Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr? Does not really say hip hop star to me. Common was wise to change it. This is Common’s second appearance on the list of 1001 Albums… I was not a fan of his first entry Like Water for Chocolate at all. Be is the rapper’s sixth album and it was his first produced by Kanye West.
As soon as the first song “Be (Intro)” started I felt a bit of hope. I could not only feel the neo soul, but I could feel the real soul of it. The second song “The Corner” featuring The Last Poets gave me more of the hip hop, but I still liked it.
My favourite song is “Go!“. It features background vocals by John Mayer and West.
Overall, I this is a better album than his previous one I had to listen to. It starts off great, but I felt the soul was pushed aside for the hip hop. Luckily, the jazz rap was not that bad. It gave the album a special feeling of Marvin Gaye, that is if he had been a rapper. Unfortunately, Common is not Marvin Gaye. Nobody can be Marvin Gaye. The smartest thing about Common is Kanye West. 6.5/10.
an ocean roars 