Universal Mind Control
Common has long been interested in expanding the boundaries of his music, but with *Universal Mind Control* he dissolved the walls that separate hip-hop from modern electro, indie rock, and emo. The Neptunes oversaw almost all of the album’s production (with the exception of “Make My Day,” “Changes,” and “Everywhere,” which were produced by Mr. DJ) and their trademarks alight in the woozy fancy of “Punch Drunk Love,” and the piledriving pulse of “Sex 4 Suga” and “Announcement.” “Universal Mind Control (UMC)” and “What A World” contain the most relentlessly club-friendly rhythms of Common’s career, although the songs also hearken back to the old-school electro of Afrika Bambaataa and the Fantasy Three. Common still has hip-hop in his heart, and despite its messianic complex, a song like “Gladiator” shows the rapper’s fundamental rhyme skills remain intact: “Syncopated is the style that I fight with, write with / Mr. Excitement, change your face up like a white chick.” While *Universal Mind Control* might be the last straw for fans of Mobb Deep, the album stakes new ground that Common can share with artists as diverse as Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, and TV On the Radio.
On Be and Finding Forever, Common struck a winning, humanizing balance between moralism and hedonism, proving that the two needn't be mutually exclusive. On Universal Mind Control, he-- and the Neptunes-- split his personalities into what seem like two wildly different EPs.
"Broads say, 'Are you a philosopher?' / Yeah, yeah, I'll philosophie on top of ya," goes the key lyric on Common's puzzling new Universal Mind Control. On his eighth solo album, Common stops trying to save the world and uplift the human spirit, and gets in touch with his inner freak, with results that are often more…
Check out our album review of Artist's Universal Mind Control on Rolling Stone.com.
The eighth Common album was originally titled "Invincible Summer," but delays slid its release back to December.
It’s during the refrain of the title track on Common’s latest release, Universal Mind Control, that one hears Pharrell rap, “This is that new shit...
<p>Common seems keen to prove he is still an all-time rap great, a hip-hop intellectual - and a ladies' man</p>
Common - Universal Mind Control review: Common should permanently stick to acting.