Thursday 15 December 2011

COMMON - THE DREAMER THE BELIEVER

COMMON
THE DREAMER / THE BELIEVER
2011

1. The Dreamer ft. Maya Angelou
First track of the album and already Common
proves his worth and ability to turn tracks into
something more. The beat isn't all that but 
Common's verses and flow really do lift this.
The hook isn't bad either. Not truly feeling the 
outro with Maya, i tend to skip her. 4.5/5
2. Ghetto Dreams ft. Nas
The end of The Believer does transition smoothly
into this sick collabo track with good 'ol Nasty Nas.
They both come correct and it's refreshing to
have these two together. As for the track itself, as
dope as it is, it could've been more since the
beat is wearing it down for me. 4.5/5
3. Blue Sky
Now this is sick and Common at his best. Who else
can make your head bump with just his verses 
when the beat doesn't even have a single snare!
(prolly a lot could do this of course, but i'm talking
about Common). First time i heard it i was waiting
for something to drop but the fact it didn't made it
even better. Crazy verses and a sick hook. 5/5
4. Sweet
First single and video and man does this deliver.
This made me more eager to get the album. 
Awesome beat and sick lyrics and delivery. 
A ram Common is what we need. 5/5
5. Gold
Musically this beat is bananas. It lifts the fairly 
simple drums to something much higher. 
Add a great hook and again Common coming 
through and it truly is gold. King Midas. 5/5
6. Lovin I Lost
Fuckin hell...you can't go wrong with this sample
but to make it this fantastic and have Common
flowin over it like he does is...pfeew 5/5 
7. Raw (How You Like It)
This sounds like an ol skool Busta track but not
one i'm feelin as much. Not a fan of the melodies
and Common sounds like back in the day when
i didn't like him. I can still appreciate though. 3.5/5
8. Cloth
Smooth laid-back track. Nice lyrics and a soft hook
that's not really inviting but still a really nice cut. 4/5
9. Celebrate
His latest video and it is what it is. A little too happy
for me perhaps but can't front. Its great. 4.5/5
10. Windows
Wouldn't call this up my alley, but for some reason
i'm kinda hooked. The combination of the drums,
Common's lyrics and the vibey hook? 
And the musical outro to this is sick. I loves. 5/5
11. The Believer ft. John Legend
Seriously not a fan of John Legend's hook here nor
the poppy beat. Sounds like an uptempo Eurovision
song with a rap over it. But yet, the song is sick. 4/5
12. Pops Belief
Nice little outro, but don't want to here this 
over and over as i'm bumping this album. 

Real quality Hip-Hop is still here. This year brought
a lot of such releases with J. Cole, Black And Brown, 
Phonte, 9th Wonder, etc, and last but not least 
Cappadonna & The Roots (who get my vote). 
This album comes close to them but I feel the lasting
appeal is not quite the same. Still, that's personal
and doesn't matter here. Point is, this is classic
material once again from the one and only. 
Not sure yet where this rates amongst his 
other albums but Common never dissapoints.
Overall Score: 9.3/10



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