Common Like Water For Chocolate

Posted on 03.28.2000

Common
Album: Like Water For Chocolate
Release Date: March 28, 2000
Label: Mca

Review:

How can such a self-righteous rapper be so much fun to hear? Common, like so many carrying the banner for alternative hip-hop, casts himself as the enemy of all things commercial ("That jiggy shit is over / The war is on, I only wanna be a soldier / I’m holdin’ on to a culture"), yet he also insists on getting paid. Like Water for Chocolate is full of such contradictions: while often exciting, Common also maddens with his casual homophobia and sneers at those he sees as lesser artists.
He doesn’t lack a sense of humor, though, as witnessed by the likes of "A Film Called (Pimp)" (featuring MC Lyte) and titles such as "Payback Is a Grandmother." The latter track is something of a conceptual coup, expanding Common’s pro-family message into the realm of a cinematic revenge fantasy against some thugs who rob one of his relatives. Such displays of imagination—and the thick, layered funk throughout—ultimately make this a superbly playable disc. —Rickey Wright

Track Listing:
1. Time Travelin’ (A Tribute to Fela)
2. Heat
3. Cold Blooded - Black Thought
4. Dooinit
5. Light
6. Funky for You
7. Question
8. Time Travelin’ Reprise
9. 6th Sense
10. Film Called (Pimp)
11. Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World)
12. Thelonius
13. Payback Is a Grandmother
14. Geto Heaven, Pt. 2
15. Song For Assata, A - (featuring Cee-Lo)
16. Pops Rap III...All My Children