With the universally praised and commercially successful Be, Chicago’s pre-eminent emcee proved you can ship platinum with socially incisive commentary delivered with a bohemian shtick. So expectations for Finding Forever were for another career breakthrough, the laying down of a blueprint, sort of a Seven Habits of Highly Effective Emcees for fellow lyrical griots like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch and The Roots’ Black Thought to employ. Well, it’s not that.
It lacks Like Water For Chocolate’s grittiness and the classical eclecticism of Electric Circus. What Finding Forever is is a frustratingly uneven album that ping-pongs between Common’s multiple personas: braggart, social architect, Gap model, actor, full-fledged celebrity. “Start the Show” is the type of song you want Common to fill an entire album with. “Ladies and gentlemen/The C-O-double-M-O-N/ Synonym for fresh, truth is the emb-le-m/Hardcore since I was next door to Clem and them/Cold as the winter wind/Fake niggas is shivering.”
Those eargasmic moments are few and far between. Some of the blame rests on fellow Chicagoan/superproducer Kanye West’s broad shoulders. Invoking the spirit of deceased producer/emcee J-Dilla was ambitious, but West can’t quite tap into the Detroiter’s old-school-meets-neo-soul spirit. This makes for odd contributions like “I Want You” (too John Legend-ish), “So Far to Go” (a weak version of the Mary J. Blige-assisted “Come Close to Me”) and “Break My Heart” (lazy lyrics, lazier premise about not breaking a woman’s heart).
Tucked under a bushel for most of the album, Common’s nonpareil gifts as a storyteller do emerge in spurts. “Misunderstood” is Common at his reportorial best, and “Forever Begins” offers insightful commentary on how he sees himself in the human story: “For now I write the world letters to better the young.” Master craftsman that he is, hopefully Common will put his next album together with more care.
COMMON
Finding Forever
** 1/2