 
Common has always kept one foot in the underground and the other on the banks of the mainstream being one of the few conscious rap artists to gain commercial success. On Be, his sixth album, Common teams up with fellow Chicago native Kanye West, who provides a backdrop of jazzy, soulful beats to accompany the emcee’s Afro-centric rhymes. “The Corner” is a reflection of urban street life featuring The Last Poets and Kanye West who raps “I wish I could give you this feeling” on the chorus. And if you don’t feel as if you’re on a Windy City street corner amongst crooks, hustlers, cops, preachers, poor and working class people trying to get by on a regular day, then you don’t know how to use your imagination. More radio-friendly is his current hit, “Go.” Sure, he’s supposed to be a conscious emcee fighting for the black struggle and all but that doesn’t mean he can’t talk about hittin’ them skins. Part of Common’s appeal is versatility and ability to talk about sex and talk about the struggles faced by blacks. And what, a man can’t enjoy sex? Even Catholic priests like sex…bad joke? Sorry. The album contains the live version of “The Food” performed on the Chapelle’s Show, which featuring Kanye West on the hook yet again (he drops hooks on most of the album, which can get annoying for Kanye haters, but how can you not love Kanye?). Some might argue that Kanye played too heavy a role on this album,
but Be is classic Common, a resurrection of “Resurrection,”
with 11 solid head-nodding songs, and if you hurry up and get the deluxe
edition, you get a bonus DVD with 50 minutes of interviews, the making
of the album, and other extras. - Zoneil Maharaj
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Common