The redeeming element of Finding Forever is its concision.
“If rap be Harlem, I be James Baldwin,” he boasts in “Southside.” Now that Common has grown up and abandoned his younger self, there’s nothing for him to do but rap about how he’d like to be Malcolm or Martin, or worse, that he already is. There was a time when he rapped about himself, because he believed what a kid on the corner thought meant as a much as being a Malcolm or a Martin. You can draw the change in Common by “Nuthin’ To Do.” It’s not just that Com has sworn off liquor and pork. We'd troop down to Jew Town, talk a cat down on some gearĪnd think about who use to cop our liquor When Common assures us in “Southside” that “yep, I’m still the future of the Chi,” I can’t help but think of “Nuthin’ To Do” from his 1994 album Resurrection, one of the all-time great city dedications:Īs shorties we run 'round, play strike outs till sun downīut the shit ain't as fun now, and the city's all run down He may have returned to Chi-Town for “The People” video, but at heart this LA transplant is a Bodhi Tree bookstore spiritualist, more likely to spend an afternoon flipping through the mags at Aqua Spa with a lady friend than he is to catch a Sox double-header. The album has been criticized for its steady stream of soppy pick-up lines and a plethora of inexplicable references to disposable pop culture (“Reese and Ryan”? The Break-Up?), yet Common sounds most like himself when dealing with such material. officer in front of the class, Com attempts to prove he’s one of the gang: “Everyday we hustlin’, tryna get them custom rims / Law we ain’t trustin’ them, thick broads we lustin’ them.” He complains that “white folks focus on dogs and yoga / While people on the low end tryin’ to ball and get over,” but throughout Finding Forever it’s Common who seems like the dogs-and-yoga type. What’s he going to say to the kid who finds inspiration in the tidal wave determination of Young Jeezy’s Thug Motivation albums? That he’s wrong? That the lite-radio rap of Finding Forever is the sound of a better tomorrow?Ĭommon is never less believable than when he’s attempting to identify with the everyday interests of the streets. When a rapper has made it his cause to establish himself as an alternative to “degrading” fair like Yung Berg’s “Sexy Lady” and Hurricane Chris’ “Ay Bay Bay,” what’s he going to say to the teenagers who will remember their summer by those songs? Common is someone who only sees innovation in rap as it exists in artists that jibe with his persona - people like Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Kanye West.
“The People” attempts to connect with the internal struggles of black folks in neighborhoods like the one Com is seen visiting in the song’s video, but one wonders how much this artist really has in common with the people he rhymes about.
As mom-friendly and easy on the ears as anything you’d expect to hear in a Banana Republic outlet, Finding Forever is the consummation of hip-hop as Oprah Winfrey would have it: without an ounce of ugliness, confrontation or sonic discomfort. Dre’s The Chronic and Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the 36 Chambers will soon turn 15 - Common has delivered an album that shows just how innocuous hip-hop can be. As we approach the anniversaries of some of hip-hop’s most incendiary, foundational works - Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions… and N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton turn 20 next year, while Dr.
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