I'm sorry if I'm covering old ground, but does everybody still think the BE is the classic we were hailing it when it first came out?

IMO, yes it is - but there has been quite a lot of talk lately on other message boards and jus among people in general that a classic is judged by its influence over a length of time and how it changed the game when it dropped. People have also brought up the length of the album as a defining reason why it cannot be considered a classic (which is nonsense to me - Illmatic was only 30-40mins and nobody is disputing that as a classic).

Like I said, sorry if I'm covering old ground, I jus wana kno what OKPlayers think.

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I did not think so when it was released, but I listened to it all the way through yesterday and now I think it is a classic. It is very hard to get 40 min of enjoyment out of any album commercial or underground. Common did it with BE.

i needed to change my avy.

I've never consired BE as a classic and I still don't.
I like that album very much, but I think this album is a new direction of common, but therefore I wouldn't call it a classic.
A (hip hop) classic, for me, is a album which reflects the position of hip hop in a very significant way (in my opinion).
Look at 36 Chambers, Illmatic, The Big Picture, Doggystyle, Eternal Reflection, Things Fall Apart...
As is said, Be is a very nice piece of common and I like it, but it does not reach these "standards".
If it was a classic, you would not have to ask the question, whether this album "still" is a classic or not. Classcis, stay classics.


(constructive critism??)

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what standards do be not meet i think there isnt a single flaw on the album give it 5 years i bet itll be mentioned with the blackstars train of thoughts and things fall aparts

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For Real? I don't think so. If it is a classic, it has to be mentioned now and not in five years AND if it is not mentioned now, it is not a classic in my eyes.
I didn't say that the album is not good, but it's definitely no classic.
Just because the xxl magazine called it a classic, I don't call it one.
Like water for chocolate (and I think I'm the only one who thinks this way) is for me a classic.

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i feel u on that...Like Water for Chocolate is one the best albums ever made...because of it`s creativity & sequence...i think "BE"(in a way) is something that common is using to grab hold of more ears...it is a hot a** album...daym near a classic...but i think finding forever is gona out-do "BE"...

Favorite Common album hands down.
Classic album.

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we have a winner.

It was only a classic to Kanye's publicist.

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Who's fucking wit B More right now?

"Freedom is a Lie" - the animals

Not to take away from Com but...

anyone who calls an album a "classic" when it has only been out a year or two needs a lesson.

That word is so overused in hip-hop it just ain't even funny anymore. It has lost all value and meaning.

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"The white man sailed to Africa and saw the Black man laying in the bush with 12 women. As soon as the white man returned to America he created a law called Bigamy. Bigga-den-me." - Paul Mooney

.

good album, but it aint classic (atleast not yet)

- - - - -

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Nah, I don't really think it wuz a classic.. But it wuz a very good album and it shitted on alot of albums that dropped in '05

"Can't Knock the Hustle"

... that's my Ni&&A but... the true definition of A CLASSIC??? In a hop hop album?

It was a good one, strong work, showed a variety of quality and talent. But to label it the true "definition of a CLASSIC"... not really. Besides, 'TIME' and 'collective impact on the people' is what helps dictate a classic. Is it ONE OF THOSE ALBUMS... yes. Is it "Classic"... that's a lotta responsibility to meet a lotta requirements right there. I say no.

I mean, I'm eating off the joint, but it's not the historic level definition of classic. well, it's a classic to ME in the sense that I'm doing some real legendary personal shit as a result of it. LOL. Finding Forever here he comes.

That's it.

Brian 'B.Kyle' Atkins

nothing else has been fuckin with it since it dropped. that just IMO tho.

anyone who knows what hip hop is knows that this is one of the best albums DONE in the last 10 years. hands down.

Wow. That was some ridiculous mud slinging. You can't call something a classic after a year. It takes time. Like one of the above posters said people throw CLASSIC around too damned much. It's become synonomous with "something I like" and that's something I can't get behind.

Comm's gonna have one or more classic albums when we look back at his career. "Be" will always just be a really good disc.

people always wanna complain about the state of hip hop. how fucked up it is.


here we have one of the greatest lyricists dropping a (maybe not 'classic' at this point, but) great hip hop album and people are STILL not satisfied. whats the deal? people complain, but when great shit is made for hip hop, people STILL complain.


If its not a classic, then Be (AT LEAST) is one of the best hip hop albums to be released in YEARS. HANDS DOWN. no yelling-o.

we don't complain, we notice sth.
and nobody in here said, that this album ain't a great album.

+ I'm not yellin' about this "fucked up situation in hip hop", cuz I don't care...

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It's a good album. and 8/10.

I love Same Shit Different Day by Lyrics Born, it's one of my favorite albums. I don't go around telling everyone that if they don't think it's classic material then they have bad taste in music

Wack ass poster.

smh...

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is not good enough to atleast be arguably a classic. To some people it is, to some people it aint but this album is not bad enough to call niggas fanboys because they call it a classic....it aint electric circus, you know.

ask ppl in the lesson if they think its a classic and come back to me...

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most of them niggas dont even tell the truth about they music...they post with a political agenda in they shit...niggas will not call be a classic just because ye did most of the beats and they dont like him and some gay shit like that. all i'm saying is just because somebody thinks be is a classic does not make them a fan boy because is good enough to be hailed as classic. it's a matter of opinion if you call it a classic.

the general notion in the lesson is that its a good, but nto a classic album. alot of them say that it needs more time to be called a classic

who the fuck calls an album a classic Before it is released.

who did that?

Kanye did some whack bullshit on that album.

He can do infinitely better.

this album is not bad enough to say that it straight up should not be hailed as classic by anybody, but it may not be good enough to be hailed classic by everybody. To my musical taste, i may call it a classic, so get off my dick.

How can you dub an album a classic when its like a year old? To be a classic it kind of needs to, oh, i don't know...withstand the test of time...a year does not count as time. Whats even worse is classifying something as a classic and then being curious a year after if its still a classic. God damn this culture is disposable.

"Perfection is not attained when you can't add anymore, perfection is attained when you can't take anymore away."

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The words great and classics are very overused nowdays.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of 'testify' - don't think it has much lasting power and in 3/4 years, eyebrows will be raised about this songs position in the album.

Only time will tell. I remember in the late 90's, music articles were talking about the influence of 90's music on pop culture and the decade wasn't even over yet. Be is and was the most played album in my CD player and will continue to be in the next 10 years. Classic...not yet.

A thug changes, love changes and best friends become strangers - Nas

I think you understood what I was asking. My mind is made up on the subject - it is a straight up classic. I was asking what the general consensus is, because there is no defining answer.

And after what time frame is it acceptable to consider something classic? Is there a criteria here? Are we talking a hall of fame type deal where we can only consider something classic after it's been out 5 years? I agree to a certain extent that it has to withstand the test of time, but music is also about how it makes you feel in the present not the future.

Oh and High Chief - I agree with you about Like Water For Chocolate

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There is no time frame, no criteria, and there should not be. Something becomes classic because it leaves a lasting impact on what follows it. Example The Clash's self titled cd is a classic because it became an archetype for a sound. In 5 years if we look back and realize that commons BE became an archetype for the sound of hiphop of the current time then I will say its a classic. I'm not nessiciarly saying that we'll know in 5 years or 10 years but we'll know in the future.

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I feel it takes time to be a classic. People just say classic all the time because that's the highest standard in rating an album. The Source, 5 Mics. But if you just give an album a letter grade or stars then you can distance yourself from that word a little bit and let time determine if something is classic. I listen to songs from "Illmatic" at least once a week and it still sounds like the album came out yesterday. Classics are timeless. Now Do I think "BE" has the potential to be classic? Yes. I listened to it Thursday and it sounded hella good. I love the album. It's GOOD MUSIC, from the soul.

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Your right. And so were the other opinions given.

I think it was def a solid album but in time you can say it was a classic

Never thought it was but I love the album.

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Still the best release of any type of music from last year. Just listened to it again today--hadn't in a couple of weeks--and it sounded as fresh as when I picked it up the day it was released in Chicago...on the way to Wrigley Field. Now *that* was a good day.

Classic album ...no, great album with classic tracks... well thats another story, I watched the Be video again today, get back to the realness... Common is one of few emcees who can take a slow delivery and freak it B-Boy, he does it here, and continues to prove he can hold his own sittin in a pocket, an not flexing his muscles... I love Common,

"Something different then them hollaring grunting..."

didnt lil Jon hollar and grunt alot???

show up to top BE

I love it!

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i dont think it is or will ever be a classic, a collection of great tracks and at times awesome but somewhat tarnished by "Testify" which for mine is by far my least favourite track from common. im not sure if kanye produced that one but im gonna blame it on him anyway. a great album is a title that can be given pretty quickly a classic has to be listen to in 5 to 10 years time and still be rockin. i reckon electric circus of any of coms album will become his seminal album and is easily my favourite of his.

Lol Kanye did produce it, I actually quite like that track although it is probably the weakest on the album. It doesn't make sense to me either - at the end when the twist is revealed:

The court awaited as the foreman got the verdict from the bailiff
Emotional outbursts tears and smeared makeup
He stated, he was guilty on all charges
She's shaking like she took it the hardest
A spin artist, she brought her face up laughing
That's when the prosecutor realized what happened
All that speaking her mind testifying and crying
When this bitch did the crime- the queenpin...

Why doesn't dude on trial just appeal?

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But LWFC is!

®

People keep referring to people that said this but I never heard anyone saying it was a classic, just that it was dope solid album that was a good move for him sonically. That's all, dope shit, but no classic.

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XXL said it was a classic.

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LOL!!!

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I STILL listen to it constantly

I might skip over a few songs here and there.. but I will end up coming back to this album. This is definetly one of his bests..

common is one of my favorite rappers, so get it twisted but that jawn wasn't no classic, a great album, MAYBE near classic, and that's pushing it. Like someone said, classic albums are those once in a lifetime albums, not everything is a classic, niggas be sayin that too much.

And i think Resurrection>>>OneDay>>>BE>>>LWFC.

Why? Lyrically he was better on resurrection and one day than all his albums, production on LWFC was amazing, however i thought Common wasn't really rocking on the mike like he used, it sounded like an evolved slum village album, honestly, which is fine but Com is a lyrical beast and comparably he was better on one day and resurrection lyrically than any other album. I like BE better than LWFC because......well i like him better lyrically on BE, i like the feel of the album, i do think LWFC was a more ambitious album and was real good, however i just wasn't feelin it like that as oppossed to BE.

"The white man sailed to Africa and saw the Black man laying in the bush with 12 women. As soon as the white man returned to America he created a law called Bigamy. Bigga-den-me." - Paul Mooney

You all need ta let go of da word clazzik cauze you all throw dat word around like it waz a pebble at da beach.

Peace & Pizza Greaze!

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*Taking it back*

Nope. Ok. But not classic.

... it just took the rest of the world like ten years to wake up and listen!

course

I do it for the children.

my top 10 favorite albums...

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Make that two OKP's dog, i'm with you on that one. I love anyone that takes a chance with their music. that's my shit

I love that album

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people need to stop tripping. Its not bad but classic? fuck that

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People could have multiple classics