Classic Album Review, Common, "Resurrection"

Over the years the city of Chicago hasn’t been quite as successful as New York or Los Angeles when it comes to producing hip-hop stars. But what Chicago lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality.

Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and Common Sense all hail from the Second City, and each of the three are bonafide rap stars, some of the best in the business.

Although you’d most likely say that Kanye is the biggest star of the group, it’s Common that has been in the game the longest. After debuting with “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” which received a lot of underground attention, he released “Resurrection” in 1994.

Although “Resurrection” didn’t have much mainstream success, it did very well with critics and proved how truly skilled Common is as an MC. The South Side native doesn’t hesitate to show off how original he is, with his complex style of rapping, intelligent lyrics and witty lines.

The jazzy flavored sound of the album combined with Common’s socially conscious lyrics inspire comparisons to “A Tribe Called Quest”, “De La Soul” and “The Fugees”, but Common really is in a league of his own.

He doesn’t let you forget where he’s from either. Inspired by the city he hails from, the album is divided into two sections, the "East Side of Stony" and "West Side of Stony". Stony Island Avenue is a street that runs through the South Side of Chicago, which was where Common was raised.

“Resurrection” has a ton of great tracks, including "Watermelon", "Nuthin' to Do", "Pop's Rap" and "Book of Life", but standout track on the album easily is "I Used to Love H.E.R.”, which arguably is best track that Common ever made.

The album opens up with the title track, “Resurrection”, which perfectly combines the scratches by Mista Sinista with the jazzy melody. Common opens it up by rapping how he is literally immersed in his music: “In spite I've been indicted as a freak of all trades/I got it made/I bathe in basslines, rinse in riffs, dry in drums/Come from a tribe of bums.”



On "Nuthin' to Do", Common speaks out on the deterioration of Chicago's neighborhoods, and describes some of the best ways to kill time on the South Side.

He illustrates a perfect picture of what it’s like to grow up in Chi-town as he raps: “The days of Old Chicago and Fun Town and shorties we run round/Play strike outs till sun down, but the shit ain't as fun now/And the city is all run down, we troop down to Jew Town/Talking cat down on some gear, have enough for a Polish incom fair/I stare, at what use to be Bubbles and think about who use to cop our liquior.”

"Book of Life," is the most introspective track on the album. The track is an autobiographical look at Common’s struggles over the years, and gives him a chance to put things in perspective over the mellow beat.



You can hear the realism and truthfulness from Common as he raps: “It's my life I live it up/The cup I gotta give it up/One day/I'm cruisin' down a one way street and I done passed fun day/Three blocks ago/It itself life is an obstacle/As I maneuver through the manure I try to be responsible/I want a job but I ain't lookin - how come?”

“I Used to Love H.E.R.” is my favorite track, and is easily the best track on the album. The track is genius in its use of metaphor and symbolism. On its face the track seemingly describes a lover's moral and spiritual decline, but it’s about much more than that. The track employs the use of an extended metaphor, with a woman representing hip-hop music itself. The acronym “H.E.R.” in fact stands for Hip Hop in its Essence and Real, so when spelled out the track really reads: "I Used to Love Hip Hop in its Essence and Real.”



On the track Common give us a history lesson into how hip-hop has changed and criticizes the direction that hip-hop was taking during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically he refers to the fall of conscious rap as well as the rising popularity of West Coast hip-hop and G-funk.

He also intelligently makes an analogy comparing the degradation of a woman with the deterioration of hip-hop music after its commercial success brought it into the mainstream. Common is able to convey his feelings so well through his lyrics as he raps: ”She said that the pro-black, was goin out of style/She said, afrocentricity, was of the past/So she got into R&B hip-house bass and jazz/Now black music is black music and it's all good/I wasn't salty, she was with the boys in the hood.”

The track boasts one of the best beats ever constructed, a simple yet sleek melody, and opens with some of Common’s best written lines: "I met this girl, when I was ten years old/And what I loved most she had so much soul/ She was old school, when I was just a shorty/ Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me."

“I Used to Love H.E.R.” perfectly epitomizes what Common is all about and is one reason why “Resurrection” is such a great album. One thing that makes Common stand out as such a unique MC is that he never tried to change who he is, or use an image to sell records and he proves it with his truthfulness and intelligence on this album.

It has a timeless quality about it, and to me it is on par with some of the other great albums of the early 90’s like “Illmatic”, by Nas, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”, by Wu-Tang Clan, and “Ready to Die”, by the Notorious B.I.G.". “Resurrection” is Common’s defining work, and is definitely a hip-hop classic.