Album Review: Common- Universal Mind Control

15 years ago view-show 434,709

common-cover1One of Hip-Hop’s last true saviors finally embarks with his eighth studio album, in hopes of gaining complete access to your brain. Lonnie “Common” Lynn Jr. has gone through more transformations than a Beverly Hills housewife married to a plastic surgeon; but his musical perspective has always stayed true to form. Now with Universal Mind Control (formerly Invincible Summer) on deck, the Chicagoan still exudes originality.

Besides his three-way tie with Eminem and Akon on Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings list for 2008, by pocketing 12 million, the culture’s most recognized vegan has his sights set on ending the year off on a positive note. Even though Universal Mind Control is under Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint, the most self-assured man in Hip-Hop didn’t produce any songs, and is only featured on one track.

The Neptunes and Mr. DJ handle the bulk of the production, as Common rides the beats as if he doesn’t want the trip to end. Songs like ‘Sex 4 Suga’ display the strip-down sound that the Neptunes first came in with, by not adding a lot of unwanted quirky effects while leaving the track as simple as possible.

Common conjures up Russell Crowe’s character of Maximus Decimus Meridius from Gladiator for his Hip-Hop version of ‘Gladiator,’ and continues the A.D. connection with lines like, “Had dreams of breaking Mike Vick outta jail/took the underground rail to the NFL.” Mr. Falsetto himself Pharrell joins in on ‘Announcement,’ but he chooses to use his God-given voice as they both feed off each other by incorporating quoted lines from other rappers into their material.

One of the standout tracks on the album is ‘Everywhere’ featuring Martina Topley-Bird. The sing-song vibe sounds like an extension of ‘Drivin’ Me Wild’ from Finding Forever, with Common mixing in old school rhyme patterns with up-to-date schemes.

The remainder of the project contains offerings like the slow and drawn out ‘Punch Drunk Love’ featuring Kanye West, the automatically happy feel of ‘Make My Day’ featuring Cee-Lo, and the positive intoxication of ‘Inhale.’ Common’s Universal Mind Control may not include the soulful sample-driven production of Kanye West, but this album is still another solid contribution with the lyricist from the windy city proving that it’s hip to be square.

Rating: 3.0

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