Common Gives H.E.R Something She Won't Ever Forget

On his 2005 masterwork (yeah, it’s only been two years – I could care less, it’s a classic album) Be, Common compared himself to Jesus Christ ”the way he sacrificed and resurrected twice”. Even though he’s no doubt phenomenal – every time I hear that line I say to myself “Yeah, that’s going a bit too far” – but he’s both well-rounded and an incredibly humble artist. And as far as I know, he started off his career on the right foot with this album – this 1994 opus, which is considered by the majority of people to be Common’s best-ever work.

The boardwork on Common’s technical sophomore album Resurrection (his debut, Can I Borrow A Dollar?, which is to date the only Common album I don’t own, was release in 1992), it’s sample-influenced and jazzy, and that’s nothing you haven’t heard before if you’ve read the multitudes of positive reviews on this. Still, No I.D. provides Com with a calm, yet sobering ambiance most of the time here which complements his vocals and style well. And he starts the album on a roll too…the title track, “Resurrection,” is chockfull of cunning metaphors and similes, as Common officially trademarks himself as hip-hop’s most consistent MC, as he’s continued his streak for 15 years straight, which is hard to believe. And as for Common being a fantastic MC? For yours truly that’s an understatement, and his clever punchline-oriented approach (although he’s far from being in line with emcees such as Canibus, Redman or Chino XL – who focus far more on that hardcore style) that is mainly representative on this album helped build his eventual consistency and topical variation that made him evolve into the force he is today. As a matter of fact, he would most certainly make my Top 10 on a Best MC’s list. But enough of the technical isht and my personal opinion of Lonnie Lynn, I’ll take you through the songs…”Resurrection” opens things up memorably while No I.D. sets up a nimble jazz loop where Common spits double-entrendre punchlines bound to get your head spinning in seconds. I can’t even analyze them correctly, but they’re set up perfectly and he rides the cheerful, piano-based production flawlessly, and ends the first verse with one of the cleverest double-entendres he’s ever come up with - ”motion for a recess, retest my fingerprints/They relinquished since cause I was guilty in a sense/innocence” - but I can’t confirm that because there is so much clever wordplay in other tracks. DJ scratches provided by No I.D. are intermittently weaved in and out of the song and that just adds to its overall texture. But up next is the critically-acclaimed song “I Used To Love H.E.R,” which many believe to be the man’s largest achievement in hip-hop, since it mainly started the process of comparing hip-hop to a woman. Damn…it’s funny how when you have so much to say about something it all comes out skewered and garbled. Well, it’s mellow and has had many an assessment by hip-hop heads, and begins with Common meeting a woman that, over time, gained his reverence and respect by having self-pride and knowledge of her culture – and their relationship grew as she would start becoming more of a priority in Common’s life. Unfortunately, degradation and overexposure had eventually ruined her personality (especially since Common talks about all these groupies “doing her”, which is at the point of the song where the meaning becomes more plausible) – but Common resolves to get her back…because the woman he’s talking about ”is hip-hop” - and it then echoes. It’s made the Top 10 on a plethora of hip-hop lists thanks to the inventive ending that has spurred on COUNTLESS emcees ever since then, and I cannot even describe how legendary it is.

“Watermelon” is a fun track that follows, that feels more like an interlude than many of the tracks here – because of it’s 2-minute length. “Book Of Life” and “In My Own World (Check The Method)” boast Mary J. Blige and Large Professor (the latter of which is a vocal sample from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Keep It Rollin”) samples respectively, and have a wide focus that ranges from introspection to braggadocio to Afrocentricity. The latter is one of my favorite records on the album, actually, it’s both simple and catchy and Ynot makes his first of two guest appearances – and he also handles the production on this, which helps it certainly stand out. “Nuthin To Do” is a song that I used to find downright boring – a halt to the otherwise near-flawless sophomore album from Common Sense. But nowadays, I see it more as rugged and grimy (I got the album eight months ago, so naturally it’s had time to grow on me) – Common’s rhymes reflecting the apathy some people see in the ghetto, and it’s saxophone-anchored beat feels welcome amidst all the light, subdued jazz you hear thanks to No I.D. throughout the rest of the record (even though he also produced this.) “Communism” is where he gets creative – over a flexible boom-bap piece he rhymes about everything that includes the prefix “com”, and it’s definitely one of the best songs on the album regardless of its short length. Unfortunately, these two tracks are bookended by useless skits – one of the few cons of the record, so all you need is to press the skip button to handily get rid of the problem.

One of the few things that I find wrong with this record is that Com doesn’t have the lyrical depth he so expertly demonstrates on albums like One Day It’ll All Make Sense and Like Water for Chocolate. Still, maybe his personality was just building up to fit it – he’s still his usual thoughtful self throughout the album, exhibited perfectly by tracks like “Thisisme,” an airy, catchy No I.D.-produced joint where Common Sense proclaims himself “a gangsta,” but not an ordinary kind of gangsta, “the gangsta of love”. Name a rapper who has the self-confidence and cojones to do that, and I’ll give 50 Cent’s new album 5 stars. The end of the song demonstrates Com’s confidence in his craft so much he’s unafraid of spitting lines like that when a good quantity of the MC’s around him played that stereotype (although, as many heads know, 1994 was far from the worst year in history for hip-hop, mainly due to albums like this and Illmatic.) “Orange Pineapple Juice,” is, like most of the other writers here have pointed out, probably the weakest link on the album – but it’s a 4.5 star weak link. It’s beat is a bit bland, but with Com spitting lines like ”so I figure like a father/that I’ma turn this mutha OUT!” over his nondescript background ad-libs, you can’t complain about it too much. Apart from “I Used To Love H.E.R,” “Chapter 13 (Rich Man vs. Poor Man)” is the album’s best song. Ynot reappears and contributes an infectious beat based on pianos, sporadic horns and handclaps – and it’s concept deals with a rich man (who’s priority is money, of course) and a poor man (played by Common) and the comparisons between their lifestyles and what (amusingly) happens when they come face-to-face, and it’s refrain repeats ”cause without no money (ain’t a DAMN thing funny!)”. Com of course reigns over the song thanks to his conclusive third verse, but Ynot brings in some hilarious punchlines involving Robert DeNiro and sandwiches. “Sum Sh*t I Wrote” is even more gritty, and finds Com giving us his effortless braggadocio circa 1994 (saying he didn’t learn the facts from Tootie – but enjoyed looking at her for other reasons), and he gives props to Redman referencing two of his most famous tracks from Whut? Thee Album. The first ever rap provided by Pops closes out the album, and the beat is basically replicated from “Thisisme”, but just made a little more peaceful and suitable for Pops’ stream-of-consciousness style of speaking on Common’s albums, and proves that Pops has one of the greatest, deepest voices that the Lord has ever given someone – while he talks about everything from peace to his former basketball career.

The lyrics are certainly the prime focus on the album here, and Common’s introspection and humility as a man and an artist don’t quite appear on here – he comes to terms with his identity at first during his 1997 sequel, One Day It’ll All Make Sense (the next album to be reviewed in my Common “series”) and No I.D. gives us a good example of his style on the production, even if it’s not his A-game every single song. Like Water for Chocolate is more balanced in most every aspect – J Dilla providing the majority of beats on that album and Common having diversified and improved in that 6-year timespan, but I have no problem admitting this LP is still timeless and is the second best achievement in his career.

Great Music to Play While: turning this mutha out

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