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From the Vault...
04/28/2013
#1357 |
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info
Common
"Finding Forever"
© Good Music/Geffen Recor
Year of Release: 2007
Rating:
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track listing
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Intro
Start The Show
The People
Drivin' Me Wild
I Want You
Southside
The Game
U Black Maybe
So Far To Go
Break My Heart
Misunderstood
Forever Begins
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Common
"Finding Forever"
Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. is better known as the rapper named Common. His ninth (!) album, Finding Forever reached the #1 spot on the Billboard
Hot 200 in the year 2007, for one week. As much as I like to (or try to) keep up with the latest musical trends, looking at the #1 albums and songs
keeps up this pace. Like many, Rap is not one of my favorite sources of music, but I try to keep an open ear.
The "Intro" blends beautiful music to start the album, then the next two tracks are the typical male sounding Rap: "Start The Show," "The
People." The next track, "Drivin' Me Wild" has a Pop flavor, rather than the typical Rap, and vocalist Lily Allen helps out. "I Want You"
starts out with a good R&B feel (and does so throughout), until the rapping vocals come in -- Take it or leave it.
"Southside" won a Grammy in 2008, for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group (Kanye West, who was the album's producer) helps out. Did it
deserve the Grammy? Well, for the Rap category, the typical male sounding Rapper could win for any male. Again, take it or leave it, I choose leave it.
"The Game" is probably the common male sounding rap tune that gets your head bouncing to the beat, and is probably the only rap track of this type
I can stomach, better than the others. "Take it or leave it" again on "U, Black Maybe." Uggh.
Like "I Want You," "So Far To Go" has a good R&B feel, until the Rap vocals hit. "Break My Heart" starts out with the good R&B groove,
(like a song by Sade), until, yep, you guessed right, the Rap vocals come in. Common, stop imitating Will Smith (sounding like "Gettin' Jiggy Wit'
It") "Misunderstood" -- wow, not bad, it's pleasant, and not as annoying with the Rap vocals as other tracks. On "Forever Begins" am I
hearing Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" starting out the song? Oh wait, here comes the Rapping vocals...
Basically, Common's Finding Forever sucks. Only one song I can actually say is a standout: Drivin' Me Wild" (with Lily Allen).
That's it. Some Rap I can take (and actually enjoy). Finding Forever just does not do it for me. I'm sure the messages Common makes in his songs
here say plenty. Kanye West is the producer of this album, and I'm not a huge fan of his, (although his album 808s And Heartbreak I kinda liked).
But listening to this album by Common as a music lover, the R&B grooves have the foundations in being good-to-great songs, but I'm sorry, once the rapping
vocals come in, I can either take them or leave them. On this album, I leave them. Finding Forever made history by becoming many of the #1 albums
on the Billboard Albums chart, and that's about it.
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