After all the ridicule Common took for the “Electric Circus” album, many people doubted him and counted him out. This will be remembered as a classic I’m sure. Songs like “Unfamiliar”, “Red Wine”, “LoveStar”, “A Bigger Place Called Free”, “Little Chicago Boy”, and “The Day Women Took Over” are all highlights here, but the album itself just flows beautifully. Syd the Kid from The Internet also has multiple appearances, along with appearances from the beautiful singer Elena, the amazing BJ The Chicago Kid, and more. That’s what makes this album so great, the theme combined with the actual production and guest appearances make for a flawless listen.Īs usual on the best Common albums, Bilal steals the show, as he makes countless appearances and enhances each song he’s on. It’s honestly an album that is as close to perfection as I would expect from an album in this era and no surprise, it comes from one of the greatest.Īn album rooted in the black experience, the project tackles issues that affect us and our people, while still giving a relaxed and jazzy outlook on the struggles we face with a bit of optimism underneath it all. This album is only a few months old… but it’s my personal favorite album of 2016 and instantly feels like a classic. Overall, this album is very solid, it just has a few dry spots early on, but the second half of the album is perfect, including the iTunes bonus track, “Play Your Cards Right”, another magnificent song with Bilal featured. It is the icing on the cake of this album. The precision and the focus he displayed is top notch, and Bilal kills it. My favorite song however was the Bilal-assisted “U, Black Maybe”, which is one of the best songs in Common’s career IMO. Common and Kanye had immense chemistry together with songs and we got to see that more here, as Kanye made multiple appearances. Common tends to have his albums stand as journeys and from the beginning, you’re instantly captivated by songs like “The People”, “I Want You”, and the DJ Premier assisted “The Game”. This album promoted a more internal look of what “finding forever” could mean, and the album served as the journey through that. Common lyrically wasn’t as great as he was on BE, but he still gave us some amazing music on this album. There are songs here that I could do without, like “Drivin Me Wild” and “Start The Show” but overall, when it first dropped, I loved the album. It’s a really good album, but feels a bit too similar to BE, and doesn’t sound AS good as it. I debated putting this album lower, but couldn’t do it. While there are some songs here that are completely off the mark, overall I think is a good project, just an acquired taste. Tracks like “Aquarius”, “Soul Power”, “The Hustle”, “Star 69 (PS With Love)”, and “Between Me, You, and Liberation” are highlights for me, and the final track “Heaven Somewhere” is amazing. Influenced by his inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Pink Floyd, and others, Common showed us a different side musically and the result was something abstract. It was literally everything all rolled into one album and that would definitely rub some listeners the wrong way. Spiritual but underlying sexual in a way. I personally like this album and do not agree with the slander against it, but I do understand how it may have rubbed some fans of Common the wrong way.

He’s due a misstep every decade or so, and this apparently is his first one overall. This is here because it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t a misstep for Common, much like UMC.

It takes a big hit however due to the lyricism having a small decline compared to his usual. Overall, this is Common’s worst, but it still has some decent moments. Those songs were very enjoyable listens, and I just wish Common had focused a bit more and cut down on some of the sexual content in favor of just overall dope songs, because a few of the songs, like “Sex 4 Suga” and “Punch Drunk Love” sound forced. His lyrics take a hit here, and get reduced to being middle of the road, but I did enjoy three songs here, “Make My Day”, “Inhale”, and “Changes”. The production is interesting, as there’s electro and techno elements within it, but it doesn’t mesh well with Common at all. He warned that the album was more of a feel-good album, rooted more so in a party element, sexually tinged, and more fun than his usual heavy topic albums, but this one just misses the mark completely. I wanted to hear Common at his best, but knew from the jump that this album would be a tough sell. I remember hearing this album and being severely disappointed.

Album common finding forever