Common

Originally based in Chicago, back when he went by Common Sense and before a ska band of that name sued him, this quirky hip-hop artist showed quite a bit of promise on his first two albums. But only after relocating to Brooklyn, NY, would he begin his most artistically fertile period. Can I Borrow a Dollar? saw the South Side-born rapper emerge as a post-Native Tongues anti-gangsta rapper, and on his breakthrough second album, Resurrection, his profile rose nationally. Resurrection sports a trio of killer tracks: the title song, "Book of Life," and "I Used to Love H.E.R.," another in a long line of clever allegories that documented hip-hop's creative decline (like Jeru the Damaja's "One Day," released around the same time). While a few hip-hop faithful grumbled sell out after the release of One Day It'll All Make Sense, it wasn't the sort of artistic treason that some saw in Nas' It Was Written. Both albums, incidentally, contain singles featuring Lauryn Hill. Common's collaboration with Hill, "Retrospect for Life," subtly interpolates Stevie Wonder's achingly melancholy "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" into a sad story about the abortion of a couple's child.

Like Water for Chocolate marked yet another shift in direction, as he teams here with kindred spirits the Roots. Featuring excellent guest turns on the mike -- like Goodie Mob's Cee-lo and the Roots' Black Thought, as well as a moderately successful single with Macy Gray -- the album was much more of a musical affair. Electric Circus, in 2002, took the black-rock fusion even further, and was alternately hailed as either a work of genius or dull and boring. Giving Common the benefit of the doubt, it falls more on the genius side, though it does suffer from meandering arrangements and grooves that sometimes spin their wheels. On the other hand, part of what makes the album so remarkable is the hypnotic noodling that steered hip-hop into new directions. (KEMBREW MCLEOD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide