HIP HOP IS BACK, and i need to hear it and i need to hear that Gorrilaz album too.
[Edited 5/26/05 16:40pm]

I will admit that it seems somewhat premature to label Common's Be a classic. That said, I have little doubt the title will prove appropriate. I was listening to the CD today (just as I have almost unceasingly since purchasing it), and I took a moment to revisit another project that I feel is in the same creative category: Illmatic by Nas.

Common's new CD actually made me like Kanye West (he hasn't impressed me much up to this point, and the sped-up vocal gimmick is already tired). He utilized this trick on Be, of course, but the songs don't seem as dependent upon it as much of Kanye's past work. Common's lyrics and delivery are top-notch, as always -- and unlike most of the empty-headed rappers on the radio today, Common actually has something to talk about. I don't know when people decided to strip intelligence from rap (I certainly wasn't notified), but the trend has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Common's project is the first hip-hop CD I have purchased in years -- and one of only two new CDs I have bought this year (the other being Surrender Dorothy by Alana Davis). I highly recommend both of them, by the way.

todd305 said:

U know I have never listened to Illmatic. Nas never did it for me. Was it the production or was it Nas?

todd305 said:

Kanye's production make Common's lyrics stand out more. The most exciting beat is "Faithful" what the hell did he do with that vocal sample!!?? It sounds sped-up and robotic.

Liking it more with every listen..album is great.

Never heard Electric Circus, never owned a Common album. BUT I'm curious about this one since I keep hearing how great it is. Tell me: as a person who's never been crazy about Common's flow, will I like it?

CalhounSq said:

I think you will. I've been a fan of Common since way back. When Common first started out, he was very millitant like Dead Prez. This cat has mellowed out over the years with age but he is still kicking out positivity which is in my book.

paisleypark4 said:

It sounds like a guitar

I have just listened to the album all the way through. This album is a standout, superior to Electric Circus and One Day . . . and at least on par with Like Water for Chocolate. It is definitely one of the best albums I have heard all year. Like De La and MF Doom in '04, Common is exhibiting the maturity of a veteran MC who hasn't lost his skill but is expanding it.

The true MCs like Common aren't gonna sell like 50, The Game, et al. but they will keep hip-hop alive once the masses declare it dead like disco.

namepeace said:

Exactly. This is why I have hight respect for the brotha.

"I wanna be a duck" © The kid in "It's Your World"

popgodazipa said:

3 Feet High & Rising, Paul's Boutique, Reachin', It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, Stankonia, etc.

Those are classics.

This is just another Hip-Hop album to me.

NWF said:

me too, actually. Be is great, but his best album is still Resurrection.

CinisterCee said:

I gotta agree, based on a first listen.

"Go" is just kind of like cream puff to me. Sweet and tasty, but not all that satisfying. Like some of the other tracks tho...

namepeace said:

Respect...You are on to something about the Common album being a standout.... but people have been waiting for hip-hop to die off like disco for damn near 25 years...The disco as we knew it in the 70's(which is now called club music) lasted less than a decade...There comes a time when people just need to accept it: whether its gangsta rap, dirty south rap, pop rap, socially conscious or straight underground, hip-hop is here to stay....
[Edited 5/31/05 17:43pm]

okaypimpn said:

i'm one of those rare people that got something out of Electric Circus

popgodazipa said:

Illmatic is a top ten hip hop album of all time, if your a fan of hip hop you have to have a copy of this album. The Production and the lyrics are on point go cop it you won't be sorry.

Abdul said:

Never. Nas has benefited from an East Coast bias if you ask me. Guys on the East coast think its a classic and since they hold the strings of influence in rap for some time, it's a classic. Let me see that top ten list of yours....Nas IMO has not done anything anyone else, like P.E. or Rakim, has done better.

popgodazipa said:

I don't know about that one homie....Illmatic may not be the greatest hip-hop album of the '90s like some cats claim, but it's definitely a bonafied classic...There is no East Coast bias with that album...Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip producing and a young Nas spitting was just sick...The album that benefited from East Coast bias was Jay Z's debut Resonable Doubt(which was a good album, but hardly the landmark that people claim it is)...Jigga's true classic statement album is The Blurprint...He's at the top of his game lyrically ("Song Cry") and Kanye's production is just too damn soulful...

murph said:

the album is easy to love, but cmon now.. a classic? it's way too early to tell.
don't forget this dude also made LWFC, which is obviously the better album.
but classic?

purpleone said:

nevermind LWFC, what about Resurrection purpleone

NWF said:

I think it's a standout hip-hop album. History will judge. I have to admit, Kanye came through on this one.

CinisterCee said:

"Resurrection," "I Used to Love H.E.R." and "Communism" by themselves outshine everything on BE. That's not a dis. That just illustrates how great Resurrection, from the all-time great "Class of '94," was and is.

Common's video for go is beautiful.. if you have not had a chance to see it, go to the link in my sig.

This will never be considered Classic but isn't bad.

murph said:

Mutual respect . . .

Everything you say is true. But I guess I was using the word "die" in the sense of commercial success. Disco is a great example.

By the time the late 70's came around, disco was everywhere, to the point where it was considered corny, blase, etc. because pop artists were appropriating it and making it conventional. When the public turned on disco. it didn't truly disappear. To the contrary, it was kept alive in the form of house and electronica, and now "disco," whether you call it dance, downtempo, house, techno, electronica, etc. is going as strong as ever from an artistic standpoint.

I pray the same happens with hip-hop, that once these mediocre acts quit milking it for all it's worth, and bleeding all meaning out of it, and once the public gets tired of hearing hip-hop music and seeing the cartoonish unintentional parodies on television and in magazines, it will "die" to the masses, and the true art that is hip-hop will flourish below the radar screen in all of its forms.

namepeace said:

Cool...great points were made in your post...

popgodazipa said:

Can you honestly listen to Nas's verbals and tell me he ain't one of the best to ever do it. Illmatic is classic worldwide, this ain't no East Coast bias here. Think back to when it came out in 94, The G-Funk era was hot, Wu-Tang and Biggie were about to blow up and you had this kid from Queens who NOBODY sounded like. Listening to him back then you can hear Rakim and KRS-One's influence, but the way he put his words together was unique back then and it still is now.
Here's my top 10 Hip Hop Album of all time:

1. Paid In Full - Eric B.& Rakim
2. By Any Means - BDP
3. It Takes A Nation Of Millons - PE
4. Raising Hell - Run DMC
5. Long Live The Kane - Big Daddy Kane
6. Illmatic - Nas
7. Death Certificate - Ice Cube
8. Hard Knock Life - Jay Z
9. Hard To Earn - Gangstarr
10. Ready To Die - Biggie


Keep in mind I rate Hip Hop albums on verbals strickly, these albums are filled to the brim with those.

murph said:

Thanks, I was well trained.

You spoke the truth too!

popgodazipa said:

No way.

Illmatic is a universally accepted classic. He has never, IMHO, lived up to the promise of his first album, but he set the bar so high it's virtually impossible to do so.

The quality of the lyrics and production are stellar, timeless from a hip-hop standpoint. It's better than anything out there today. That's not to say that it eclipses Nation of Millions or Paid In Full, But doesn't mean it's not a classic in its own right. Even cats that dissed him over the years -- Jigga comes to mind -- give props to Illmatic.

There are many West Coast classics, mainly from the NWA crew, etc. But few albums from either coast match Illmatic.

So I ask you, name some West Coast albums that were better.