“Huh? A Common album without a soul-jazz opener? Well, rap’s deep thinker wanted to make club bangers. So he got the Neptunes to shape this sexed-up set. He’s still history-minded; the title track is textbook Eighties electro. Elsewhere, he name-checks Fiona Apple (the bouncy "Make My Day," with Cee-Lo) and dubs himself "rap’s Ziggy Stardust" […]”
“On Be and Finding Forever, Common struck a winning, humanizing balance between moralism and hedonism, proving that the two needn't be mutually exclusive. On Universal Mind Control, he-- and the Neptunes-- split his personalities into what seem like two wildly different EPs.”
