Dec 20 2008
Common - 2008 - Universal Mind Control
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Hits: Gladiator, Inhale
Strikes: Universal Mind Control (ft Pharell, Punch Drunk Love (ft Kanye West), Sex For Sugar, What A World (ft Chester French), Everywhere
Balls: Make My Day (ft Cee-lo), Announcement (ft Pharell), Changes (ft Muhsinah)
New Common albums are usually a reason for celebration. I like to consider myself a pretty big fan of the man, and I loved everything he’s released (yes, I thought Electric Circus was a blast). Well, everything up until 2007’s Finding Forever. Common albums are usually automatic top 10 of the year material for me and I was surprised that while I liked Finding Forever, there were moments where I was actually bored. I wrote it off as a fluke and figured that by his next album, he’ll be back in top form. And then, he proved me wrong by dropping this steaming pile of shit.
Seriously, what the fuck is the man thinking? I mean, I’m all for artistic growth, and I appreciate when artists go towards new directions, but when that direction is in direct opposition to what that artist normally represents, that calls for a huge what the fuck moment. Thematically, this album plays like Common was listening to “Go” on repeat throughout when he was recording this. Which, wouldn’t be all that bad if he had his usually rhymes to back it up, but on most of these songs it’s like he completely forgot about the lyrics. Bad lyrics + generic topics always, always equals bad songs. Sex For Sugar is a prime example of this. Fuck it, I’ll go so far as to say, this is probably the single worst song Common has ever made in his career.
Well, even the worst albums usually have one or two redeeming songs in it, and in this case those songs are Gladiator and Inhale. Gladiator is the one song on this album that sees Common back to his usual self. As for Inhale, all I can say is it’s an enjoyable song, and it’s short, so it ends before you start thinking otherwise. Announcement and Changes are both honorable mentions but each screwed it up somehow. When Announcement first came on, it was great. There was so much energy and Common’s lyrics weren’t nearly as bad as they were on the rest of this album. And then, I hear Pharell’s verse and prayed that this song wouldn’t end with that. And then Common came back on for one more verse and the song ended with a shitty Common verse instead of a shitty ass Pharell one. Changes also came close to working pretty nicely, with its message that seemingly has no place at all in this album and its Panacea-esque beat. Besides, I’m a fan of Muhsinah. But unfortunately for all of us, Common just sounded really uninspired throughout and the end result was just alright.
Honestly, I never thought I would say this but, stay the hell away from this album. No beating around the bush, it sucks. I would say just download Gladiator and Inhale, and maybe check out the solid songs. As for the rest of the album, fuck it. Forget it ever happened. Now excuse me while I go drown out the memories of this shit by listening to Like Water For Chocolate a million times straight through.
