I was just sitting around thinking about that shit. This dude went from conscious rapper with a burgeoning career in the early to mid 90s, then Cube blew him out the water with WC and Mack 10 with the song "Westside Slaughterhouse" as a response to Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R.." (diss to the West, particularly gangsta rap), and then Common returned fire with the venomous "The Bitch In Yoo" but after that, Common kinda fizzled out.

He dropped the album "One Day It'll All Make Sense" in 97 to little fanfare. Again, critics liked it but not much of a following beyond that.

Then in 2000 he dropped "Like Water for Chocolate" and he made some noise with that (it went gold and was critically-acclaimed as well as commercially-acclaimed) and again yet again, he kinda faded out.

Then he started messing with Badu and he went BoHo with macrame hats and shit, and that got him attention for his style of dress rather than his career, which was waning more so at that point. He did the cut with Macy Gray "Ghetto Heaven" and he started to slowly shine again, also with the release of the critically-acclaimed "Electric Circus" but the sales didn't match "Chocolate".

But it wasn't until he got with Kanye and started to blew up to where he is now - movies and guest appearances here and there - he's the only rapper I recall that had a nearly dormant rap career and then came back to rise close to the top. He's the new "It" guy for rap and he's accessible for white America to embrace as well without the heat of the negative part of Hip Hop/Rap.

Now that's a comeback fo' yo ass.

MuthaFunka said:

Perhaps, you've got a point.

MuthaFunka said:

One of my alltime favourites but he lost me when he started working with Kanye, I just hate the fact that he has to use a sample in every beat he makes.
His ego is just unbearable, this guy thinks that he is some sort of godly figure.
Like water for chocolate is a classic, so much soul on that one and he had Bilal and Cee-lo on the hooks. Thats shit was real deep, I mean dude was starting the album with a Fela tribute and had a song about Assata Shakur.
I really enjoyed his boho phase and with the release of electric circus, Voodoo, Phenology etc there was real hope that black musicians were making a comeback but sadly it didn't last. Electric circus challenged and broke the boundaries of hiphop. Com addressed homophobia, terminal cancer and sexual abuse in 1 song.
The guys at okayplayer dissed the album when it came out now they have a weekly EC appreciation thread as well as one for Andre 3000's the love below.

rebelsoldier said:

Agreed. The Kanye factor can be annoying at times. Other than that, I fully support the direction in witch Common is trying to go witch is taking Hip Hop to different levels and that's cool.

MsLegs said:

MuthaFunka said:

rebelsoldier said:

Yeah, with that kind of success he had to be a bit more accessible to other fans and not just the backpackers. Even ?uestlove shocked his The Roots homies when he started working with Jay Z - All that bling-bling they used to rap against and here ?uestlove hooking up with the king of bling. So, you give up certain things to be "popular".

MuthaFunka said:

Sometimes sacrifice is worth a good musical masterpiece that sets a mode.

MsLegs said:

Good thread. But didn´t he sing "Ghetto Heaven" with D ´Angelo ? Not with Macy Gray.
He should stay away from Kanye and make more music with D´Angelo and Bilal or some female singers, like he did with Erykah Badu or MaryJBlige

common is a useless artist.

his career went down the toilet years back

how he's just a sellout, modelling for gap and thinking he is some sort of great artist, when in reality he is crap.

if you want an artist who put meaning into his words, 2pac was probably the best.

Common hasn't even sold a million in the us.

he is a crap failure and belongs in the scrap heap.

KoolEaze said:

Both. There are two versions.

dirtyman2005 said:

I don't agree, either, that Com has had a comeback. He never went anywhere. He, in my opinion, is one of the best MCs, and even though he is gaining spotlight through his collabs with Kanye West, I believe he is staying true to hip hop. I met him when Electric Circus came out. His family is forever tied to my family from something his mother did for us. He is a humble man and appreciative of his fans.

dirtyman2005 said:

At least he's not carrying on like the gangsta rappers,who spend all their time degrading women and their own race.

SoulAlive said:

Exactly. We tend to uplift the negative and put down the positive around here a lot.

Lothan said:

Precisely

dirtyman2005 said:

Well, Finding Forever just went #1 so.....

dirtyman2005 said:

Ok but tell us how you REALLY feel?

AlexdeParis said:

I didn't know that.

Lothan said:

That's probably why you don't think he made a "comeback" then.

MuthaFunka said:

No, actually that had nothing to do with it. I felt that way before then.

I guess I wouldn't call it a comeback ashe didn't fall off in the first place. Com is gaining more mainstream popularity now. Good for him.

delete
[Edited 8/9/07 9:01am]

MsLegs said:

MuthaFunka said:

Co- sign

bboy87 said:

Yes 2 pac was the best at creating controversy. He was far from being the best lyrical rapper. I could name a dozen or so mc's who were better.
I'll start with KRS-One,Black Thought,Talib Kweli,Run-DMC(take your pick daryl or joe),Grand Puba, Sadat X, DeLa soul,Rakim,and of course Common.
Not many people were even paying attention to 2 pac until he released me against the world and of course the hip hop nation(those that appreciate so called gangster music) jumped on the bandwagon when he joined forces with death row. Why wouldn't they, they were already the top hip hop force going? Death Row shot him to superstardom where otherwise he would have just been a second tier rapper.
[Edited 8/9/07 9:23am]

MuthaFunka said:

Exactly. Interesting how music becomes a personal expereince for some.

MsLegs said:

Do you have an independent thought of your own?


As I said somewhere else on this thread, I felt the same about Common before my experience.

MsLegs said:

Thanks! You're the bee's knees, man!

Lothan said:

Like Water for Chocolate is a hip hop Masterpiece. It was one of the most uplifting hip hop cd since Pete Rock and C.L Smooth's Mecca and the soul brother. I also think he took a lot of unneccessary flak for Electric Circus which was actually a damn good cd. Of course if you only think about the wacked out track jimi was a rock star with erykah badu of course you would think common was on some bohemian trip. Besides Come Close, the hustle, star 69, Soul Power, and between me,you, and liberation where he talks about aids and cancer. I actually liked electric circus better than be. Not to say be isn't good because it is but electric circus was more though provoking along the lines as like water for chocalate but not classic as that masterpiece. It makes me boiling mad when the majority of youth that listens to hip hop feel hip hop has to be ignorant and degrading to be accepting. That is why it took common a long time to be accepted. His association with fellow chicagoan with kanye west just made him more acceptable to the mainstream. So of course common has made the greatest hip hop comeback ever. He just came back from the damn bank? as well as making another classic cd finding forever. The thing is Common never left.