The righteousness worked well on Be since Common tended to leave the self- out of it, and there's a few moments on Finding Forever that succeed for the same reason his intricately delivered insights into the vicious cycle of ghetto life in "Black Maybe" ("We leanin' on a wall that ain't, that ain't stable/ It's hard to turn on the hood that made you/ To leave, be afraid to, the same streets that raised you can aid you") and his barbed fury on "Start the Show" ("With 12 monkeys on the stage it's hard to see who's a guerilla/ You was better as a drug dealer") don't just hit hard, they hit precisely. There's screw albums with more liveliness than this.Ĭommon may not have gotten more confident as he's matured- he didn't really need to, already having developed an authoritative voice by age 22, and at 35 he's still as comfortable taking the pulpit as any MC his age- but his street wisdom and his man-of-the-people rhetoric have developed a cynical tone that too often turns his tales of humanistic living and tragedy into joyless scolding. Although the Kanye West partnership that flourished in Common's 2005 return to form felt like something that could reap a lot of creative dividends over the course of subsequent albums, Finding Forever is a turn toward going through the motions, weighed down by an adult-contemporary atmosphere that mistakes fatigue for relaxation. He pushed hip hop to its boundaries.Seeing as how Be was a commercial, critical, and fanbase success that restored Common's rep, it's weird that its successor follows its winning formula to the letter yet somehow sounds comparatively lead-footed and tired. It will be remembered as the high point of Common's career, when he decided "fuck the industry" and took risks. Electric Circus will stand the test of time. And now he's crowning Kanye the new Premo? Ugh. I could give a FUCK what you made in a year, nigga, you wack". It wasn't too long ago that this same guy stated, "Don't fuck with radio, ignoring the charts. Am I the only one who cringes at these lines? Like it or not, Common's sold out. Yet he loads his rhymes up with cheesy current pop culture references? Astronaut lady, Whitney & Bobby, Jennifer Aniston, Finding Nemo. It wasn't too long ago that this same guy stated, "Don't fuck with So Common is trying to "find forever" - to make an album that stands the test of time.
So Common is trying to "find forever" - to make an album that stands the test of time.