Post by -ƒℓλт- on Apr 6, 2007 3:24:02 GMT
I will do a track-by-track review...with full explanations and my thoughts of it. (As I previously said before on the Mos Def review)
Artist:[/u] Common
Album Name:[/u] Like Water For Chocolate
Runtime:[/u] 77 Minutes (1 hour and 17 minutes)
Tracklisting:
1.) Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela) [6:37]
2.) Heat [3:41]
3.) Cold Blooded [4:58]
4.) Dooinit [3:37]
5.) The Light [4:21]
6.) Funky For You [5:55]
7.) The Question [4:09]
8.) Time Travelin' Reprise [1:33]
9.) The 6th Sense [5:19]
10.) A Film Called (Pimp) [6:05]
11.) Nag Champa (Afrodesiac For The World) [5:10]
12.) Thelonius (ft. Elzhi of Slum Village) [4:41]
13.) Payback Is A Grandmother [4:30]
14.) Ghetto Heaven (Part 2) [5:18]
15.) A Song For Assata (ft. Cee-Lo) [6:48]
16.) Pops Rap III: All My Children [5:09]
1 -- Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)
Nice jazzy song. Beginning starts out with African tongues (singing) by a woman, which in my mind is the tribute to this Fela woman. Later on, the beat begins to drop with some jazzy saxophone tunes, and relaxing drum reverbs. Common begins rapping, but in a weird voice because of vocal editing. He raps about what he used to do, and what he does now, hence the name "Time Travelin." It goes on for a whole 6 minutes with this. Just the beat and vocals, barely any rapping at all. It's a nice opening track though because of that, very relaxing with the instrumental and effects used. Something to chill with until the next song begins. Overall it was a decent opener, nothing too great. (2/5)
2 -- Heat
A cool track. A lyrical track, droppin' some heat. Common ain't that type of rapper though, but I guess he wanted to try and drop a hard track. Lyrics are very complex though, his flow is different from any other rapper i've ever heard. Production is decent, nothing too special. He shouldn't have made this an opener track though. It was aight, but nothing special. Common ain't this type of rapper, and it didn't suit him very well. (2/5)
3 -- Cold Blooded
Production is deep and gloomy. This track is really vibe-friendly. Has you thinkin' a lot. Common drops knowledge about himself and the industry, how it's cold blooded. He disses a couple people, and tells truths that people don't know about life and anything else that's on his mind and his purpose for rapping. Overall decent track. I liked it, just not as much as the next tracks to come. But don't sleep on this album yet, it gets good later on. (3/5)
4 -- Dooinit
Here goes a good track
. Very soulful and inspiring with the lyrics and the point he makes. He delivers a nice flow in this one, and the point he makes is to stop being scared of doing what you gotta do, and do what you gotta do. Nice scratches in the hook with him saying "doin it" and it gettin scratched up. He goes on some true talk shit about things he did and how he accomplished things. He talks about himself now and compares himself to the other people that are scared to do what they want to do. He talks about how he'll bitch slap someone for talking greasy on him, because in order to get by, sometimes you gotta go through it with aggression. That's how you go about "doin it" ;-). (4/5)
5 -- The Light (CLASSIC!)
This is a REALLY classic track. If you talk to any real hip hop head about this track, they'll surely have knowledge about it and talk good about it. It's a love song about him and another woman. Fictional, of course, but it's a story kind of song. This is one of my favorites on the album. If you listen to his lyrics about how he approaches this woman, you might get a few pointers for yourself. He raps about how men need to be more respectful of women, because they give birth and life to everyone. Really good love track, guaranteed to make your girl happy. Nice scratches towards the end.(5/5)
6 -- Funky For You
This'll put you in high spirits and bobbin' your head. Really iLL soul track. Don't need to know about what he rhymes about, the concept is to make you bob your head. Well, he raps about how he came up with funk and all that. He says as long as it's funky, it's all good cuz that's what he grew up on. Really good effects and recording ideas were effective and worked nicely. Overall decent track. I liked it a lot cuz I could vibe to this when i'm listenin' and sing along to it. Beat changes near the end with a guy singing. Good track. (4/5)
7 -- The Question
Laid back track, production is for vibin' along. He raps in question form, kinda like the 50 Cent song "21 Questions." He asks a whole lot of questions, and if you listen to what he says, it makes you wonder about certain questions. I liked it because it had a creative feel. Big ups on this track, i felt the production and the "questions"...not so much the lyrics lol since it was in question form. (5/5)
8 -- Time Travelin' Reprise
The same as the intro, just putting it back in. The tracks after this tend to be really good. It's a good interlude to wake you up. They're traveling from the past to the present after this. (3/5)
9 -- The 6th Sense
His lyrics switched up and now he's in the present. The 6th Sense meaning "Common Sense" (his full rap name), so he's the 6th sense. Production is EXCELLENT. This song is another classic that I used to listen to when I was younger. This is a good hip hop track, because he's showing off what a real hip hop song is about. The scratches in the hook are really good. Influential lyrics (as usual when dealing with Common). Common is about exposing the gimmicks and fake shit the people offer in this world, and he did excellent with that in this. He compares the past to the present in this. This leads up to the next track, with sound effects and talking. It's about a pimp and a hoe. He's comparing the past to present, and dissing the mainstream in general with how they disrespect women. (5/5)
10 -- A Film Called (Pimp)
From the last track, it slowly fades through into this song. He describes women, and talks how it's so easy to get a woman nowadays. He's in the perspective of a pimp, and to a woman about the luxuries of having a pimp. She raps also and tries hard to deny him. Really creative track about a pimp TRYING to pimp, but she keeps denying him and talking back to him. Find out what happens by listenin' to the track, I don't want to ruin it. Really nice track here and exposes the truths about this "pimp system" going on nowadays. (4/5)
11 -- Nag Champa (Afrodesiac For The World) [My favorite track on album!]
I love this song with a passion. If you're ever in a down mood, listen to this song to kick you back into gear. He exposes the truths of the world, and he gets into it in full detail, like talking about his last album cover. Production is for vibin' and is really laid back and mellow. He disses the people who rap about guns, drugs, and bitches and says how he's amongst that and doesn't need to rap about that type of stuff. As long as he gets down to Earth with his fans, that's all he cares about. He doesn't care about attracting the fans. A VERY nice track right here. Shit is beautiful and is a must-have track in your library, guaranteed. (5/5)
12 -- Thelonius (ft. Elzhi of Slum Village)
Nice collaboration track. Elzhi came real nice on this track. No need for an explanation here, they rap and drop knowledge about how they are the type not to be messed with. Elzhi has always come nice in anything I have heard from him. Everything is good about this track, good shit to have you bobbin' and recitin' lyrics for days. (4/5)
13 -- Payback Is A Grandmother
At the end of the Thelonius track, Common's grandmother gets on the phone and calls Common and says somebody robbed her. It's a story track, and he raps about how he gets the robbers back and why they robbed his grandma in the first place. Really iLL track, the scratches are hot on the hook. Nice ass track, and I felt the production and the story. (5/5)
14 -- Ghetto Heaven (Part 2)
Soulful shit right here about his thoughts. He raps about all the things he did, and if there really is a ghetto heaven up there. Philosophical type of track about his thoughts. He raps about his life and what he thinks will happen when he dies. It's also in a type of story mode talking about another guy too. Really deep track and it makes you think, ya know? Good stuff right here, production is beautiful. Lyrics are great, with the story concept and all. (5/5)
15 -- A Song For Assata (ft. Cee-Lo)
High spirit song, soulful type shit. I like these kinds of songs, and I don't know who Assata is
. After hearing the lyrics, he raps about this woman in the Black Panthers and she got shot for no reason, but because of her skin color. He raps about all the Black Panther problems, and he makes up some stories too about how bad it was back then. Cee-Lo on the track. Beautiful track to make you realize things that you might've done in your life that could've dealt with shit like this or similar. He exposes the truth about the law and how people don't do anything, but fight for their lives and end up getting broken. Great inspiring track right here. (5/5)
16 -- Pops Rap III: All My Children
I believe this might be Common's father, but who knows. He doesn't rap at all, but raps about all the children he had, including Common. You can tell Common got his ideas and beliefs from this great man, because of the way his mind works and the way he presents himself talking to the children. Nice stuff here on how Common grew up. I don't think it's his father, but it might be lol. Nice ending here to have you believing different and looking at life differently. (5/5)
OVERALL:[/u][/size] It was a decent album with a lot of philosophical tracks. It had a feel of going from hype in the beginning, to slowing it down near the end with some soulful tracks. The contrast was great though, and the stories he presented made lots of sense and weren't jumbled around with a bunch of words here and there. The album was consistent with it's purpose, because take a look at the cover. It's about the struggles of the black people and how Common himself came up, meaning any other black man/woman can do the same. Great concepts and ideas in this track and production was wonderful. All of this into one gave this album a rating of 83% out of 100%![/size]
4andhalfstars.png
This album was satisfactory and was just great. Beginning started off kind of rocky, but led up to a great ending. A "crescendo" you can compare it to. Take a listen to this album, most definitely.
P`z and thank you for your time.
Artist:[/u] Common
Album Name:[/u] Like Water For Chocolate
Runtime:[/u] 77 Minutes (1 hour and 17 minutes)
Tracklisting:
1.) Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela) [6:37]
2.) Heat [3:41]
3.) Cold Blooded [4:58]
4.) Dooinit [3:37]
5.) The Light [4:21]
6.) Funky For You [5:55]
7.) The Question [4:09]
8.) Time Travelin' Reprise [1:33]
9.) The 6th Sense [5:19]
10.) A Film Called (Pimp) [6:05]
11.) Nag Champa (Afrodesiac For The World) [5:10]
12.) Thelonius (ft. Elzhi of Slum Village) [4:41]
13.) Payback Is A Grandmother [4:30]
14.) Ghetto Heaven (Part 2) [5:18]
15.) A Song For Assata (ft. Cee-Lo) [6:48]
16.) Pops Rap III: All My Children [5:09]
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE REVIEW!
[/u][/center][/size]1 -- Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)
Nice jazzy song. Beginning starts out with African tongues (singing) by a woman, which in my mind is the tribute to this Fela woman. Later on, the beat begins to drop with some jazzy saxophone tunes, and relaxing drum reverbs. Common begins rapping, but in a weird voice because of vocal editing. He raps about what he used to do, and what he does now, hence the name "Time Travelin." It goes on for a whole 6 minutes with this. Just the beat and vocals, barely any rapping at all. It's a nice opening track though because of that, very relaxing with the instrumental and effects used. Something to chill with until the next song begins. Overall it was a decent opener, nothing too great. (2/5)
2 -- Heat
A cool track. A lyrical track, droppin' some heat. Common ain't that type of rapper though, but I guess he wanted to try and drop a hard track. Lyrics are very complex though, his flow is different from any other rapper i've ever heard. Production is decent, nothing too special. He shouldn't have made this an opener track though. It was aight, but nothing special. Common ain't this type of rapper, and it didn't suit him very well. (2/5)
3 -- Cold Blooded
Production is deep and gloomy. This track is really vibe-friendly. Has you thinkin' a lot. Common drops knowledge about himself and the industry, how it's cold blooded. He disses a couple people, and tells truths that people don't know about life and anything else that's on his mind and his purpose for rapping. Overall decent track. I liked it, just not as much as the next tracks to come. But don't sleep on this album yet, it gets good later on. (3/5)
4 -- Dooinit
Here goes a good track
. Very soulful and inspiring with the lyrics and the point he makes. He delivers a nice flow in this one, and the point he makes is to stop being scared of doing what you gotta do, and do what you gotta do. Nice scratches in the hook with him saying "doin it" and it gettin scratched up. He goes on some true talk shit about things he did and how he accomplished things. He talks about himself now and compares himself to the other people that are scared to do what they want to do. He talks about how he'll bitch slap someone for talking greasy on him, because in order to get by, sometimes you gotta go through it with aggression. That's how you go about "doin it" ;-). (4/5)5 -- The Light (CLASSIC!)
This is a REALLY classic track. If you talk to any real hip hop head about this track, they'll surely have knowledge about it and talk good about it. It's a love song about him and another woman. Fictional, of course, but it's a story kind of song. This is one of my favorites on the album. If you listen to his lyrics about how he approaches this woman, you might get a few pointers for yourself. He raps about how men need to be more respectful of women, because they give birth and life to everyone. Really good love track, guaranteed to make your girl happy. Nice scratches towards the end.(5/5)
6 -- Funky For You
This'll put you in high spirits and bobbin' your head. Really iLL soul track. Don't need to know about what he rhymes about, the concept is to make you bob your head. Well, he raps about how he came up with funk and all that. He says as long as it's funky, it's all good cuz that's what he grew up on. Really good effects and recording ideas were effective and worked nicely. Overall decent track. I liked it a lot cuz I could vibe to this when i'm listenin' and sing along to it. Beat changes near the end with a guy singing. Good track. (4/5)
7 -- The Question
Laid back track, production is for vibin' along. He raps in question form, kinda like the 50 Cent song "21 Questions." He asks a whole lot of questions, and if you listen to what he says, it makes you wonder about certain questions. I liked it because it had a creative feel. Big ups on this track, i felt the production and the "questions"...not so much the lyrics lol since it was in question form. (5/5)
8 -- Time Travelin' Reprise
The same as the intro, just putting it back in. The tracks after this tend to be really good. It's a good interlude to wake you up. They're traveling from the past to the present after this. (3/5)
9 -- The 6th Sense
His lyrics switched up and now he's in the present. The 6th Sense meaning "Common Sense" (his full rap name), so he's the 6th sense. Production is EXCELLENT. This song is another classic that I used to listen to when I was younger. This is a good hip hop track, because he's showing off what a real hip hop song is about. The scratches in the hook are really good. Influential lyrics (as usual when dealing with Common). Common is about exposing the gimmicks and fake shit the people offer in this world, and he did excellent with that in this. He compares the past to the present in this. This leads up to the next track, with sound effects and talking. It's about a pimp and a hoe. He's comparing the past to present, and dissing the mainstream in general with how they disrespect women. (5/5)
10 -- A Film Called (Pimp)
From the last track, it slowly fades through into this song. He describes women, and talks how it's so easy to get a woman nowadays. He's in the perspective of a pimp, and to a woman about the luxuries of having a pimp. She raps also and tries hard to deny him. Really creative track about a pimp TRYING to pimp, but she keeps denying him and talking back to him. Find out what happens by listenin' to the track, I don't want to ruin it. Really nice track here and exposes the truths about this "pimp system" going on nowadays. (4/5)
11 -- Nag Champa (Afrodesiac For The World) [My favorite track on album!]
I love this song with a passion. If you're ever in a down mood, listen to this song to kick you back into gear. He exposes the truths of the world, and he gets into it in full detail, like talking about his last album cover. Production is for vibin' and is really laid back and mellow. He disses the people who rap about guns, drugs, and bitches and says how he's amongst that and doesn't need to rap about that type of stuff. As long as he gets down to Earth with his fans, that's all he cares about. He doesn't care about attracting the fans. A VERY nice track right here. Shit is beautiful and is a must-have track in your library, guaranteed. (5/5)
12 -- Thelonius (ft. Elzhi of Slum Village)
Nice collaboration track. Elzhi came real nice on this track. No need for an explanation here, they rap and drop knowledge about how they are the type not to be messed with. Elzhi has always come nice in anything I have heard from him. Everything is good about this track, good shit to have you bobbin' and recitin' lyrics for days. (4/5)
13 -- Payback Is A Grandmother
At the end of the Thelonius track, Common's grandmother gets on the phone and calls Common and says somebody robbed her. It's a story track, and he raps about how he gets the robbers back and why they robbed his grandma in the first place. Really iLL track, the scratches are hot on the hook. Nice ass track, and I felt the production and the story. (5/5)
14 -- Ghetto Heaven (Part 2)
Soulful shit right here about his thoughts. He raps about all the things he did, and if there really is a ghetto heaven up there. Philosophical type of track about his thoughts. He raps about his life and what he thinks will happen when he dies. It's also in a type of story mode talking about another guy too. Really deep track and it makes you think, ya know? Good stuff right here, production is beautiful. Lyrics are great, with the story concept and all. (5/5)
15 -- A Song For Assata (ft. Cee-Lo)
High spirit song, soulful type shit. I like these kinds of songs, and I don't know who Assata is
. After hearing the lyrics, he raps about this woman in the Black Panthers and she got shot for no reason, but because of her skin color. He raps about all the Black Panther problems, and he makes up some stories too about how bad it was back then. Cee-Lo on the track. Beautiful track to make you realize things that you might've done in your life that could've dealt with shit like this or similar. He exposes the truth about the law and how people don't do anything, but fight for their lives and end up getting broken. Great inspiring track right here. (5/5)16 -- Pops Rap III: All My Children
I believe this might be Common's father, but who knows. He doesn't rap at all, but raps about all the children he had, including Common. You can tell Common got his ideas and beliefs from this great man, because of the way his mind works and the way he presents himself talking to the children. Nice stuff here on how Common grew up. I don't think it's his father, but it might be lol. Nice ending here to have you believing different and looking at life differently. (5/5)
OVERALL:[/u][/size] It was a decent album with a lot of philosophical tracks. It had a feel of going from hype in the beginning, to slowing it down near the end with some soulful tracks. The contrast was great though, and the stories he presented made lots of sense and weren't jumbled around with a bunch of words here and there. The album was consistent with it's purpose, because take a look at the cover. It's about the struggles of the black people and how Common himself came up, meaning any other black man/woman can do the same. Great concepts and ideas in this track and production was wonderful. All of this into one gave this album a rating of 83% out of 100%![/size]
4andhalfstars.png
This album was satisfactory and was just great. Beginning started off kind of rocky, but led up to a great ending. A "crescendo" you can compare it to. Take a listen to this album, most definitely.
P`z and thank you for your time.
