The Dreamer, The Believer
Common
Warner Bros. / Think Common Music Inc.
Album released December 16, 2011
RecklessRockstar Review
Common started his career back in 92’ with the producer No I.D. (back then known as Immenslope) on the release of Can I Borrow A Dollar? Since the start of his career he has released a total of 9 albums, a few have even gone gold. He has also been nominated countless times from every music award show known to man, has won lyricist of the year along with winning a couple of Grammy awards but for some reason he has never truly gotten the recognition avid hip hop listeners know he deserves. Common has always kept up with the perpetual change of music but, at the same time has never given in to the mainstream portion of hip-hop. This fact holds true with The Dreamer, The Believer.
This album marks the first time Common and popular producer No I.D. have collaborated on an album since 97’ when they produced One Day It’ll All Make Sense together. The Dreamer, The Believer has 12 tracks with 2 bonus tracks if you buy the album from Target. The album is extremely colorful from the lyrics to the production with most tracks being positive and uplifting.
Every track is unique when it comes to lyrical content, which Common has always done well. As for the production, No I.D. has really taken it back and gives the listener an early hip hop feel coupled with that classic “Common Feel” from when Common first started his career. Regardless of Common’s mainstream success his popularity with big names such as the poet Maya Angelou (The Dreamer), Nas (Ghetto Dreams), and John Legend (The Believer) all make an appearance on their welcomed respective tracks.
It’s hard to pin point the best tracks on this album because they all generate a wonderful feel and that longing of meaningful music that is hard to find these days however the most surprising track is “Sweet” where you find Common really speaking his mind about famous the rapper Drake (Can’t wait to see the fruits of this).
Overall The Dreamer, The Believer is a fantastic album. The album really adds to Commons already great repertoire of music and never seems to fail. IMO this bad boy deserves album of the year or in the very least lyricist of the year. If you’re a fan of hip hop or even art in the very least then you can’t go wrong with Common’s The Believer, the Dreamer.
RATING
out of 10
9.5 Production
9.5 Creativity
9.0 Content
10.0 Lasting Appel
| Overall 9.5 (out of 10) | Paragon |
Common – The Dreamer, The Believer Tracklist
1. The Dreamer ft Maya Angelou
2. Ghetto Dreams ft Nas
3. Blue Sky
4. So Sweet
5. Gold
6. Lovin’ I Lost
7. Raw (How You Like It)
8. Cloth
9. Celebrate
10. Windows
11. The Believer ft John Legend
12. Pops Belief