More thoughts: Common / like water

From: Aaron Shinn (ashinn@artic.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 14 2000 - 05:21:01 MET DST

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    Hey AJ_list,
    I finally picked up the new Common album today, and upon a first
    listen I feel about the same as the majority of the folks here. I'm
    not about to say that Comm fell off, or that he has gone to the dark
    side (ala Q-Tip), but this album has a melancholy note that pervades
    it. The album seems to be divided between a sorrowful, retrospective
    reminiscence, and some strange attempts at party rockin.

    Jay Dee's production, as usual, is beautiful. The guest appearances
    are well put together for the most part. Backup vocals rock overall.
    I wonder about the Slum Village track, which sticks out as being a
    little too hardcore for the rest of the album. "The Heat" is a bit
    jiggy and there are a few weird ones. I will have to figure out the
    metaphor for "A Film Called Pimp" later, because I just cannot accept
    that Comm would actually write a track posing as a pimp without some
    hardcore message. I just don't get it at the moment.

    "I went from Bashful, to Asshole, to International"

    What made Common special for me, in the days of Resurrection, was his
    wordplay. The fact that he could be smart without conceit, talk about
    his neighborhood without sounding like he's telling war stories, and
    give props to his mom without sounding like pathetic. Common was
    sweet and cool and laid down some tricks on that album that I am
    still catching (x years and two albums later). No ID was doing some
    right nice production as well...

    On this album, and also "Someday It'll All Make Sense" he pretty much
    gives up on the wordplay. I expect that he got too much flak for
    making his rhymes hard to digest. His flow got choppier, and I felt
    like he was faking it to be more palatable. I didn't listen to
    "Someday" very much because it was such a departure from
    "Resurrection." I kinda felt wronged.

    But on this album I think I am willing to make amends. It feels to me
    like he's gotten comfortable with the way he's doing things now, and
    I think that the social climate is right for a record like this. It's
    socially conscious, it's sad, it's soulful, it's lovely. The tracks
    that make it for me on the record I can't knock, not one bit.

    Gotta listen to it a few more times :)

    Cheers,
    .aaron shinn

    ps: It's been a long day, sorry if I am taking this too seriously :)



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