21. Common

Getting Out Our Dreams/Geffen

Common's return-to-roots move after 2002's sprawling Electric Circus, Be features none of Circus' rock experimentation or Neptunes joints, going instead for nine of eleven tracks produced by Kanye West. Focused and groovy where previous Common discs have wandered, Be draws deeply from Seventies soul jazz, fusing early-Nineties Native Tongues poeticism with the superstar producer's old-school sampling techniques. Common rises to the occasion, exuding flow, ideas, charisma and passion throughout, but particularly on "The Corner."

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