Common: Like Water for Chocolate

The fourth installment in the Common disco-graphy, Like Water for Chocolate reflects the maturing artistic sensibility of an immensely talented MC. Long acknowledged as the unofficial king of the backpacker set for his lyrical complexity, straight-up dope rhyming skills and socially aware (if not wholly conscious) outlook, Common has never attained the commercial success of those continually discussed in debates about the greatest current rhyme practitioner. He has struggled with his under/over-ground identity and his desire to make the dollar bill—in his legendary verse on the Roots' Things Fall Apart, he wondered if he was rapping only for "coffee shop chicks and white dudes." But Like Water for Chocolate is not an attempt to make the same kind of commercial crossover the Roots did last year. Instead, it evidences Common's determination to mature and evolve as an artist, and to continue to push the boundaries of formulaic hip-hop.

Along with appearances by Cee-Lo and Mos Def, and a welcome one from the all-but-forgotten MC Lyte, the album includes guest spots from such disparate sources as Femi Kuti (the son of Afro-Beat legend Fela), jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and D'Angelo. And rather than stick to the tried and true production talents of Chicago homeboy No I.D., this time out Common has enlisted a bevy of others, including DJ Premier, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, and James Poyser. Due to this diversity of sensibilities behind the board, Like Water for Chocolate certainly does not sound as cohesive as 1997's One Day It'll All Make Sense, but it does seem a more accurate representation of Common's diverse influences and interests. Highlights include "Dooinit," on which he reaffirms his mastery of the ill battle lyric, and "Song For Assata," a heartfelt tribute with Cee-Lo to black revolutionary Assata Shakur, exiled in Cuba for two decades.

On "6th Sense," a banging DJ Premier-produced manifesto on the state of the art that is destined to be a classic, Common spits, "This industry will make you lose intensity/The Common Sense in me remembers the basement/I'm Morpheus in this hip-hop Matrix/Exposin' fake shit." No arguments here. On Like Water for Chocolate, Common continues to build his rep at the top of the list of the most innovative, important, and talented hip-hop artists singing today. (Explicit)

—Joshua Jelly-Schapiro

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