I agree was no doubt a great album that needed to be made...his flow remained tight on the album, but he def headed into another world with E.C....musically mostly, but lyrically as well...his subject matter changed a bit....and by no means am I sayin that is wrong, I loved it, but I can see where cats were upset by the album....I see your point mayne, but I also see why cats felt like he fell off....you gotta be a hardcore common fan to truly understand what he was going for on EC...tellin' these 28 29 year olds to dig EC is sumthin' they have a hard time doin'....the promotional company I worked for, my two supervisors, the CEO's....love common, grew up with him on soul by the pound, and to them when they heard EC they were Like WTF is this? this isnt the common I fell in love with...so that is why I also feel what they sayin'.....it shocked those common fans.