Thirty years ago, Common looked back ruefully at his favorite genre in “I Used to Love H.E.R.
,” his classic riff on hip-hop as a wayward ex-girlfriend. “She was really the realest before she got into showbiz,” he lamented. The couple patched things up after that, and Common grew from a prematurely scolding young man to a genial elder statesman, upholding what he sees as rap’s traditional values with a smile and a serious commitment to his craft.
It’s been a happy marriage, for the most part. Now, in 2024, he’s eager to renew his vows. Common has found rewarding grooves in the past by teaming up with producers who both share and expand his vision, whether that was No I.
D. on his early releases, J Dilla on 2000’s Soulquarian-era masterpiece Like Water for Chocolate , or a young Kanye West on 2005’s Be . His partner this time is Pete Rock , who did as much as anyone to formalize the qualities that sparked Common’s love affair with hip-hop back in the Nineties by producing canonically great songs like “They Reminisce Over You (T.
R.O.Y.
)” and Nas’ “The World Is Yours.” Pete Rock also produced Common’s 1996 single “The Bitch in Yoo,” a merciless attack on what the midwestern MC viewed as Ice Cube’s hypocrisy. It’s one of the coldest diss tracks ever made, and you’d have to imagine that the now-middle-aged guys behind it have lots of thoughts on the state of hip-hop today .
But you won’t find any of that contemptuous pride or shit-starting.
