Like Water For Chocolate [PA] - Common

...so long to listen to Like Water For Chocolate which is regarded as one of his best releases. With a combination of the "hip-hop Julius Erving" ?uestlove and the rest of the Soulquarians producing this album and Common's tight, powerful lyricism, this CD still has enough heat and soul to send a heatwave through Hell while making Lucifer do a two-step. A perfect example of this would be the Premo-produced first single "The Sixth Sense" ...
...N*gga'...you better goin' to God like Mase did" over a melodious production by Jay Dee, even though the Slum Village appearance makes this song sound almost mediocre. Still "Thelonius" is only the night that quiets the fiery passion of "Dooinit" where Common claims to "X' cats like a Muslim" and rails against the softness of commercial rap music.

This isn't all that Common talks about on this album, ... more

My friends were telling me about Common for years now, but for some reason I never bothered to actually listen until the other week when I was in the sales and picked up this little gem...

Before the phenomenon of Kanye West brought Chigago-town such love and recognition that hadn't been seen on a national stage ever since Jumpman stopped wearing the red and white jerseys and put up the Nikes (we're ignoring the failed experiment over in D.C.), this city elicited little attention. We had the horrible sports teams, the old-as-dust reputation of being a mobster's town, and even worse, to the eyes of the masses, we had nothing musically coming from here. Twista? Please, a quasi-local talent who tried to sell on his fast-delivery gimmick. Do or Die? Crucial Conflict? Who? Exactly, my point. Even a great talent such as Lonnie Lynn a.k.a. Common couldn't put the sense into the mainstream to follow him (much less, people in this city). Instead, they paid way more attention to the new Jigga, the new Nelly, the new Diddy albums as if they were God's gifts to mankind.

However, I will admit I played the role of a narcoleptic and also slept on Common. That's why it's took me so long to listen to Like Water For Chocolate which is regarded as one of his best releases. With a combination of the "hip-hop Julius Erving" ?uestlove and the rest of the Soulquarians producing this album and Common's tight, powerful lyricism, this CD still has enough heat and soul to send a heatwave through Hell while making Lucifer do a two-step. A perfect example of this would be the Premo-produced first single "The Sixth Sense" where a plethora of quotable lines is emitted over a head-nodding scaled-piano/drum-loop soundscape that is sprinkled nicely with DJ cuts. Another could be the smooth groove-heavy "Thelonius" where Common spits hot lyrics such as "I 'Trick Daddy' emcees and I don't know 'Nann N*gga'...you better goin' to God like Mase did" over a melodious production by Jay Dee, even though the Slum Village appearance makes this song sound almost mediocre. Still "Thelonius" is only the night that quiets the fiery passion of "Dooinit" where Common claims to "X' cats like a Muslim" and rails against the softness of commercial rap music.

This isn't all that Common talks about on this album, however. Otherwise, cats would sleep on him even worse if he only talked about tissue-paper commercial emcees and dissed imaginary persons. Then again, most people I know slept on him because of the dude's image. Just because he wasn't reciting nursery rhymes or playing the sensitive thug routine, most thought he was too high-minded to appeal to us regular-day folk. Well, Common blasts holes in those ideas with "The Questions" and "A Film Called (Pimp)". With the help of Mos Def, he asks more relevant questions than a wannabe-relevant thug rapper could ever conceive while running through the stereotypes presented of him ("If I'm an intellectual, does that mean I can't be sexual?/If I want to uhh tah uhh does that mean I lack respect for you?). And on the latter, he makes fun of what people believe him with the assistance of MC Lyte who sounds more believable as a fake-pimpette than her real-world male counterparts ("I get six hundred off yo' skinny a*s weekly/You'll get all them righteous h*es in that dashiki"...Speak of empowering females).

The female. The one without life is not complete. James Brown once said "it's a man's world, but it would be nothing without a woman hardly there" or words to that effect. It is not surprising that Common's best songs on this album have to do or are dedicated to women. Whether getting revenge on dudes who "even got Jordan for his ice" and jacked his grandmother on the storytelling mini-epic "Payback is a Grandmother" or dedicating the intro on this album to a deceased soul singer, it's obvious that Common has only love for the female form. On the beautiful-sounding (word to Jay Dee once again) second single from this album "The Light", it's amazing how much respect he has for his girl. Not just lustin' like most of us confuse for love, but realizing that "it don't take a whole day to recognize sunshine". He already gets props from me for saying that he'll "never call you my b*tch or even my boo." If more of us thought like that, the world would be a better place. If not, at least, our females would be more respected.

It's only right that Common "ends" this album with the ultimate show of respect to a female who persevered through predicaments that would've killed lesser women (and men also). His tribute to a woman that's named Assata while noticing the hypocrisy of our dear ol' country ("I often wonder what would happen if that woulda been me?/All of this sh*t so we could be free"). I have no clue what about this song touches me the most, though. Is it Cee-Lo's inspirational singing of the chorus blessing Assata's pride and power? Is it Jay Dee's understated yet elegant production? Or is it just Common's descriptions of a lady who only could envision freedom because she never lived it? I just know with the last lyrics of the song - "And even to this day they try to get to her/But she's free with political asylum in Cuba"- it becomes astounding thinking about what the US will do to people in order to protect its ideals of "freedom"...and the irony of someone finding "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" in a Communist country.

Like Water For Chocolate. Arguably, one of Common's best albums. Even though some people slept on the sense that he spitted on this CD, it is still a remarkable achievement. I'm just amazed that I overlooked an album of this calibre. Guess you could say I took an overlong nap and finally woke up. Nevertheless, Common has created a near-classic with this album and one can only hope that his new release can even come close to the greatness of this one. If not, we'll always have this one moment to show that Chicago hip-hop doesn't end, begin, or revolve around the aforementioned Kanye West.

Though provoking and honest - highly recommended!!!! 

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