Common -- Universal Mind Control

Rating: 2/5 stars

Pro: Some of the liveliest music of his career.

Con: Very little musical chemistry between Common and the Neptunes.

Bottom Line: Common finds out making club music is harder than he thought.

Recommended Tracks:

Make My Day

What A World


The pairing of Common and the Neptunes, two hip-hop legends in need of a creative spark, was an intriguing idea. Common's collaborations with label-boss Kanye West reached a dead-end with 2007's lackluster Finding Forever; the Neptunes, once the genre's premier hit-makers, haven't had commercial success in over two years.

There are only two problems with Universal Mind Control, Common's new Neptunes-produced album: their club-centric production style doesn't mesh with his lyric-heavy rapping while his style of rapping isn't suited for their futuristic-sounding party records.

Since club music revolves around beats and not lyrics, one of rap's premier lyricists is essentially wasted. There's no way to pay attention to what Common is saying with the cacophony of a Neptunes beat -- exotic drums and spacey sound effects -- overwhelming him.

On the other hand, those loud cranked-up beats need charismatic rappers with commanding vocal presences to harness them: see the Neptunes' success with Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes. Just because a song has simple subject matter doesn't mean it's easy to rap over; witty and clever lines can be as hard to write as deep and contemplative ones. Universal Mind Control is full of clunkers like "broads say you are a philosopher / Yea, yea, I'll philosophy on top of ya."

The only song Common makes his own is "What A World" where he adopts a Sugarhill Gang flow ("A little boy from Chicago had dreams to be a star / And make a way, and get some pay, and drive a fancy car") to tell a 3rd person account of his career.

The album's ultimate success will depend on the reaction to the Neptunes mix of electronic and European club music. For a rapper as accomplished as Common, it's the rarest of failures: he'll be taking the blame for something not really his.

Common -- Finding Forever

Rating: 3/5 stars

Pros: Best songs rival any in his catalogue.

Cons: Kanye's attempts at imitating J Dilla's sound fall flat.

Bottom Line: Inconsistent album is weighed down by too many
dreary and forgettable songs.

Recommended Tracks:

"Southside"

"So Far To Go"

Common explains his new album’s title (“Finding Forever”) on its final lines: "It was in the wind when she said Dilla was gone / That's why I know we live forever through song."

J Dilla, a legendary underground producer and one of Common's longtime collaborators, died last year after a long struggle with a rare blood disease. And although he only produced one track, his presence is felt throughout — Kanye West, who produced the majority of the album, made a conscious effort to imitate Dilla's distinct neo-soul sound.

In that sense, "Finding Forever" sounds like what you’d expect of a Common album. And though lead-off single "The People" and epic closing opus "Forever Begins" prove he hasn't lost his edge, the album's familiarity is a little disappointing.

Not only has Common rapped on J Dilla-esque beats since 2000's "Like Water for Chocolate," but West's ubiquity makes it feel like a less inspired reprise of 2005's "Be." Worse many of his stories – a ballplayer caught in the hood, a stripper dreaming of a better life – feel as stale as the beats.

Just because music isn't top-100 oriented doesn't make it deep – too often Common and West aim for serious and end up sounding pretentious. The album comes alive when they stop taking themselves so seriously, especially on “Southside”, the Chicago anthem where they trade whimsical rhymes over a hard-hitting guitar lick.

Not surprisingly, the Dilla-inspired album sounds best on the one Dilla-produced track ("So Far To Go") where the evocative and understated instrumentation blend beautifully with the D'Angelo assisted vocals. Subtlety has never been West's strong point, and his attempts at aping Dilla's restrained sound ("Black Maybe," "Break My Heart") are dreary and forgettable.

Common made classics with J Dilla (2000's "The Light"), but time always marches forward, and if he wants to continue making timeless music he can't keep looking back.