Common
Be
Release Date: May 24, 2005
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: Geffen
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Album Review: Be by Common
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Electric Circus cost and won Common some fans. It was very exploratory, especially so for a rap album released in 2002, containing developments -- some of which soared, some of which sank -- that few longtime followers could have foreseen. Listeners either felt Common was picking up fresh, new inspirations, or that he was just being distracted by a whole lot of ill-fitting nonsense.
Based on rating 8/10
Common :: BeGeffen Records/OkayplayerAuthor: Steve 'Flash' Juon"Leave rappers with careers and they faith overIt's a war goin on, you can't fake bein a soldierIn the basement, listenin to tapes of Ultramagneticto the fact our messiah's blackI turn the TV down, we can take it higher than thatI wonder if these whack niggaz realize they whackAnd they the reason that my people say they TIRED of rap" The paradox of artistic greatness is that it often walks a fine line between being accessible and being outright dismissive of the audience that would access it. To even the most critical observer it can become hard to discern whether an artist's high self-opinion is because they recognize how far above their contemporaries they are, or whether it's just a shield to ward off proper analysis of their work. After all the artist can always claim the audience "doesn't get it" or "can't comprehend the meaning" if they respond negatively to it.