Common searches for immortality on Finding Forever

By: Jeremy Kollie

Posted: 9/26/07

09/26/07 - People have searched for immortality for hundreds of years, since the days of Ponce De Leon and the Fountain of Youth; but that all too elusive goal always seems to be just out of reach. Now Chicago MC Common is making his own bid for immortality (albeit of a more musical sort) with his seventh studio album, Finding Forever.

Common, whose real name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., spoke on his sonic quest and was quoted as saying, "Finding Forever really means to find a place in music where you can exist forever. Music can be forever if you make it from the heart, if you make it from the soul and it's good … that's forever music."

Common waits to get things started, as the intro to the album is just a simple instrumentation that bears no resemblance to what the ensuing album has in store for the unexpecting listeners.

The intro then gives way to the ominous-sounding "Start The Show." Common takes advantage of the thumping kicks producer Kanye West provides, spewing barb-filled lines like, "With 12 monkeys on stage, it's hard to see who's a gorilla / You was better as a drug dealer."

The Grammy-nominated artist then ushers in some soulfulness with "The People." The track, which features Detroit crooner Dwele, displays the socially aware style of rhyming fans have come to appreciate from Common.

The consciousness continues with the Lily Allen assisted "Drivin' Me Wild" in which the rhymer formally known as Common Sense elaborates on people who chase all the wrong things in this world of ours.

The G.O.O.D Music artist and his Black Eye Peas cohort, Will.i.am, proceed to switch up the mood with the finger-snapping "I Want You." The love-note-styled selection features a remorseful Common, pleading with a lost lover to come back home.

Kanye West works his way back into the mix as he and Common deliver an ode to their side of Chicago, aptly titled "Southside." The track, which was meant for the Super Bowl XLI-bound Chicago Bears and originally titled "Southside Super Bowl," makes use of a mean-sounding guitar sample that paints a musical picture of Common's gritty home and allows him to state his lyrical dominance with lines like, "Back in '94, they called me Chi-town's Nas / Now them n****s know I'm one of Chi-town's gods."

The sharp rhymes keep coming on the album's first single, "The Game." This particular selection is ironic in the sense that West is obviously attempting to get that legendary Gang Starr-producer DJ Premier sound. And the only way to get those patented scratches featured on the track was to enlist the services of the illustrious Primo himself.

Common continues with his string of socially aware songs with the thought-provoking "U, Black Maybe." Here, Common speaks on the plight of his fellow African-Americans and people as a whole, even dedicating the last verse to speaking (not rapping) on the struggles people of color face.

The skilled rapper/actor gets his "Ladies Man" on with the next two tracks on the album, "So Far To Go" and "Break My Heart." The first, which was produced by the late Jay Dee, also known as J Dilla, features a coast-to-coast hopping Common who's dedicated to his woman … as long as he's in her city.

The second, which uses a George Duke sample, displays the often-forgotten slick talking element of Common's lyricism, with smooth rhymes like, "She said 'you know I don't be dating rappers' / I said I got my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card, baby I'm an actor."

The album begins to come to a close with the excellently written "Misunderstood." The Devo Springsteen-produced track, which features a vocal sample from popular jazz songstress Nina Simone, gives Common the perfect canvas to paint a picture of people forced into lifestyles that were never meant for them.

The album's close comes with the uplifting "Forever Begins." And, like all of Common's albums, this one features an empowering message from Common's father, former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie "Pops" Lynn that guarantees that souls will be stirred and thoughts stimulated.

The album does feature a bonus track, the 1970's soul sounding selection "Play Your Cards Right" that lives up the title as a bonus and rounds out the overall mood of Finding Forever.

While the album doesn't seem to show much progress in the formula that Common has made use of throughout his career, Common's recent debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 seems to prove that he's navigated his path well and Finding Forever might just be in reach.