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Common - Finding Forever
- Question: Where has real Hip-Hop gone?
Answer: In Common’s hands, where it’s always been.
When Nas said that Hip-Hop was dead, he couldn’t have been talking about Common. The 35-year old rapper -– whose birth name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. -– released his seventh studio album, entitled “Finding Forever.” Incredibly soaked with beats by Kanye West, this album is bound to go in Hip-Hop history.
Most of the album -– like most of his works –- has a jazzy neo-soul sound incorporated with old school samples. “The Intro” is lyric-less, and the music is arranged by Derrick Hodge for Son of Knowledge Music. The keyboards, drums, electric bass and harp sets a beautiful and majestic tone for the music ahead. Finding Forever has two sides to it; the rock star side and the jazzy side that Common is well-known for. “Start the Show,” “Southside” and “The Game” are all on the rock star side. The guitar in “Southside,” produced by West, is sampled from the Don Covay song “If There’s a Will There’s a Way.” West amplifies the already-rough guitar chords with more bass and anything else to make a stereo vibrate.
As for the mellow side of the album, Common brings in a plethora of R&B singers and old samples. The song (second single off the album) “The People” -– in which he’s discussing normal people in everyday life -– is sampled from “We Almost Lost Detroit” by Gil Scott Heron. “With lovers under dope/ experiment to discover hopes/ scuffle for notes/ the rougher I wrote, times were harder, went from rocky starter to a voice of a martyr,” he raps. This wasn’t the first time Common rapped over a Heron sample. For Kanye West’s album “Late Registration” (2005), he rapped over a sped up version of “Home is Where the Hatred Is.” Black Eyed Peas vet will.i.am added some of his flavor to the album on the fourth single, “I Want You.” Will.i.am sings for the hook, “Once the love was strong/ now it’s gone, long gone/ ‘cause the pain, pain now like a storm/ I remained holdin’ on/ ‘cause I want you.” This is the “heartbreak hotel” song whenever someone is going through what seems like a never-ending battle with their lover.
To bring in a little pop culture, Common brought in London singer Lily Allen for “Drivin’ Me Wild” which was his third single off the album. “It’s this thing now, it’s drivin’ me wild/ I gotta see what’s up before it gets me down,” Allen sings with a lovely London twang.
R&B singer D’Angelo made soulful a guest appearance for the Isley Brothers-inspired song “So Far To Go”. Common talks to his girl in this one, kind of replacing the mark he left with his fans on his last album “Be” with the song “Love Is.” “You sexy I know brothers try to spit to you/ but I’m the only one that can get to you. Lifting you, my drive is shifting you/ I opened you free, it’s like a gift to you.”
One thing about this album that makes it special is the fact that listeners can find the sampled music and compare the old songs with the new ones. Kanye West, J. Dilla, will.i.am and Devo (“Misunderstood” sampled by Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”) are responsible for that. Common -– unlike most rappers today -– doesn’t talk about sexing every girl he sees, nor does he talk about spending money or popping bullets. However if he were to mention those things it would be done in a way to spread knowledge (“Real People” off of “Be”) or fantasy (“Go” off of “Be”). When he spoke about Hip Hop in “I Used to Love H.E.R.” (1994), he reminisced about how good Hip Hop used to be before it got commercialized. To me, Common’s saving it so new listeners won’t have to feel the same way he did.
Reviewer: Tiffani Cage
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9.5
Reader's Rating: 10.00
Reader's Votes: 1
Added: 8-Nov-2007
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