Rapper no longer simply common

By ANDREWOLDS
Music Editor

Born and raised in South Chicago, Common's intellectual flow has kept him on top of the underground scene. Two albums removed from his breakthrough effort Resurrection, Common has once again found the grooves to match his smooth rhymes. Produced by the Roots ?uestlove, who is fast becoming the producer of choice for the soul set of hip-hop artists, Like Water For Chocolate is rich intelluctual fare.

Common's core audience is a rabid, though small group. Drawn to him by his flair for language and his equally impressive breadth of knowledge, the underground is eagerly awaiting his explosion onto the mainstream. His first two albums, under the moniker Common Sense, achieved a good deal of press, with the aforementioned Resurrection spotlighted by a number of critics. His third album, One Day It Will All Make Sense, saw Common dropping the "Sense" but keeping his status as a top emcee.

Unfortunately, neither of these first three albums contained the production or label attention necessary to vault it onto the charts, spinning only a couple of club singles. Trying to correct this problem, his label has given him a great deal more promotion for his fourth album, and the successful ?uestlove was placed at the helm.

To listen properly to Like Water For Chocolate, all hip-hop preconceptions must be thrown out the window. Common is upbeat and introspective, forcibly rejecting the philosophical mess of DMX or the sleaziness of Sisqo or Juvenile. Common's most glaring departure from the mainstream is that he is fundamentally a reformer, not a critic. His words reflect that philosophy, voicing change without condemnation on the politically charged "A Song For Assata." From these influences and attitudes the resulting poetry consists of incredibly complex rhymes with a storytellers gift for emotional connection.

The backdrop for Common's breathtaking power is a mix of old-school bass tracks laid over inventive influences from soul, jazz and Afro-beat. Common gets help from the talented D'Angelo, neo-jazz producer James Poyser and drags in a clip from the great world artist Femi Kuti. The result is a fusion of soul and hip-hop traditions. Much of the musical success for the album can be attributed to its executive producer ?uestlove.

Coming off great success with D'Angelo's Voodoo, ?uestlove again hits a home run with Like Water For Chocolate. He displays a unique talent for adding elements of jazz and soul to the hip-hop foundation without drowning the music with it. He delivers consistent, subtle packages that provide penetrating soundscapes for his talented artists to perform over.

Though Common is clearly the heart and ?uestlove the soul of Like Water For Chocolate, several artists turn in excellent performances. D'Angelo has credits on a handful of tracks, and his broad hand is all over the album. The ineffable MC Lyte, underground legend Mos Def and Cee-Lo also contribute stirring raps. Guesting on three tracks is newcomer Bilal. His voice recalls a young Stevie Wonder and he forms an excellent tandem with Common. A final collaboration by Common's father Lonnie Lynn concludes the album.

The album is cleverly consistent and one of the few hip-hop albums of recent memory that is listenable from start to finish. There are two reasons for this: excellent performances by a number of collaborators, and Commons broad range of topics. He trades barbs on "A Film Called (Pimp)" with MC Lyte as they combine for a conversation on pimps and hos. D'Angelo adds his sweet voice to "Ghetto Heaven Part Two," a taste of soul and romanticism. Common closes with the political "A Song For Assata," piecing together his brilliant wordplay to diagram the travails of Cuban freedom-fighter Assata Shakur.

While heavy on the artistic side of hip-hop, Common does not shun pop sensibilities. The star cut on the album, "The 6th Sense," joins Common with producer DJ Premier and newcomer Bilal. Premier delivers the goods with a unique and potent production, while Commons introspective lyrics lashes out at his audience. Bilal delivers the pop dagger, as his sensual voice adds balance to the dreamy song.

On the equally impressive "Dooinit," Common namechecks nearly all his peers, running through a brief history of rap. But it is the line "For nigga flooded with ice / my thoughts the art" that is the albums most provocative. Common declares his intentions, while digging at his contemporaries' obsessive rapping about money.

Other tracks that succeed include "The Light," an introspective urban ballad and "The Questions" featuring a guest performance from Mos Def. Both tracks are intense with Common spilling anger. Still, each tracks remains upbeat, as Common provides solutions to the delicate issues that he raises.

Not since the glory days of Public Enemy has a hip-hop artist with intellectually insightful lyrics driven to the top of the charts. Like Water For Chocolate is a glorious leap towards that goal but is hip-hop ready for it?

The Starlite Desperation is the sort of band that's very good at what it does, but what exactly the band does ceased being interesting after 1968. On its newest album, Go Kill Mice, the band sounds less like one of those one-hit-wonder Nuggets -generation groups, and more like a Ś60's proto-punk outfit such as the MC5 or the Stooges.

The music throughout Go Kill Mice is consistently powerful. Singer Dante Adrian-White does a great (and appropriate) Mick Jagger impersonation, and several tracks are punctuated by saxophone and tambourine, in classic Ś60s fashion. Precise bass lines and bluesy guitar riffs keep each song thumping for the album's entire forty minutes, and their tape-saturated drums just help to perpetuate the illusion that Go Kill Mice was recorded thirty years ago, under less-than-professional conditions.

The only problem is, although the band is quite good, The Starlite Desperation doesn't offer anything new to music, only repeating what has already been done. Go Kill Mice hearkens back to an important and exciting era of rock n' roll history. Unfortunately The Starlite Desperation was born a few years too late for it.

- Joe Tepperman | Staff Writer

Copyright 2000 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 139, No. 55 (Tuesday, April 11, 2000), beginning on page 9 and ending on page 13.