- reviewed by Marsha Castello

Grammy nominee Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., AKA, Common is an individual in a galaxy of mundane factory-produced clones. Adorned with the fitting moniker "Common Sense", this long awaited breath of fresh air emerged on what had become a far too homogeneous Hip-Hop scene in 1992. His debut single "Take it EZ" from his Combat-released debut album "Can I Borrow a Dollar?" led to him blowing away all competition and winning The Source magazine's Unsigned Hype contest, and he has been making history ever since.

Subsequent albums Resurrection, Relativity and Like Water For Chocolate packed a firm punch, propelling Common from the underground of Hip-Hop's echelons to the mainstream. Yet Common the artist is far from mainstream. His style is intellectual and uncompromising, his pace is rapid.. more..

- reviewed by Marsha Castello

Grammy nominee Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., AKA, Common is an individual in a galaxy of mundane factory-produced clones. Adorned with the fitting moniker "Common Sense", this long awaited breath of fresh air emerged on what had become a far too homogeneous Hip-Hop scene in 1992. His debut single "Take it EZ" from his Combat-released debut album "Can I Borrow a Dollar?" led to him blowing away all competition and winning The Source magazine's Unsigned Hype contest, and he has been making history ever since.

Subsequent albums Resurrection, Relativity and Like Water For Chocolate packed a firm punch, propelling Common from the underground of Hip-Hop's echelons to the mainstream. Yet Common the artist is far from mainstream. His style is intellectual and uncompromising, his pace is rapid spitfire fast, Lord help those who can't keep up, and his delivery is enviably flawless.

Common has worked with a variety of talented and high profile artists such as The Roots, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, De la Soul, Q-Tip, Sadat X, Macy Gray, Mary J. Blige, MC Lyte, Cee-Lo, Pete Rock, Jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove and Afro-Beat phenomenon Femi Kuti. Yet for all his collaborations, Common stands firm as a solo artist and is a heavyweight in the game, his kudos is well earned, and he wears it like a regal cloak. With all the consistency and poise lacking from some of today's artist. Common's latest album, Be is testimony to the fact that, despite having to drop the second half of his moniker due to legal reasons, Common still makes a helluva lot of sense.

This 11 track lyrical incendiary is a superlatively, woven web of intricate rhythmical conscious observations on life and what it is to simply be, without limitations on your aspirations and to live in the moment for all its consequence.

The intro "Be" is powerful enough to be classed as a track in its own right. Unlike the plethora of mindless dialogues, which usually jump-start an album, this track exposes you to the raw edgy theme of this Album, which is to have the courage, freedom and audacity to simply embrace the moment without clinging on to the past or fearing the future, which is not promised to us anyway. In the words of the man himself "Walk like warriors we were never told to run, explore the world to where my soul begun, never looking back or too far in front of me, the present is a gift and I just want to be…" The pace is urgent and energetic, cleverly conveying the urgency of this mans need to just be. This track is as inspiring as it is graphic and the visual interpretations evoked by the words tease the cerebrum, getting you ready for more…

"The Corner" is a head spinning track where Common spits deep rhythmical analysis of Chicago street life from the canon of his psyche and explores the concept of the streets being "hot", brimming with life, urgency, desperation, risks, and fatality in a world which is cold in its apathy to the plight of the street. The track has an old school feel that is consistent with Common's personal reflections of his past, which is still so present for many.

"Go!" is consistent with the underlying theme of the album, this track encourages the listener to chase their fantasies, without inhibition, consequence or limitation…

"Faithful" poses the question, if he had the perfect partner, a female God incarnate, would a man still cheat? I think we all know the answer here, but nevertheless this is one of the albums many gems…

"Testify", laced with sexy female vocals, heavy beats, urgency and realism this track is easily another jewel in the crown, and is delivered like a screenplay such is the visual imagery conveyed by Commons mastery. Watch out for the twist…ouch.

"Love is…" explores the share beauty of love and how precious it is, in its entire entirety, in a world where like a precious stone, true love is extremely rare.

Tracks "Chi-City" and "Real People" trace the struggle and plight of our disenfranchised black youth and the vacuum in Hip-Hop when it comes to providing real songs of freedom, hope and inspiring food for thought. The themes on this album speak volumes and are food for the soul. "Chi City" and "Real People" are prime examples of this, and essential listening.

Common shares the mic with Kanye West on "The Food (Live)" which sketches the pitfalls of life with unabashed realism and further collaborations with Kanye West, the legend; John Legend, and soul soprano of "Soul Sista" fame Bilal on "They Say" add weight to an already extremely tight album.

This album is almost spiritual in it's pinpoint observations of life and the struggle. Powerful themes are introduced with the subtlety of a master. These themes are brought to life by highly complimentary pace, musical score, and flawless production. This album is smooth, mature, reflective jazz infused old school hip hop with a soul and comes full circle with the final tracks "It's Your World (Part 1 & 2)," where Lonnie Lynn Sr. lends his mystical poetry and dares you to be all you can be….Beautiful.