Huh? A Common album without a soul-jazz opener? Well, rap's deep thinker wanted to make club bangers. So he got the Neptunes to shape this sexed-up set. He's still history-minded; the title track is textbook Eighties electro. Elsewhere, he name-checks Fiona Apple (the bouncy "Make My Day," with Cee-Lo) and dubs himself "rap's Ziggy Stardust" ("Gladiator"). On the Biggie-style "Announcement," he calls hip-hop his "bitch" — shocking for a guy who made hip-hop his girlfriend on "I Used to Love H.E.R." Only "Change" finds him back in street-preacher mode; it's a hopeful tribute to his Chicago homeboy, Obama.

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."