Sorry i had to start this thread in response to what Superb said in the "Mos Def Challenge" Thread about common being wack post Electric Circus.
I myself, haven't been able to get into a Common album since but my reasons are not because he is now wack.. I think Common is still rapping like he's always been rapping.
I just feel that Commons first five albums up until "Be" were well constructed. Similar in terms of how the production laid the foundation or mood for the entire albums. The albums felt like albums. You could describe how the beats sounded on "one day it will all make sense", "like water for chocolate", "Electric circus" etc.. The albums were well produced with each one offering a different slice of music than the others. And the way Common carried these albums felt, like he was the one who shaped them, by pairing himself with the right producers, musicians and vocalists.
Now to me "Be" and "Finding Forever" sound like common rhyming to bunch of beats that Kanye cooked. Felt more like follow (Common) the leader (Kanye West). These albums lacked any sonic identity. It was just random beats put together. Didnt even feel like Common was too involved in the direction of these projects... Which was much different to Common's first five albums in the sense that you could sonically describe the type of sound and feel of each project.
The Kanye era lost that. The albums don't sound like albums. There's no underlying theme, concept or mood to these albums. They sound more like a collection of songs. I listen to them like mixtapes... skip, skip, play, skip, skip, skip, play etc.
Please, no Cash like responses about how were mad that Common is making money now, when in actual fact "like water for chocolate (Pre Kanye)" is his 2nd highest selling project ahead of finding forever and 50k shy of "Be".
So sales wise Kanye didnt do much for him. Just popularized him a bit more, which was needed to jump start his movie ambitions.
