Urkel Moe Dee

With the rare balance of critical acclaim and commercial success achieved by 2005’s Be, it’s no wonder that Common returned to the Kanye West-helmed, half short and twice strong recipe for its follow up, Finding Forever. But formula seems anything but common for an artist who, much like OutKast, The Roots, and A Tribe Called Quest, has made a career of natural album-to-album sonic evolution and reinvention.

That’s not to say Finding Forever is stale or stagnant. On the contrary, Common seems to have taken the critiques of Be’s dullness (arguments with which I disagree) to heart, as the new album’s overall feel is more charged. Tracks like “The Game”, “Drivin’ Me Wild”, and “Southside” have the energy fans clamored for more of after hearing “Chi City” for the first time. West takes more chances with the production, and Common uses several different flows throughout.

But risk isn’t always successful. Although it’s cool to catch a 1992 flashback (oh God, tiger-striped Zubaz! Chiggidy-Chiggidy-Charlie was all over the fucking jungle!), by the time you reach “Break My Heart’s” voice-cracking antics, you realize Common’s almost ruined an otherwise sublime song with awkward flows and uncomfortable-silence lyrics like “nah, that’s dude from N’SYNC-ay” and “we fell in love as crazy as Nas and them.”

Although will.i.am has proven capable of more than the pop fluff he produces for himself and his barely-competent others, his sparse beat on “I Want You” (aside from its last minute) feels like simple, radio-friendly boho-lite in comparison to Kanye’s more richly layered backdrops. The inclusion of The Shining’s “So Far To Go” is disappointing considering Finding Forever’s brevity. With 11 songs and an intro, why waste time with an already-released record? If a J Dilla inclusion was necessary, why go with the slow, breathy, lovey-dovey-dovey-had-me-hyp-mo-tized song and not the far superior “E=MC²“?

Given the high quality of “U, Black Maybe” (I have no idea why the U is there. I’m convinced it’s a misprint, or a tribute to Chicago’s channel 26. Word to Cheaters and Svengoolie.), “The People”, and the album as a whole, the above gripes are forgivable. Finding Forever, although not the revelation or sneak attack Be was, is very good and cements Common’s place as one of hip-hop’s most consistent artists.