemischt Musik: wirklich erste Sahne Hip-Hop - die R'n'B-Abstecher versauern es mir aber leider doch etwas Wertung: 🦤🦤(🦤)/5

Not my style

It’s fine nothing earth shattering here. As I drove my hip hop loving son to school I asked if he ever heard of this guy and he said I think so, sounds familiar. As he got out of the car he leaned back in and said, oh that’s Kanye on this track. The only song that stood out to me was They Say.

This was fairly good - the production was good, although sometimes it felt a little too smooth for my tastes

Ну ок

Solid

Enjoyable listen.

This was a great throwback

Good music.

Du bon hip-hop qui se démarque de ce qui se faisait à l'époque. Ça sonne beaucoup plus recherché que la majorité du bling era qui était plus populaire. Ce n'est pas l'album hip-hop qui m'a le plus impressionné, mais c'est définitivement à réécouter. 7/10

Good album.

Bit the same but I liked it.. Love de kanye song

Solid album. Not much to note, good classic mid 2000 rap. 6/10 (3/5)

This is a really deep album. I appreciate the flow of his vocals, and there's a lot of poignant commentary. Good beats, good rhythm. Fav tracks: The Corner, Be (Intro)

Nice beats, good storytelling, some content was great, some not so much. Listens: 1 Fave Tracks: Be, Testify Rating: 3

Excelente disco, se agradece su escucha, con momentos muy disfrutables. Las aportaciones de K.West, J.Legend o J Dilla le dan un soplo de elegancia que lo convierte en uno de sus mejores obras,. A destacar : Be, The say, It´s your world, Go, y sobre todo Faithfull y esa joya que es Love is. Otros discos de 2005: Illinoise, I am a bird now, The great destroyer, Gimmie fiction, el segundo de Franz ferdinanz, Some cities, Arular, Late registration, Chaos and creation in the backyard, Confessions on a dance floor, Alligator, Picaresque, Tender bottons, Oceans apart...

3+

A few ups and downs. Some tracks on here I really enjoyed. Will I listen to again: 45%

Listened to this while playing Scholars of the South Tigris. I bought this album back when it came out and liked it a fair amount...but I also liked Kanye back then. Fortunately, this album aged better than Kanye did...a solid 3.

A poor man's Kanye.

cool

Common sure is a really good rapper. But his preachy religious lyrics and Kanyes pompous production with lots of R&B just aren't for me.

I have not heard of this album or artist before. I don’t listen to rap mainly but I found this music to be kinda good. Though there were no songs that stood out to me so I probably won’t listen again.

I say this for most rap/hip hop albums, but I'm not a great person for rating these. It's not my area and I just don't have a wealth of knowledge to compare accurately. However, in the limited experience I do have, Common is one of the best with the lyrics and flow. The best way I can describe it is that it feels real. Deducted points for Kanye though Favorite track "Go" 3/5

Common's lyrics are great, but the music doesn't move me. It’s a good album, but not one I’d come back to. 3/5.

S'alright

The music was really good but I wasn’t keen on some lyrics so decided to skip to next recommendation

I only really know common through his acting career so it was interesting to hear his singing/rapping voice since it’s so different from his gravelly acting voice. My main takeaway from this album was that goddamn Kanye really is such a good producer but past that I’m already forgetting a good bit of it. If I had relistened I’d probs have given this a 4 but whatever.

Nothing to get exited about here

Not my favourite Common album

Liked what i heard but did not finish cuz my wifi stopped working

I'm not a fan of rap, so it's easy to dismiss this and move on, but it was an alright, okay listen and it played well as background for me. It was a promising start with the opening track, Be (intro), but once Common started rapping, it eased back into a generic and unmemorable rap record, though it was one level higher than most.

intro findi mad geil, kanye het produziert pre nazi. the corner isch premium früene kanye beat mit de ufepitchte vocals. common cha reime hoppla. faithful au sehr geile beat. nocher. de gospel gsang isch cool aber find chli viel. chi-city chli viel scratches. kein fan vo z viel scratches. aber beat isch hammer. oke echt z viel scratches.

This is better than the other Common record I got largely because it's about half as long. Common is a good lyricist and these are well produced albums. Not for me. But 43 minutes is a lot better than 78 minutes.

I really have no basis to critique hip-hop. It's the genre I understand and appreciate the least. Having said that, I didn't hate listening to this. It's just incredibly foreign to me.

I enjoyed this album more than I expected to. Testify is an incredible song

p good but not one I'll relisten

Haven't listened to hip hop since I was a kid, but this has some nice grooves in it

Not groundbreaking but much more enjoyable than Like Water For Chocolate, mainly down to a tighter runtime and Kanye’s production. Testify is one catchy choon.

Like the intro, well made hip hop somewhere between modern and old school. Well made

Wow, a mid-2000s hip hop record I could actually get to the end of! This might be an unusual record for the time because it isn't full to the brim with braggadocious peacocking or the toxic masculinity/misogyny one-two combo punch so prevalent in the genre. There's some overly descriptive sexual content here, but it's not so far out of line or blue as to be vulgar. Common comes across as much more mature than his peers, and a more thoughtful lyricist. I appreciated it. There's always an exception to the rule, and Common is that sexy exception.

Honestly trying to find any info on common is funny as hell because it's like, it's always cool when artists play in prisons and then try and do something related to that, and the like link to Fela Kuti whose album was also on here previously is really neat to see, but then it's like and then he did a clothing line with Microsoft, like what the fuck are you talking about lmao (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPtG8Xb_Dqs if you wanna see some). Anyways the album is like a normal amount of fun to me, some of the lyrics are hella funny to me like the section around the line "What if God was a Her?" or fuckin "Ooh baby she liked it raw / Like rain when she came it poured" ;LSKDJFD like sometimes the way he writes about women is just fucking funny I'm not even saying like oh it's fucked up or some shit but the fucking being a dad and being like and then I realized I'm gonna learn through her, change the world through her LMAO like come on. I feel like I've heard more /personally/ interesting (content-wise and musically) before but like it's cool

The smooth sounds Kanye's production brings to this album makes sense for Common, especially as it appears he made this album after the birth of his daughter. Feels like he's coming at this LP with a lot slower flow, a bit more accessible for some. I think it ends up being a decent album, not one I will say is a classic like many others but a good album still. Some of Common's lyrics are just a bit too blunt at times for my liking, even if they make sense, and I think the peak of the best songs instrumentation and sampling overshadow the worst ones to make them a bit unmemorable.

There are some interesting musical moments and sonically it's well produced. It's a very lyrical message type album but overall it's not really my bag. But it deserves a place on the list and I was glad to give it a listen

Sounded ok 1 listen wasnt enougth to engage with lyrics altough sounded fairly generic. Was idnetikit reqlly altough some nice moments sonically.

I had his album Electric Circus when it came out and had a similar thing, that I wanted to really like it, it's intelligent hip hop touching in themes of the black American inner city experience. There was a little bit of misogyny in there, and none of the music really hooked me, so I didn't ever get into Common as much as, say Curtis Mayfield, Arrested Development or Mos Def.

Instrumentally I quite enjoyed this, lyrically I could appreciate the flow Cadence and some of the word play; but as a middle-aged white man from Suburban Canada I wasn't able to entirely connect with the lyrical content and messaging. And I don't think I'm expected to be able to in anything more than a superficial way.

Adds to Chicago playlist

enjoyed the music, especially in the first 3rd. need to re-listen for lyrics

Some food lyrics and some cool production and instrumentation. Sounds very 2005, full of hip hop tropes of the time.

Enjoyable tunes and well produced

This was rather pleasant to listen to, the production on this is absolutely stellar. It didn't grab my attention too much overall, but I'd throw it on again every now and then if I owned it.

It's got a good groove with a lot of soul samples, and it sounds very very polished, but not feeling much of a visceral impact on me. I may need to listen to this more to see if I find something in it on future listens. Best songs for me are Love is... and GO!

This was better than I thought it would be. I’m not the biggest rap fan so common to be is a mediocre actor. But this was good. I really enjoyed the gospel and soul influences of the tracks. His rapping style was quick and sharpe and lyrically interesting. Not sure this raises to a 4 star album but could definitely be a 3.5 star. Pleasantly surprised.

Don’t like the entire album, but I appreciate Common’s vibe.

common

Sounds good, but I didn't remember much of it after one spin. Favorite song: Be (intro)

Surprised to hear Kanye on this album. I like the music on this.

Für Rap erfreulich harmlos.

non male ma decisamente non uno dei miei preferiti

I know Common well as an actor - a good one. This is innocuous, listenable, musical, but if I'm going to listen to rap/hip-hop, I'm more likely to pick Public Enemy or Wyclef Jean. this has a sort of R&B vibe. A Barry White feel here and there.

It was a good listen

Not my cup, although it’s starting to grow on me…

Common is a little boring but I respect what he does. This is a solid album with a great ode to Chicago. At least this album is much better than Like Water for Chocolate.

Not the type of music I usually listen to and I’m still not crazy ab it but this was pretty decent. 7/10 round down

Pretty enjoyable, last song was more just talking than I wanted though 6.5/10

Common's delivery isn't lightning speed, but he works his way through some serious verses here - more reflexive and inviting than the relentless 'lyrical mystical' style - smoother and easier going, this oozes relaxed confidence. There's a solid verse/chorus structure to all these songs, bringing the lyrical excursions back to a central hook and thematic idea every minute or so. The production is all Gospel soul and funk woven together for some a rich warm sound over pretty laid back loungey beats.

Ahh, takes me back to my Kanye days. Common is really good, he knows how to flow, the beats are laid back and easy to vibe to. I think the social-conscious rap can sometimes be cheesy though, like Faithful. But Be, GO!, are good

3.5 even though it’s not my favorite genre I can still recognize it’s a good album that I enjoyed for the most part. Standout songs were “Real People”, “They Say”, and “Be(intro)”. However there were some poor songs with “Faithful” being borderline terrible. Who thought the Alvin and the Chipmunks backup vocals were a good idea

Soulful and fantastic

I like trip hop and smooth jazz as a general thing, so this album musically is not far off my usual tastes. That being said I found myself just sort of listening to most of the songs and only occasionally really connecting emotionally to any. While I will pay more attention to Common and have been woken to a genre I have paid too little attention to, I would like to give other artists, even some who collaborated on this very album, a closer listen.

Tbh, I'd rather just listen to Kanye. Not a bad time at all but not super memorable

I like the use of jazz and gospel in the mix, and the verse has some good moments, but it hasn't aged all that well IMO. The first track is the high point.

decent album, nazi feature aside. a nice slow jam rap album that sticks around just as long as you would want it to.

#110. Decent, but had Kanye West on several songs, and all for the worse. I thought Kanye was supposed to be some lyrical genius or something? "I did what I did, because I had a kid"- for real? That's it? Come on dude, be better. 3/5: I don't hate it I guess. He's just as mid a rapper as he is an actor Song added to playlist: Testify I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link

Features with Kanye is really cool. First Common album and it’s pretty good

OK hiphop album: easy listening and smooth, but it is also a bit too straightforward and a little boring. Favourite song: Testify, but that is just because of the catchy Honey Cone sample. Opinions seem to differ, but "Like Water For Chocolate" (also included the 1001 list) is a much better album.

Better than I thought it was going to be

Nice smooth head boppin’ hip hop. It’s like easy-listening rap. I don’t dislike it. It’s very nice. Less edgy than Queen Latifah. But nice. Skip Kanye the Nazi lover.

Not my cup of tea.

The kanye parts were so good, the common parts were kind of cheesy. overall the album sounded good

Better than expected. Got some quite viral songs on the album

Though not my style, it was very relaxing to listen to. 3.5/5

This is a pretty solid album and has some nostalgia for me. Common is super soulful but sometime his rhymes really fall flat. Def a chill time though!

A gorgeous listen due to the wonderful melodic jazz funk samples. Common raps with a mostly positive and kind-spirited socio-political awareness (however I do not agree on his negativity towards interracial relationships👎🏾). Another good jazz-rap listen.

Pretty good, didn't know Common got down like that

Album 287 of 1001 Common - Be Rating : 3 / 5 Favorite Track : It's Your World Likely serves its purpose well (hence the rating) but does nothing extra for me. I prefer music.

I didn't like the back ground ladies voice

Esuchable

not bad, not really good either

Oldschool Hiphop. ok aber mehr nicht. etwas langweilig

Die Musik ist toll, der Gesang eher meh.

Rap is not my thing

Enjoyable

Not bad, would revisit some tracks in the future. Enjoyed the first half more I think.

Usually melodically catchy, often nice rhyme schemes and such. Substantively, I could take it or leave it, probably thinks it's more meaningful than it is. And even musically, there are some duds. Though all of that speaks to it being a pretty varied album.

Liked faithful and go! The best

Pretty musical compared to today's crap. I liked several cuts, but won't return to it often.

Songs like ”Faithful“ take me to the moon and back.

I had this album in heavy rotation back in 2005/2006. Common is such a smooth lyrical MC and weaves tight and uplifting stories throughout this album. The early aughts Kanye production sounds are all there. The Alvin and the Chipmunks-ified soul samples sound a little dated now, but so do a lot of things from almost 20 years ago.

Macht einen recht guten ersten Eindruck, obwohl Rap nicht mein Favorit ist. Kann ich aber gut morgens beim ersten Kaffee hören. Ruhige, leicht jazzige Beats…

Blind album and artist. I really liked the intro/starting track. The rest was meh. Nothing caught my attention, nothing swayed me away. Instrumentals were kinda cool but wouldn't rate it above anything notable for sure. Same with the vocalist.

Some tunes on this

Not sure yet

I really liked this but we knock off a star for Kanye because fuck him forever

Very chill and vibey, you want to listen to this while driving down highway 1 in Santa Monica, not too special though.

a bit of a mixed bag, but some real nice ones in here

enjoyable though I don't think I am the target demographic for the messaging

never heard this before. not a big rap listener, but don’t mind this jazzy sub-genre.

I had a good friend who was raised in a tough Chicago neighborhood - Common was one of his favorite artists. I appreciate the artistry here and love how much of hip-hop/rap narrate Black history, struggles, and triumphs. I have a hard time judging if this is good or not because there’s so much in here beyond just the beat and music- lyrics, storytelling, collaborations, etc that I’d need to absorb more. I liked much of this album. Cool to see that this is regarded as some of Common’s best work. Three stars!

This wasn't too bad. I don't think Id go back and listen to it again though. The chill laid back beats were a nice contrast to the slim shady LP. 3 stars

Not really heard of this - Rap from 2005. Not usually a rap fan so going in with open mind. Sounds nice straight away, like the vibe. Quite enjoying. 3/5.

I used to love this album back when it came out and listened to it constantly. Coming back to it now almost 20 years later, I can still see the musical talent on display but I struggle to see what bound me to it so. All in all I walk away from the album feeling disappointed and remove it from my mental list of favorites.

really good very groove

Everything sounds nice and positive, Testify seems the most interesting to me, but overall it does not feel like it expands beyond a world it is comfortable occupying... that world has a beauty and a message that we all agree with.

John Legend lends distinction to this otherwise indistinct album.

Soul rap from the early 2000s, tender, comes out of the struggle. Emotional and inspiring ending to the album. Nice to listen to, two or three songs are very easy going

bliver holdt oven vande af nogle rigtig gode Kanye West beats (lyder meget inspireret af J Dilla i øjeblikke også?). Jeg kan bare ikke forstå hvorfor man vil lytte til så kedelig en rapper som Common hvis man kan lytte til Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch eller alle de andre neo-soul-agtige rappere fra 00'erne The Food er en god reminder om hvor gode musikindslagene var på Chappelle's Show!!

Common gjorde ikke *så* meget for mig, men Kanye var on fire på det her tidspunkt. Jeg ku rigtig godt lide beatsene.

Sounds like Kanye tbh

Best song - Chi-City

Generally inoffensive. Decent listen

Pretty good! But not entirely my vibe.

This one was alright

Probably more a 3.5, but it was a solid album. Had some good, maybe overdone production by Kanye.

Big Kanye West vibes on this one, so his involvement as producer was not a surprise to read. It even has chipmunk soul elements in 'The Corner'. As you would expect with the involvement of Me West, this is an accessible hip hop record. Rating: 3/5 Playlist track: GO! Date listened: 02/11/23

didn’t listen but i know it’s a classic

So the problems… The music is interesting. But is it original or is it sampled? You just never know where credit is due. And the lyrics. For me, the best music is universal. But life on the Chicago corners is not universal. I’ve seen The Wire, I don’t need it lyrically. And I don’t believe we see God through our children. So I’ve got issues with it. It’s not my genre, I get that. But it’s interesting. It holds my attention and I was interested enough to research the lyrics after an initial listen. I feel my smorgasbord is more varied as a result. Would I buy it? Would I fuck.

This site has certainly given me a lot of samey Hip Hop albums to review... and a lot of samey Country albums... I wonder if the person who compiled the list had a slight bias. It would be fair to say, I've yet to find any hip hop album that I'd say is good, they are all so samey in musical arrangements, and the default continued application of repeat lyrics with the N and F words, which although i'm no prude, I do find these type of lyrics completely boring and ignorant. For this album, it did have a lot of good bass, which made it more palatable on the ears, and having listened to a Kanye album for review yesterday, it was no surprise to recognise his involvement in the production of this album. Tracks I liked - intro Would I play this again - No

Probably should listen again

I'm a slave to the groove

Eh mid

Solides HipHip Album? Keine Ahnung von HipHop.. mochte den Anfang, dann ist nicht mehr so viel passiert. Ein Song in Playlist Zwischendurch Soul-Elemente Abgehackte Songenden Gut produziert

Knew I'd struggle with this as not a hip-hop fan usually. Appreciate all the instrumental stuff going on, although the overlapping vocals was confusing on some tracks

I am not a rap, fan, nor aficianado....yet, I enjoyed this album a surprising amount.

Enjoyed it

Didn’t have a lot of expectations coming in, but this album is actually pretty good, some good lyrics and doesn’t have that monotonous feel to it that a lot of similar albums suffer from

Wasn't bad - doubt I'll revisit.

For a musical genre I do not usually listen to, I rather liked that album. Heartfelt lyrics and a realistic, yet hopeful worldview.

Thank goodness I am not doing this project back when I hated and disrespected rap. I would've given this a 1, and it does not deserve a 1. This still isn't the kind of thing I usually listen to, but it's pretty good. Favourite tracks: Be (Intro), It's Your World

There's a listenable groove going on. I don't listen to enough rap to know if this is a good, bad or indifferent example, but it's pretty same-y throughout to my ears.

Singles are the best songs on the album. The Real People is also good.

The beats on this album are definitely my favorite part. There are some high points with the lyrics, but once again, I'm not listening that closely while working so a lot of the message gets lost on me. Overall this is a fine album. It had me head bopping a few times. If this was Album of the Week I would definitely spend more time active listening to these albums.

Never really listened to much Common besides any features or the Chapelle Show performance. After listening to a few songs I love Common's flow and you can kinda tell Kanye is all over this. Just shows how insanely talented that man is. Fuck him now though. Oh wow they have the actual Chappelle Show live track. Pretty weird to have that in the middle of a studio album but I'm not complaining.

Wayyy more vibey than I was expecting. Had to throw in the second earbud part way through The Corner. I don't love the refrains. They feel a little odd and sometimes uncomfortable and forced. The verses are incredible, though. The production of the album is fantastic. The produced noises are never overdone, and are finely tuned to the song. A really good album, particularly the first half. I will probably never listen to this again, though.

Beaucoup aimé l'intro et la dernière piste. Le reste c'est sympa de loin mais je ne m'y connais pas assez en hip hop pour apprécier les subtilités, et j'ai pas l'impression de prendre une claque niveau nouveauté

Okay so here’s the thing, Common is the worst part of his own record. His flow is non existent, it’s more like he’s doing slam poetry over a beat, but even then it’s not decisive enough to be poetry, I think he just has bad rhythm. Also, conscious bars are bad, but especially bad when like 10 years later you’re doing them in an American Express commercial. All his bars are like the Bill Cosby pull up your pants speech. The production is great, it’s clear why Kanye was so in demand as a producer at the time, he and Dilla crushed it. Anytime Ye gets on the mic he absolutely blows Common out of the water, and it makes me just wish this was a Kanye album. Idk, I enjoyed the record, but truly only because of the production. Common just makes shit way too corny, I mean give me a break with that ‘what if god was a her’ line. The finale I also thought was a little overdone, going from the kids all saying their dreams to some overly saccharine speech about dreaming. Idk, it was some Sesame Street stuff.

i miss the old kanye

51/100

6/10 Top 3: Be (intro) Go! The food

Decent album. The N word was used way too much for my liking. One of two songs stopped out for me.

Definitely one of the best hip hop albums I've heard on this list yet

This was really fun. Absolutely something I would have never listened to before this so it was really cool to be tossed this from the generator. Also woa hi there lots of early kanye

Forgettable and uninspiring for me personally

Immediately put me back in high school. The 2005 oozes from this record and the genuineness feels like a bygone era. 3/5

High 3 for Common.

I'm all good with socially conscience or alt-rap, but Common just irritates me. That said, this is far superior to Like Water For Chocolate.

Smooth beatz - doesn't hit me squarely in the trouser, but was pleasant enough to listen along to in the background

Favourites: • Be (Intro) • Testify • It's Your World (Part 1 & 2)

Good starter but kinda fizzles out for me.

I have never heard of this guy before, but I was quite pleasantly surprised and definitely found myself digging some of the songs. I don't think this type of rap/hiphop is really my thing, but if it was I think it would've maybe gotten some higher ratings.

This is the kind of album I was really looking for today. Really excited to listen to this. The rapping in 'GO' reminds of Kanye West. EDIT: Turns out Kanye is rapping in this, Common is just the producer. Sadly it wasn't as good as I expected. Decent but didn't blow me away. Has to be a three. Will deffo re-listen at some point.

can’t go wrong with signature early 2000s kanye production

Funny to hear kanye in the songs, not necesarily as a feature. (He produced most songs) Very relaxed almost loungy 3/5

Really easy to listen to, classic rap album structure. Easy beats border on Lofi, lyrics border on funny, well produced, but nothing particularly stood out. I could see a world where I think this is a 4/5

я плохой ценитель репа, не ухватила

Wasn’t really enamoured of the rapping or the lyrics. But I did enjoy the beats and the melodies and the samples that underpinned everything. And I preferred the songs with collaborators who actually sang. I found Common’s droning a little lacklustre.

I listened to this Friday and remember very little about it today. I think that I liked Testify and the one with the kids I like Common as an actor.

Not bad, but I’m not big into rap so…

Not a fan of hip hop, but I’ve managed to stomach most of this. As usual what I enjoy the most is the interesting ways these songs use samples Saved tracks: The Corner, GO!, Testify

4/11, 36%

So I read the info on the front page and immediately cringed when I saw the words rapper and produced by the idiot, nutjob we know as Kanye asshole. Well, Kanye is still one crazy shit and and even bigger a-hole, but damn, this was a solid album. Bonus surprise, I kept thinking I've seen Common before but couldn't figure it out until I heard The Food and the introduction by Dave Chappelle. They (Commom and A-hole) performed this song at the end of one of Chappelle's shows. Dave use end his shows with musical guest. I verified and it's out there on youtube. Anyway, back to the album. This wasn't an in your face rap album, but more a of soulful, good grooving kind of album with some solid lyrics. I listened a couple times and found myself groovin in my seat each time. There were a couple tunes I didn't care for, but I did like quite a few. Shoot, first 6 songs were my favorites. Be, The corner, GO!, Faithful, Testify and Love is were all solid tracks. If I understood Testify, his girl is the killer and he's the one going to jail. That's one cold bitch. The Food and They say stood out to me as well. I pretty much named just about every song on this album. This album did surprise me, but maybe due to my dislike of the dude producing and having low expectations. Good album to throw on in the background while working! I am going to rate this album a 3, but probably much closer to 3.5 as I found this to be more of an R&B album, than a rap album. Love me that old R&B sound. 3

This was pretty okay! This is the way I like samples to be used. It's pretty front-loaded with the cool beats and catchy hooks though. Not that that's what it always has to be about but that's what keeps my attention. I like the lyrics when I noticed them. Common has a cool and almost relaxing style that I really enjoyed. I really only see myself going back to maybe half of this album. 3

3.5 After just having an album produced by the monster Phil Spector, it’s nice to have something produced by someone without any known controversy or offensive behavior. Man, what a refreshing rap record. I really, really, really, really don’t want to give Kanye any kind of credit for obvious reasons, but I can’t deny the production here is fantastic. There’s clearly quite a bit of old school R&B influence, and the album benefits so much from it - everything felt so alive and colorful without ever feeling repetitive or manufactured. That sound combined with Common’s effortlessly smooth delivery and insightful poeticism made this a really solid listen from front to back. For every infectiously catchy hook (“Before you lock my love away!”), there’s a socially-conscious one that’s just as profound. In particular, I really liked the message regarding the ability to create greatness regardless of one’s beginnings on It’s Your World - though I have to admit the line about being the “best swimmer in 500,000” was a bit much. That all being said, I actually struggled a bit with my rating for this one. I liked almost all of it, but I’m not quite sure how much of it I actually loved. There haven’t been any tracks I’ve gone back to since my listening, but I do see myself giving the full album a listen again in the future. So, there might still be some room for growth with me.

Too soft

Some pleasure to ear beats (by Kanye obviously) and some fire lyrics.

Enjoyed it for the most part, started losing me at the chipmunk voice

3/5

This was surprisingly wholesome and uplifting. I only knew Common as the guy who wears a turtle neck and preaches about “A.I.” in those commercials before listening to this.

I think I’ve heard of Common before but I’m not completely sure. One thing I can be sure of it that his teeth look really nice on the album cover. Have you seen them? He has really nice teeth. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Be (Intro), Go It isn’t often that an intro song is a highlight for an album, but that mix of bass and 8-bit melodies was a fantastic opener and had me interested from the beginning. I did start to tune out a little towards the middle of the album, but I do wonder if that’s my own bias in that it’s rare that I find a hip hop album that I love. It’s just never clicked for me as much as some other genres. Overall, I did still enjoy this album but I’m not sure if I’ll be rushing back to listen again, except for maybe that intro song.

Uszy nie bolą - wysłuchałbym jeszcze raz albo nawet dwa.

It was good, better than I thought it was gonna be.

Highlight: GO!, The Food (Live)

Didn't realise the extent of Kanye's involvement in this. Also very obviously where 360, Pez, Seth etc jacked a lot of their style.

Common is great, but I think he is much better as a feature

Why don't I know a single Common song? I know he's a famous rapper but that's literally it. Didn't realise he was this old actually. I can hear the Kanye influence, now I'm slowly learning he was actually good once. I enjoy the soulful undertones. First track I thought this was going to be really good, but after that it's basically very accomplished well produced mid - 2000s rap/hip hop, which I enjoyed while it was on but am unlikely to go back to. I am not looking forward to the 77 minute long album to come though, this is fine at 40 something. Best - Intro, Chi-City.

I listened to this album without even realising it was almost over Very good easy to listen to :+1:

While not groundbreaking, it's an enjoyable hip-hop album from the 2000's, with plenty of clever verses and catchy beats.

Wow it's cool to see Common on this list. I've heard so many good things over the years but I don't think I've ever listened to any of his music. Very cool instrumentation on the first 2 tracks. Love an album that starts with cool stuff like this. "GO!" you could almost tell right from the drop that it was produced by Kanye. I didn't however realize that it was John Mayer doing backup vocals, although I don't really love how the tone of his voice fits in with the rest of the track. Maybe he could have sang something more than an echo'd "go" and it would have fit my tastes better? Overall I think it's a middle 3/5

This is a solid rap album. Common has some great beats on this one and lyrically he does a solid job. He has some awesome features too with a young Kanye and mos def. This album is about as good the last one. Both of his albums aren’t typical violent rap or overtly sexual which is a nice change of pace since he does a good job production wise. 7.6/10 of his albums are generally positive and

I might have not been in quite the right mood for this, but it was still good. Definitely more musically interesting than some hip hop on this list. I could see this potentially being a 4 star album upon relistening. I think my favourite song was Real People.

Fine

Fine album.

Be (Intro) - first listen: 1.8/3 The Corner - fl: 1.6/3 GO! - fl: 1.5/3 Faithful - fl: 1.5/3 Testify - fl: 1.4/3 Love is.. - fl: 1.5/3 Chi-City - fl: 1.6/3 The Food (Live) - fl: 1.7/3 Real People - fl: 1.5/3 They Say - fl: 1.8/3 It's Your World - fl: 1.7/3 Final Verdict: Amazing from start to finish. Banger

fine

A little less violent and dangerous sounding than some other the others of the genre on this list.

I’m probably not the intended demographic... so unfair of me to judge if it’s ace or awful.

Not a rap listener, but this was nice and chill I liked it.

7/10

In general, I don't enjoy most rap music. Occasionally, something gets to me though. I thought this might be one of those albums after the first two tracks. After that, it descended into the cloud of general rap, then eased into r&b for the end of the album. Also, I'm only an occasional fan in that genre and this didn't quite move me either. But overall, it's ok to me.

Not a genre I usually listen to, but this album is definitely solid. I must admit it was a little weird hearing a track with Kanye on the Dave Chappelle show considering the modern climate around those two, but the track itself was pretty alright. Best tracks: Be (Intro), The Corner, Testify, and It's Your World.

Meh, standard rap type album, not bad, not especially good

Oh wow a guest appearance by Kanye West... That did not age well

Was ok

Common is stonekeeper

Could tell it was from College Drop out era and Kanye influence heavy throughout.

A lot of songs were like spoken poetry.

Good, sophisticated and high quality rap album. The lack of any stand out songs though made it tough for me to rate it more than 3 stars

Starts off great but runs out of steam about halfway through.

Decent album. Nice to get a r&b/rap album for a change. Some good music/beats

INT

Eh just a typical rap album I don’t get it

This was pretty bland, had a few okay tracks but I can't remember them now

Hip hop molt tenyit de soul, o bé r&b amb actitud rap. Lletres polititzades i una producció de quan Kanye West encara era un treballador clau en el génere i no un boig visionari. 'Go', 'Faithful', 'Testify'... el començament és de traca. Després el nivell va baixant, però el so és igual de poderós. Un dels àlbums de hip hop millor produïts i amb millors versos de la década

Cool hip hop album, never heard it in full but have heard many songs from the album. Surprised by how much Kanye on the album.

I really liked the one song on here where he’s thinking about what if god was a woman and it makes him get horny

Not really into rap, but enjoyed the samples he used and liked his voice a lot.

Not a massive hip hop fan but that was pretty good. Better lyrics than most rappers.

Nice voice, and backing music. Usual misogynistic lyrics despite some attempts to go the other way.