Be (Explicit Version) (2005)

Artist: Common
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Product Summary
UPC: 00602498818626
Release Date: 5/24/2005
Buy.com Sku: 63980313
Item#: M2CS9V
Buy.com Sales Rank: 25079
Format:  CD

Song Listing

Disc 1
Song TitleSample
1. Be (Intro) ~ Common
2. Corner, The - (featuring The Last Poets) ~ Common
3. GO! - (featuring John Mayer) ~ Common
4. Faithful ~ Common
5. Testify ~ Common
6. Love Is... ~ Common
7. Chi-City ~ Common
8. Food, The - (live) ~ Common
9. Real People ~ Common
10. They Say - (featuring Kanye West/John Legend) ~ Common
11. It's Your World (Part 1&2) - (featuring Bilal) ~ Common

(P) 2005 Geffen Records
(C) 2005 Geffen Records

 
Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
Personnel: Common (rap vocals); The Last Poets (spoken vocals); James Poyser (various instruments); Derrick Hodge (double bass); Num Amun-Tehu (percussion); A-Trak, DJ Dummy (turntables); John Legend, John Mayer , Kanye West, Lonnie Lynn, Bilal, Luna E (background vocals).
Electric Circus cost and won Common some fans. It was very exploratory, especially so for a rap album released in 2002, containing developments -- some of which soared, some of which sank -- that few longtime followers could have foreseen. Listeners either felt Common was picking up fresh, new inspirations, or that he was just being distracted by a whole lot of ill-fitting nonsense. With Be, it seems the MC has realized that not every album that's sprawling and eclectic is as good as Electric Ladyland or Songs in the Key of Life. More notably, he might've been struck with the fact that a high percentage of excellent albums are around 40 minutes in length and are built on a unified sound. Be is highly concentrated, containing 11 songs and involving two producers and a small number of guests. It's a 180 degree turn from Electric Circus, and in a bizarre way it's both a progression and a back-to-basics move. Kanye West and Dilla are key to the album's steadiness, rooting the sound in '70s soul and soul-jazz. That's no shakeup, but the two producers deserve some form of award for stringing together a consistent sequence of productions that is never monotonous, dull, or all that flashy. Even lead single "The Corner," heard well before Be's release, falls into the fabric of the album on first listen, as if that were where it belonged all along. Lyrically, Common comes back down to Earth -- the narratives are sharp as ever, the gripes are more like observations than screeds, and the eccentricities need to be teased out rather than swatted away. Be isn't likely to be referred to by anyone as groundbreaking, but it's one of Common's best, and it's also one of the most tightly constructed albums of any form within recent memory. ~ Andy Kellman
After fusing hip-hop, rock, and soul on 2002's THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS, Chicago rapper Common returned three years later with BE. Like its two-letter title, BE is much leaner, consisting of 11 pure hip-hop tracks marked by Common's enlightened, contemplative, easy-flowing lyrics. Although the album is more streamlined, it's not predictable or unoriginal, as the beats unfold with the same combination of rawness and melodic energy that made Kanye West's debut so uncommonly engaging. This is no coincidence--West is present throughout much of BE, producing all but two of the songs here. West even appears on one of the disc's highlights, "The Food," with some expert freestyle rhyming as captured live on CHAPPELLE'S SHOW.
Common's confident, yet constantly searching, demeanor and his poetic instinct for just the right words bonds him to the heritage of hip-hop, a point hit home by the presence of rap legends the Last Poets on "The Corner." Common is always slightly and endearingly unsure, and his self-deprecation seeps out on "Love Is..." and "Faithful." However, he has the inner power to garner attention, as evident on the smooth party jam "GO!" (featuring John Mayer). BE is Common at his unaffected, commanding best.

Producer: Kanye West; DILLA; James Poyser

Musical Guests
The Last Poets
John Legend
Kanye West
Bilal
John Mayer

 
Artist Overview
Born Lonnie Rashied Lynn in Chicago, the rapper who would become an integral part of the 1990s underground hip-hop scene started out as Common Sense. His 1992 debut CAN I BORROW A DOLLAR? showcased a politically conscious, musically eclectic artist interested in expanding the boundaries of hip-hop. Though forced to shorten his handle to Common after a legal dispute, he pursued his vision, incorporating jazz, rock, R&B and more into his sound, and collaborating with everyone from jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove to up-and-coming rapper Cee-Lo and R&B diva Erykah Badu.

Artist Influences
A Tribe Called Quest | Bob Dylan | Boogie Down Productions | De La Soul | Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy | EPMD | Eric B. & Rakim | Gil Scott-Heron | Guru (Rap) | Jimi Hendrix | Joni Mitchell | Poor Righteous Teachers | Prince | Run-DMC | The Last Poets

Artist Contemporaries
Black Eyed Peas | Company Flow | Erykah Badu | Goodie Mob | Kool Keith | Mos Def | Outkast | Pharoahe Monch | Rahzel | Slum Village | Spearhead | Talib Kweli | The Roots (Rap) | Wyclef Jean

Artist Followers
311 | Aesop Rock | Atmosphere (Rap) | Camp Lo | Cannibal Ox | Cee-Lo | El-P | Guilty Simpson | Jean Grae | Jurassic 5 | Kanye West | Lupe Fiasco | Lyrics Born | Mr. Lif | Prefuse 73 | RJD2


 
Compilation Appearances
Stakes Is High
Whiteboys (Explicit Version)
Musical Massacre (Explicit Version)
1st Born Second (Explicit Version)
Fight To Win
Experience: Jill Scott (Bonus Tracks)
Experience: Jill Scott (Clean Version)
Soundbombing III (Explicit Version)
Brown Sugar
Music And Spirit Of Fela Kuti
Timeless: The Singles Collection (Explicit Version)
College Dropout (Explicit Version)
College Dropout (Clean)
Hip Hop Box (Explicit Version)
Take 'em To The Cleaners
Ancestry In Progress
Beautiful Struggle
Beautiful Struggle (Explicit Version)
Grind Date (Explicit Version)
Decade
Best Of
Late Registration (Explicit Version)
Late Registration (Clean Version)
Chapter 3:flesh
Afrique
Mtv Unplugged
2k6 Tracks
Flo' Ology
Rising Tied (Explicit Version)
Home Grown Guide To Understanding V1(Explicit Version)
Home Grown Guide To Understanding V1(Explicit Version)
Rising Tide/the(clean)
Rawkus Records:classics(Explicit Version)
Unpredictable (Explicit Version)
Rawkus Records:classic Cuts
Unstoppable V32 0106
King (Explicit Version)
KING (Clean Version)
My Homies Part 2 (Explicit Version)
Dave Chapelle's Block Party / O.s.t. (Cln)
Hip Hop:gold
Entourage (Explicit Version)
Entourage (Clean)
Mad Skillz(Explicit Version)
Mtv My Block: Chicago (Explicit Version)
Freedom Writers (Explicit Version)
Jill Scott Collaborations
Ancestry In Progress(Bonus Tracks)
Introducing Joss Stone
Introducing Joss Stone(w/ Bonus DVD)
Definitive Collection
Jazzmatazz 4:hip Hop Jazz Messenger B
Chicago Lp
Afromentals Number Twenty
Jazzmatazz Back To The Future Mix Tap(Explicit Version)
Rising Down
Rising Down(Explicit Version)
LAX
LAX (Clean)
Essence Music Festival Volume 1
LAX (Bonus Tracks)(Explicit Version)
Theater Of The Mind(Explicit Version)
Theater Of The Mind
Back On My B S(Explicit Version)
Back On My B S(Explicit Version)
Back On My Bs(Limited Edition)(Explicit Version)
Dillanthology I:dilla's Production Fo
Change Is Now: Renewing America's Promise
Lines Vines And Trying Times
Man On The Moon:End Of Day (Explicit Version)

 
Associated Artists and Works
T.I.
King [Edited] [Limited] ~ T.I.
King [PA] [Limited] ~ T.I.
Commonication: The Smooth Jazz Sessions To The Mus ~ Various Artists
Various Artists

 
Technical Info
Release Date : 05/24/2005
Original Release Date : 2005
Catalog ID : 0004670
Label : Geffen Records (USA)
Number of Discs : 1
Studio/Live : Studio
Mono/Stereo : Stereo
SPAR Code : n/a
UPC : 00602498818626

 
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (No. 975, p.70)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "[H]is sixth and best disc....[Kanye] West is the producer Common has been waiting for all of his career: He makes Common both catchier and edgier at the same time..."

Spin (p.63)
- Ranked #17 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005" - "Bathed in throwback soul and lively drums, Common suddenly sounded like the seer he'd always hoped he was."

Spin (p.102)
- "[With] '70s-soul string samples, store-front-church piano tinkling, chipmunk gospel vocal hooks....Common's remarkably hungry raps push it along." - Grade: A-

Entertainment Weekly (No. 821/822, p.136)
- "[T]he marriage of [Common's] conscious rhymes to [Kanye] West's gritty, boho-inflected production boasts more organic freshness than a Whole Foods Market..." - Grade: A-

Uncut (p.97)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "[The record] offers a rich jukebox of gospel-tinged R&B flavours over which Common scatters his gems."

Mojo (Publisher)
(p.112)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "BE succeeds through its sense of focus and poignancy."

  
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