Rating:
  Review Date: August 13, 2007
  Website: Common Website
  Label: Universal Music Group

Common “Finding Forever” Album Review
I might as well admit right now that this is going to be a biased review. So its probably better if y’all don’t take it for more than what it is. See, I’m a huge Com Sense fan. He’s one of my top five MCs ever – hands down. “Resurrection” and “Like Water For Chocolate” are both classics to me. I’m one of the few people who still bumps “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” regularly, and am one of the fewer that thought “Electric Circus” was a brilliant album.

And you can read my thoughts about “Be” here. Shit, he could drop a country western album and I’d probably be feeling it. I guess that, kinda like Jay, truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense. It’s impossible for me to listen to any of his music from an unbiased perspective, and impossible for me to give him anything less than a spectacular review.

Therefore, I always wait a week to review Common’s albums so I can spend my time clowning on angry reviewers who consistently diss good hip-hop, most likely because they’re unhappy, lonely and look for only negativity in a glass-is-half-empty sort of way. In researching public perceptions of “Finding Forever,” I came across three major complaints:

Complaint #1:
The biggest “Finding Forever” complaint by far was that Kanye did a shitty job trying to recreate Jay Dee’s style – as if his goal was to sound exactly like Dilla [1]. Personally, I believe that his intention was to produce the album in tribute to J Dilla’s techniques but with his own interpretation, and he did a great job showing his versatility and ability to incorporate soulful and jazzy samples, multiple layers of percussion, and guitar, keyboard and soft drum backdrops – even if they did lack Dilla’s signature heavy base lines and overall vibe.

Complaint #2:
The second major complaint was that Common made too many stupid pop culture references and corny love songs [2]. Maybe. But unlike men who are trying to act hard in an attempt to cover up their likely homosexuality, I enjoy laid back soulful production and songs about life and love. I’m secure enough to say that I love my girl and occasionally get choked up at movies. In addition, Common’s mainstream references obviously connected with a lot of people, as he received a long awaited and much-deserved number one spot in the Billboard charts for “Finding Forever.” So good for him. If he wants to make pop culture references or talk about love, he’s got my support.

Complaint #3:
The third major “Finding Forever” complaint, and the one that gets at me the most, is that Common gave the worst lyrical performance of his career [3]. However, just because “Finding Forever” is not as lyrically conscious as Com’s other albums, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t display great verbal skill with interesting rhymes and verses. In reality, “Finding Forever” allows Common to delve more into the storytelling aspects of his rhyming ability, something he has always been known for but never revolved around.

Hip-Hop Storytellers
Back in the day, before there was television and radio; before there was the Internet and YouTube; before there was MTV or BET; people were made famous due to their ability to tell good stories. As a kid, I was always reading Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales, Aesop’s fables, and the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. That shit was always dope to me, not just because the stories were entertaining, but also because they contained a moral or lesson at the end. I always saw storytelling as an art, and appreciated the cats that could do it well.

Like these famous storytellers, Common possesses an uncanny ability to tell entertaining and enlightening stories equipped with morals, themes and lessons. Yet Common uses hip-hop as the medium, which allows him to take two things I love and combine them. And I guess that is what I’ve always liked about Com Sense – his ability to tell a good story in the form of hip-hop.

In Drivin’ Me Wild, Common tells three stories – one about a woman, one about a man, and one about a couple, and the moral is that “love is not a mystery, it’s everything.” The second verse in this song tells the story of a man who tried to get love by flaunting his money:

He had paper since we was in high school
Pop was a doc, mom taught at my school
Lock with the rocks, in his ears he kept jewels
One of the Diddy types, the Dame Dash dudes
Pushed a Maserati Sport, reading the Robb Report
Wanted to be Mike but he was never live at sports
Since golf is in he was on the driving course
To live the rap life is what he was striving for
Spending cash at the bar to get credit
Drinking Chaundon just because Big said it
They say Ye is, but dude was big headed
Rocked the fur in the summer so somebody’d pet it
He had a fetish for shoes that’s athletic
Pathetic on his MySpace page half naked
It’s a shame what they do for fame and to be respected
Joe, you could’ve got it if you never would’ve stressed it

In U, Black Maybe, Common talks about situations, hardships, obstacles and opposition people of color experience, and the struggle it creates. One verse in this song tells the story of a boy whose success caused his friends to betray him:

He had game since he used to hoop at Chatham
Neither the ghetto nor defenders could trap him
The stones had his back and they’d pat him
He was living a life they couldn’t fathom
Colleges getting at him with all type of scholarships
Even if he went they knew he’d leave college quick
For the pros – the one from the hood that was chose
The black rose that grew in the jungle
But humble stud still had rumble in his blood
Women all around giving him trouble love
You know the love – when you up they down
Cause you wrap a ball they round
Your win is their crown
Dudes in the circle he known for years
Shared beers and cheers but chose different careers
When paper and fame came they ain’t know how to react
Them same studs shot him in the back

And in Misunderstood, Common tells the stories of people who are misunderstood by mainstream society. In this track he tells the story of a man who got caught up in crime as a result of coming up in the streets:

He stood on the corner with the rest of them
Though he knew that this corner wasn’t the best of him
Hard streets and a life that crested him
Dirt police domestic beefs that’s festerin’
He knew the President wadn’t addressin’ him
Though dead presidents was undressin’ him
Two kids from hot sex no protection and
People don’t see how AIDS is affectin’ ‘em
It gets hard to get the God question in
Can’t find a job so you robbin’ and hustlin’
He killed marks and sold dope for cousin ‘em
Can’t believe they would be the ones bucking him
He on the ground he could feel God touching him
He heard the sound of his moms saying trust in him
At heaven’s gate, saying please Lord let me in
Or send me back to tell my people to be better men

Common’s “Finding Forever” is filled with these types of stories that entertain, inform and teach lessons at the same time. And if that’s what people refer to as horrible lyrics, then I guess I just don’t know what good lyrics are. I highly recommend picking this one up and checking it out for yourself. It is one of the better hip-hop albums of the year from one of the greatest hip-hop artists of our generation. Peace.

Album Track Listing:

1. Intro
2. Start The Show
3. The People
4. Drivin’ Me Wild
5. I Want You
6. Southside
7. The Game
8. U, Black Maybe
9. So Far To Go
10. Break My Heart
11. Misunderstood
12. Forever Begins