CommonPosts Tagged ‘Common’
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. In preparation for Universal Mind Control dropping tomorrow we give you the bonus track from the U.K. version of the album. In the remix, Common swaps out Kanye West for Pharrell and tweaks the overall beat and sound of the song. I’m leaning towards the album version myself, but this isn’t a bad one, especially for a bonus track. Enjoy and go get UMC tomorrow!
This article has been in the process of being written for a long time and I am glad to finally get to it. With the buildup and release of Kanye West’s latest album, 808’s & Heartbreak, I have read many things both critical and in support of the new direction he has decided to take with his career. I have frequently referred to this new style as “the formula”, meaning he uses most or all of these things on every song: more singing than rapping, a raw piano or synthesizer loop, deep heavy bass and of course the ever-present AutoTune on his voice. Some hardcore fans consider this huge straying from his past work as a slap in the face, while others see it as an artist’s progression and prerogative to explore. Although both of those arguments hold some truth, I think all we have to do is look at Kanye’s own words for answers. Click the break to read more.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Common releases a new track from Universal Mind Control where he teams up with Chester French. For those who don’t know, Chester French is a duo who met at Harvard and make electronic style pop music and are signed to Pharrell’s Star Trak label. Common keeps it real with the “Rapper’s Delight” type flow and blurs the boundaries further of pop/rock/rap/electronica etc. This is a rare track that is pushing rap in new directions while staying true to the old school.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. I was wondering what the hell was going on with Common’s new album, Universal Mind Control, and then I get hit up with this track today. I almost forgot what Kanye rapping sounded like until this track. When Common and ‘Ye team up their songs have always been crazy. “The Food” from Be (the song recorded on the Chapelle Show) was one of my favorites for a while and that whole album was executive produced by Mr. West. Also this is the first time that I remember them rhyming over someone else’s beat and not a Kanye track, but I could be wrong about that. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. The J Dilla produced original version of the song “Be” is released on the new DJ Eves’ mixtape Laced With Gems. You can tell this is a very early version because this one would not have sounded right on the rest of that album. This song is cool but I have to side with the original on this one, but it is never a bad thing to hear some new Dilla beats that I haven’t heard before.
Nardwuar’s interviews are the absolute best when it comes to music. If you can get past the whole character he plays you realize that his music knowledge is second to none. The records, props he brings out and questions are all on point. In almost every interview he brings up some obscure question to ask the individual that usually blows the artist away. Unfortunately a lot artists are turned off by the in your face enthusiasm of Nardwuar and not all interviews go so well. Check out his interviews with Jay-Z and Pharrell after the break and the link to his site, he really blows Pharrell away with his questions.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. No, I will not post every single Obama track that is surely to come across my computer over the next few weeks but I will try to give you the ones I think are the best. Like this one wouldn’t necessarily be considered an Obama song if you didn’t hear the child talking at the end and the subsequent Obama speech. This song sounds like any other quality Common song and that is definitely what I like most about it.
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