First off, thanks for the reply, especially since I am sure this topic has been beaten to death. And of course I don't have a problem with your production as a general phenomena. I could go on and on about how I love it, how the beat on the remix is the least offensive part of the song, etc., but I'm not here to kiss ass. I'm here to make an argument.

>one more "can i borrow/ressur/it'll all"
>like record sales, and money
>wouldn't have had a career.

Yeah, this is kind of my point. Com has managed, through hard work and perserverence, to build a career, and you, ?uestlove, deserve no small thanks from him and his fans for helping to take him to the next level. What I'm scared of is that a move so blatantly commercial as this remix will erode the foundations of everything you've done.

>
>this is com's highest selling album
>yet. and album that was
>risky as fuck. ain't no
>"bling bling" on this album.
>ain't no "DANJA!!!!GET ON THA
>FLOOR!!!THE NIGGA RAT CHIA!!!" on
>this record..........

No argument there. This is why I love the Com, and why LWFC is my favorite Com album. But that doesn't mean the remix, which isn't on the album, is a good idea.

>so at the rate where money
>is still himself ("i used
>to love her's" music was
>soft jazz, not rza's fodder;
>and lines like "and i
>am about to ex-plo-o-o-ode!" where
>hardly things of freddie foxx
>dreams") i fail to see
>where you see com's career
>fuck up.

This is what I worry about:
1) Macy Gray is a terrible choice. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think the Macy Gray crowd is the crowd Common needs to reach to continue his career. I think I know half of the, what, 3 million people who've bought On How Life Is. To be blunt, they have it shelved between their Cracker and Joan Osbourne CDs in their room in the sorority house. They liked the single, but they ain't the types who are going to support black music, especially an intelligent, pro-black artist such as Com. So one isn't expanding Com's audience with her spot.

And I think there's a strong argument that could be made that Macy Gray alienates Com's base. Look, regardless what one thinks of Macy's artistry (and I'm ambivalent towards her personally), among the extended backpacker community (that you know Com sells most of his records to), Macy is regarded with suspicion. The general perception seems to be that she's a novelty act with a funny but safe voice that has taken Erykah's work, watered it down for mass consumption, and made a good living. How often do you hear any of her stuff on urban radio? Doesn't it make it all the more easier to tag Com a sell-out (or something equally repugnant to 17 year olds) for having worked with an artist 90 percent of the hip-hop community won't touch, especially in light of "The Light," a fabulous song that nonetheless has got people screaming soft in other circles? Hip-hop people love most of the traditional forms of selling out, but show them softness and you're done. Using Macy puts the remix in PM Dawn territory, which is not the place to be.

2) The video is wack. You know this better than I do: music matters to the soul, but packaging matters to the masses. Those 17 year olds are gonna see that video once and take it as what it is: a corny orgy of computer effects. I worry that they're turned off to Com from this point on.

I'm not a protector of Com's career, and he doesn't owe me a damn thing. It does seem to me, however, that if he wants to stay in this he'd do best not to let his label or whoever force a mismatched collaborator or a tacky video concept down his throat, especially now that he's got the spotlight. It's not like before "The Light." He's a marked man, and he's got a limited time to prove he belongs on the plateau he's reached before the industry pushes him back down. He can't afford to waste singles, and putting out wackness like this remix will nail his coffin shut.

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bshelly: practicing a gradual withdrawal since June 2000

"You won't see me, you won't SEEEEE me." --Dinosaur Jr.