Common - Finding Forever

Label: Geffen
Rating: 3 Guns

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On his seventh album, Common continues to show why he is an "uncommon" rapper by rapping with a social conscience.

“Drivin’ Me Wild” (featuring Lily Allen) is a standout track. When a song starts off “It's this thing now, that's drivin' me wild” you know it’s going to be interesting, especially when Common describes his own girl as “drivin’ herself crazy like the astronaut lady”. Listening to the story Common sings about, this girl has problems. She's out chasing actors, a player for the Clippers (I can’t be mad at that, I love the Clippers) and “doin’ all she can for a man and a baby."

-Really Common should have been done with this girl two verses ago, but “I guess we all been through it where we try too much/Losin yourself and you're lyin’ and stuff”.

What does love do to us?

“I Want You” delves into this subject. Common speaks so honestly about how much he misses the woman he loved and the emotions on display are so raw. As a woman it is refreshing to hear a man speak the way Common does. He talks about how connected they were comparing them to “two birds that were able to fly” and their love was “made before we were born.” A line that really struck me is “I spent many years trying to be the heartthrob/I guess it's only right that I got my heart robbed." Again, as a women you never really hear a man talk like that. I really feel Common when he sings “But I say, girl you changed my forever/Relationships they can be as strange as the weather/Rain or sun we can sing this together.” If you have ever been in love and I mean really in love- this is the truest statement that can ever be made.

“Start The Show” Common calls out “thug rappers” and says that “Many have come but few have been chose to be a true MC/You sing along wit it, inside you knowin it's wack.” With Kanye West on the track you know that two Chicago natives had to close with “And you say Chi-City, let's go Chicago!"

Common is one of the few rappers who can be called a true MC. His flow, wordplay and intelligence is proof when the rest of the industry is still braggin’ about their bling.