BE

Unlike many of his hip-hop contemporaries, Common doesn't make disposable art nor does he run from the title "conscious". He's concerned with making music that'll speak to the listeners' mind, body and soul, good music that'll stand the test of time.

Common's return to his roots and to his music's unadulterated essence meant that the bulk of production on 'BE' was helmed by Kanye West, a fellow Chicagoan who came up under the tutelage of Common's first producer and good friend No I.D. West contributed nine tracks and helped to shape the overall sound of the LP while A Tribe Called Quest collaborator Jay Dee, produced two cuts. The result is a superlative collection of successive gems that finds Common, a seasoned vet, rhyming with the hunger, intensity and fire of a newjack. "I feel like this is a reintroduction in a way," says Common.

'BE' won't just raise the bar for hip-hop albums, it is destined to have the name Common said in the same breath as artists like Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and Donny Hathaway and that, friends, is exactly as it should be.