Finding Forever Leads To Graduation

Are you in the mood for Rap or Hip Hop?

If you recall, a while back I posted a little somethin' about being in the mood for Rap or Hip Hop. I even took the time to define the difference between the two. Let's see if you remember.

Rap (a verb) is something you do. Hip-Hop is something you live (the art).

For me, when I am in the mood for hip-hop the artist's I enjoy are lyrically creative and their flow is delivered tightly over creative beats and unique samples. They fully embody the art of hip hop.

If you are in the mood for some real hip-hop nobody does it better than two of Chicago's very own -- Common and Kanye West.

First up we have Common and his latest release – Finding Forever.

Finding Forever features producers, will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) and the late J-Dilla and is predominately produced by Kanye West. But what you get is 12 tracks that embody the soulful and jazz influenced beats that we have come to love to hear Common grace us with his conscious, lyrical style.

The first single, The People, comes with a driving bass line combined with a smooth keyboard arrangement that just pulls you in and gets you nodding your head. When he says that 'We do it for the people' you believe it.


The track Southside shows Chi-town some love as Common and Kanye join lyrical forces for a reminiscent journey about my neck of the woods – the Southside. The smoothness continues along with some clever lyrics on the tracks Break My Heart and So Far To Go, produced by the late J-Dilla featuring D'Angelo. These and the remaining tracks, the collaboration with will.i.am and the tracks featuring artists like Bilal and Lily Allen you will definitely enjoy Finding Forever.


Kanye is back with his third release – Graduation.

With his backpack in tow, Mr. West takes us on another creative lyrical journey that is surrounded in electronic beats that give you an 80's flashback but at the same time comes full circle with a contemporary hip hop sound.

Stronger, the first release showcases this sound. The opening lines are encapsulated in a robotic vocal, the remaining beats come in and the electronic trance begins. So much so, when I first heard this, I was waiting for the 80's classic 'Planet Rock' by Afrika Bambatta to show up as a bonus track on the cd.

The electro feel continues through out the cd but at varying levels to give each song its own distinctive flavor. For example, the track Good Life featuring T-Pain does this. It takes the chorus from the classic 'P.Y.T. ' performed by Michael Jackson and slows it down to almost a crawl. It is then layered with the hooks sung by T-Pain and the additional synthesizers continue to give the song a "spacey" feel.

Hands down the best song is my favorite track Flashing Lights featuring Dwele. The strings, the old school Casio keyboard feel, Dwele's vocals; everything about it just works for me. To really appreciate the nuances of this track you have to hear this joint banging out in the club.

The one thing that I have come to appreciate about Mr. West is his diverse taste in music and his ability to integrate it so that there is always something innovative and fresh with his beats. So from his collaborations with Chris Martin from Coldplay (Homecoming) to Mos Def (Drunk and Hot Girls) Kanye has completed his thesis on why he is the best at what he does. And for that, Graduation moves him to the head of the hip hop class.


Until next time, peace.