Be

by 
AlbumJan 01 / 200511 songs, 42m 37s
Conscious Hip Hop
Popular

Intimate yet expansive in its depiction of his Windy City, *Be* is Common’s return to his street-poet roots after the quirky *Electric Circus*. There’s a starkly real yet ultimately positive worldview throughout, because Common brings as much thoughtfulness to a track about gangbanging (“The Corner”) as he does the gorgeous self-love anthem “It’s Your World.” It’s the equivalent of listening to riveting stories from your pops . . . but over a soulful, scratchy beat.