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Critic Reviews
100
Letβs be real, Hip-hop has been lost in the matrix for a minute now since the greatest alive retired, and just like Morpheus, another bald headed orator ... has presented the music to give listeners the blue pill that will take us on a journey unlike any other heard in a while.
2y
91
Even when the music flags, Common's remarkably hungry raps push it along.
11y
91
The Chicago MC's sixth CD is 43 minutes bursting with street-smart, warmhearted (but not corny) goodness.
5y
90
It’s a great album and some of the easiest 42 minutes of listening you’ll ever do, but better than his sophomore opus? I don’t know, ask me in 12 years. For now, just let it BE.
13y
86
Easily ranking with Resurrection and Like Water for Chocolate, Be stands among his best work to date.
13y
81
The bottom line is that while, at times, he may wear his romance on his sleeve, at the bottom of it all Be is still most dedicated to h.e.r.
11y
80
Positivity has been Chicago rapper Lonnie "Common" Lynn's stock in trade since his 1992 debut, but he has rarely been so consistently feel-good as here.
2y
80
Common's best album so far, one that proves hip hop can be both smart and mainstream.
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3y
80
The album is an extremely satisfying listen, but if Common is to lead the revolution, he has to make more of a statement than a great bass line and some tight rhymes.
7y
80
On Be, Common pulls back from the psychedelic hip-hop soul of 2002's Electric Circus to offer a more mainstream hip-hop joint.
2y
80
If there's any problem, it's West, whose production varies between enjoyable and passable, as his soul formula (sped up voices and all) is occasionally too softcore/played out.
6y
80
The record's feel, like West's College Dropout, offers a rich jukebox of gospel-tinged R&B flavours over which Common scatters his gems.
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2y
80
Be is a lean and vibrant masterclass in hip-hop fundamentals.
10y
80
Com is indeed the dope rapper he claims to BE.
1y
80
West is the producer Common has been waiting for all of his career: He makes Common both catchier and edgier at the same time.
11y
80
Gives hope to a hip-hop stuck in a mire of mediocrity.
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3y
80
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.
13y
80
Be just finds a world-wide Common back home standing on the corner. But you can’t go home again and no matter how much he wishes, the Common of Can I Borrow a Dollar? is not the same Common of Be — and thank God for that.
12y
70
Be is a solid album -- a return-to-form for Common, erasing the bitter memory of the attempted-eclecticism of Electric Circus and harking back to the enjoyable and centered Like Water For Chocolate.
11y
50
Be sounds like Common’s teaching from the playbook of a college dropout.
11y
Common, Ye, and J Dilla team up at the peak of their abilities to create a near flawless hip hop album that still holds up today
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"Waiting for the Lord to rise, I look into my daughter's eyes
And realize I'ma learn through her
The Messiah might even return through her
If I'ma do it, I gotta change the world through her"
That chunk of lyrics on the intro of the album are the most powerful sets of bars on the whole project. They might not be the smartest he's pushed out on here, but this is far and away the most powerful statement that encompasses the theme of ... read more
Very few rappers can maintain consistent and release good albums 13 years after their debut. Common's longevity is up there with Nas, Kool Keith, and Black Thought.
Easy listen, good vibes, great features and an overall great album. Really nothing bad at all, but nothing spectacular. The Corner is some of the highest production on a song ever.
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Track List
| 1 | Be (Intro) 2:24 | 97 |
| 2 | The Corner 3:45 feat. The Last Poets | 91 |
| 3 | GO! 3:44 | 93 |
| 4 | Faithful 3:33 | 94 |
| 5 | Testify 2:36 | 89 |
| 6 | Love Is... 4:10 | 92 |
| 7 | Chi-City 3:27 | 92 |
| 8 | The Food (Live) 3:36 | 93 |
| 9 | Real People 2:48 | 91 |
| 10 | They Say 3:57 feat. Kanye West, John Legend | 94 |
| 11 | It's Your World (Part 1 & 2) 8:33 feat. The Kids | 95 |
Total Length: 42 minutes
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3w
Wanna listen bc I really need to answer the question “How good must Common’s beats be if he rejected the beat to I Wonder?”