"Common's Like Water For Chocolate turns 20 (03.28.2020)"
I actually bought this album after really digging "The Light" which I only heard after buying The Source Presents: Hip Hop Hits, Vol. 4. I was still just getting into hip hop at the time and didn't have much exposure to non-commercial stuff.
In these early years of getting into everything I basically bought albums off of the strength of the radio singles and barely listened to the rest of the album. This album was no different. Now, normally this was the case because a lot of albums in that period of time were a few good tracks and a bunch of throwaway sold for $15, but with this album it was mainly due to me just not being ready for this sound (if that makes any sense).
Years later after getting more into conscious hip hop (The Roots, Talib, Mos, Common, aka how I got here) I revisited this album and while it was a slow grower it eventually became one of my favorites of all time.
Anybody else gonna give this one a spin today/this week? Favorite tracks? Where does this sit in your personal Common rankings?
1. "It’s his best album IMO" In response to Reply # 0
Fav. tracks: Thelonious, DooinIt, Nag Champa, The 6th Sense, Funky For You - I’ll take that as my first 5. But really, the whole album is quality. I don’t think there’s a song that I dislike. Top notch album in every regard.
2. "My introduction to Common. And yes, my favorite album of his" In response to Reply # 0
I remember The Light being shown on BET all the time. Didn't get the album until 2005 though. And it was like 'this is very dope' but it has grown on me tremendously over the past few years. The lyrics, the production, it's a classic ...only a couple tracks I usually skip.
Nag Champa, Thelonius, and A Song for Assata are flawless.
5. "Classic, no question." In response to Reply # 0
My hip-hop fandom trajectory seems sorta similar to yours, in that I was commercial hip-hop up until around 8th grade when a friend introduced me to The Roots and "Things Fall Apart".
I loved that album. So after that I started digging in the crates so to speak. I bought albums randomly at Newbury Comics, sort of off of feel alone. I was there one day freshman year in high school and bought Aceyalone's "Book of Human Language" and Common's "One Day It'll All Make Sense" just off a whim. I admittedly had seen Comm's video for "Retrospect for Life" a few months prior so I had some level of knowledge of who he was but I bought it without knowing anything about him outside of that video.
I loved it immediately, and spent most of my sophomore year eagerly anticipating LWFC because of the Roots/Common collaboration.
When I heard "The 6th Sense" a month or two before the album dropped my mind was fucking blown.
And when it dropped, I can remember the zone I was in listening to it. It's when Comm became my favorite MC. What an experience that album was from front to back. Sonically it's nearly peerless IMO.
I still prefer "One Day ..." lyrically I think, but as an overall listening experience LWFC is unmatched in Comm's discog IMO.
Where I rank it in his discog depends on the day. But One Day, Resurrection, and LWFC are top 3 no matter what, in any order. Be and EC are the next two, also in any order .. again it depends on the day. Then the rest.
Dooinit Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World) Cold Blooded 6th Sense Funky for You
Then: Time Travelin' Geto Heaven (both versions, can't choose) Thelonius
Whole album is fire. Only song I'm even some level of "meh" about is and was "The Questions" cuz despite the humor I felt it was a wasted song considering the talent involved. We deserved better from two of the best MCs of all time in both their respective primes. Song's fine but just kind of a letdown considering who was involved.
6. "Looking forward to the day it gets a reissue. *fingers crossed*" In response to Reply # 0
Prolly won’t get that treatment until its 25th, tho.
Yesterday, FWMJ commented on how loud the “F” word was on one of the songs (“Dooinit”). Quest just commented, “ lost the argument that day told him he’d regret it. Imma fix it on reissue tho”. Of course, talk is talk and this is in no way a solid confirmation OF what we’re hoping for, lol. But hey. Let’s put it in the atmosphere!
7. "For as much as I loved listening to that album when it came out" In response to Reply # 6
The use of that word threw me for a loop and took away from my enjoyment.
Not that it was alright but it was just a different time where there wasn't the social pressure to at least avoid using the word. Plus Common was younger and at an age where alot of men feel that their identity is built upon distancing themselves from gay culture. Thankfully he made up for it, at least to me, on EC.
But back to the album. It came out when I was in SF. I bought it probably from the Virgin Megastore (might have bought Black on Both Sides at the same time). My friends at the company I worked for were heads and so we talked about how dope that album was. I spent a lot of time walking around the city and overseas when I was on a trip listening to that album.
The production was so dope. And I liked how it had a boho-afrocentric theme throughout. A true masterpiece on all levels. I think it's his best album and still holds up today pretty well.
9. "Favorite Common album" In response to Reply # 0 Mon Mar-30-20 09:09 AM by Anonymous
The production is great from top to bottom.
Time Travelin’ is one of the best opening tracks on ANY album period.
The piano chop on Dooinit will forever get the ugly face.
The Light is his best commercial record.
The close of Funky For You with the beat reversed and Bilal screaming could’ve been a whole track lol.
The Sixth Sense is one of Primo’s Top 10 records imo.
The beat to Nag Champa could play for hours and I wouldn’t be tired of it.
Thelonius will always make my head nod.
Geto Heaven doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
Assata is a beautiful record.
My favorite Pops piece.
Only things I’ll nitpick are; Why...why...why doesn’t Thought ever get to spit a verse on a Common album???
The F word and overall homophobic lines definitely didn’t age well.
Yes, Mos Def was a wasted feature even if I do enjoy The Questions.
The interlude places before A Film Called Pimp and tacked on to the end of Sixth Sense forcing me to edit the track in order to put it on playlists is absolutely stupid.
I really didn’t need a Stolen Moments Pt 4 turning the concept into a joke.
13. "This is the absolute worst, and hardly the only offender in hip hop" In response to Reply # 9
>The interlude places before A Film Called Pimp and tacked on >to the end of Sixth Sense forcing me to edit the track in >order to put it on playlists is absolutely stupid.
14. "RE: Favorite Common album" In response to Reply # 9
>Geto Heaven doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
This is absolutely true - it now appears to me as a standout when, upon release, it was just sort of there. There was a remix w/Macy Gray that was really good (I should pull that out) -- and Comm, the Roots, and Macy performed a version of it live on Letterman or Leno. I went looking for it a year or two ago in a handful of VHS tapes I still have hanging around but couldn't find it.
>Yes, Mos Def was a wasted feature even if I do enjoy The >Questions.
I remember this complaint from its release, too, and I think the Questions is certainly on the weaker end of the album's best to worst list. It's essentially a feature-less album save SV on Thelonious -- which is a pretty hard sell now but wasn't much easier then, I don't think -- and Comm mostly pulls it off. But still would have loved to hear either Mos or BT on pretty much any of the tracks and could have done w/out The Questions just fine.
16. "RE: Favorite Common album" In response to Reply # 9
>Time Travelin’ is one of the best opening tracks on ANY >album period.
Agree.
>The close of Funky For You with the beat reversed and Bilal >screaming could’ve been a whole track lol.
Agree.
>The beat to Nag Champa could play for hours and I wouldn’t >be tired of it.
AGREE LOUDLY.
>Geto Heaven doesn’t get the credit it deserves. > >Assata is a beautiful record.
Agree.
>The interlude places before A Film Called Pimp and tacked on >to the end of Sixth Sense forcing me to edit the track in >order to put it on playlists is absolutely stupid.
AGREE.
>I really didn’t need a Stolen Moments Pt 4 turning the >concept into a joke.
Thanks for reminding me. This track should've been left off, no question about it.
Film and Questions I can live with. This track was a total waste and you're right, nearly ruined what was otherwise a really cool concept on the prior album.
10. "the light is one of those songs that really grabbed me" In response to Reply # 0
i would throw it into any mixtape i was making at the time lol not sure how long it took me to get the album. when i did it blew me away. i think its the album that made me "get" dilla. probably my favorite album at the time of hearing it and jumped common to my fav. i think i went back and listened to all his albums in reverse (one day, resurrection and then can i borrow a dollar).
i think its a top 20 or 10 album for me. one of those essential albums. it has aged well too. id say my favorite common album but he does have some other great ones that are right there.
15. "Between this and One Day... " In response to Reply # 0
I think both kind of had the same issue with sequencing, but both showed Com at his lyrical peak at different stages of growth as a man. The Com that wrote Hungry (still one of my favorites) was in a different place than the Com that wrote Nag Champa, but was still a very dangerous MC
<-- Dave Thomas knows what's up... __________________________
Jay: Look here homie, any nigga can get a hit record. This here is about respect. Game: Like Gladys Knight. Jay: Aretha Franklin. Game: Word, I like her too. Jay: Nigga...
20. "I let my friend borrow this album..." In response to Reply # 0
and he "lost it"…
Great album! My favorite of Com's, up there with Resurrection… One of those albums that after Dilla died, I realized how big of a fan I was of his production… Honestly hadn't paid enough attention to his production before then… Which sounds weird now, but at the time, I paid way more attention to the rhymes, the rapper and the beat (specifically), but not who produced it...
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