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First of all, Mos Def's BOBS is MUCH, MUCH better than LWFC. So, comparing it to BOBS isn't going to do LWFC any justice. As if BOBS was some fly by night wack album that LWFC should easily outperform, don't sleep, it was dope as hell.
There were a lot of hip hop heads who really didn't like how LWFC incorporated so much R&B and smoothed out jazz flavors into it. Some may disagree, but you cannot deny public perception. The perception among hip hop heads is that the album comes a little too soft and smooth. And you can criticize their taste all you want, but they're the consumer. So if you're trying to go platinum, you gotta address the perception issue. If you're not trying to sell a million copies, then do yo' thang and don't look back.
Hip Hop heads wanted more straight up hip hop with Common flowin' and spittin' lyrics the way only Common can. Common is 100% hip hop. Common's core base are the hardcore hip hop heads who will buy a Common album without hearing anything on it first. But word of mouth is so powerful. If you hear your other homies that you know are true hip hop heads saying the album is too R&B-ish, then they're gonna trust the opinion of their homie.
They're also gonna feel let down becuz they've always expected Com to come with the real. No sales and chart reaching, the real. Beats and rhymes, knowledge and flowin', the whole hip hop aura is what they want. They are hip hop, so that's what they want. An artist always run the risk of losing their core base if they try to attract listeners from other genres or mainstream "whatever's hot right now listeners". But Hip hop won't be so forgiving and understanding.
Hip hop heads don't want to hear D'Angelo or the Roots when they buy a Common album, they want Common and that 100% B-boy hip hop style he has. That doesn't mean they don't like D'Angelo or The Roots, it's just that they like them all as they are individually. It's also not that they're against incorporating A LITTLE R&B flavor into the album, as evidenced by the fact that One Day had cuts with Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Chantay Savage.
They all had some R&B flavor, but no one screamed about too much R&B on One Day. Even though those sistas sang the hooks on those songs, the songs still maintained a hip hop aura and flavor to them. There was also enough hard beats and dope cuts on the album to keep a balance, LWFC does not maintain that balance. Once you get past nodding to "Dooinit", it seems like all the real just deflates from the album. Not that the rest of the songs are bad, but no more of the real.
I understand Com needs to get him money on like everybody else, but changing your style a little too much to go after the sales and the charts can alienate your true fan base. Hip hop is a rebellious genre that can also be quite unforgiving when one they've regarded as a pioneer of the true art form show signs of abandoning it and going after the attention of the mainstream. It's a very thin line, ask Big Daddy Kane, he crossed it and it ain't been the same since.
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