Universal Mind Control [PA] * by Common

Pros: Most people were expecting this album to be a LOT worse.
Cons: In the grand scheme of things, though, it's still merely average.

What goes up must come down, they say. Chicago emcee Common peaked in 2005 with the hit album Be. It was a critical and commercial high water mark for the rapper, who'd toiled in the underground for over a decade. I'd imagine watching less ...

Pros: A few good songs
Cons: Lyrics are both lazy and dumbed-down, some awful production/experimentation, overall very disappointing

So, Common since 2000. Like Water for Chocolate makes me nostalgic for past summers, and might be my personal favorite hip-hop album. Electric Circus did experimentation excellently, and in my opinion, is great to listen to in the fall and ...

Pros: The Neptunes eurotrash production is sleak and familiar, however antithetical to Common's image.
Cons: The insufferable, socially-conscious pandering of "Changes", is highlighted by the fornication all around it.

Some albums defy our expectations of a certain artist so willfully that our only initial reaction can be to reject them outright.  In the case of Chicago rapper Common’s late 2008 album Universal Mind Control, a ...

Pros: A few songs that're really boring instead of bad.
Cons: Some of The Neptunes's worst production work combined with lazy, uninspired rapping from Common.

Let me just start this off by saying that I was hoping this album'd be good. While I liked Common's "Finding Forever" from last year well enough, I'm all for rappers taking risks and switching up their sound, so long as the effort's inspired. I mean, ...

Pros: It's mediocre.
Cons: It's mediocre.

When it was announced that Common would be releasing a "club" record, lots of people flocked to their message board of choice and bitched that "the great Common Sense"—patron saint of the conscious/backpacker/[insert smug, overgeneralizing ...

Pros: Half of the album is at least passable.
Cons: Phoned-in, synth-heavy production, Common has lost most of the qualities that once made him great.

His roles in movies like Smokin’ Aces and American Gangster might not be particularly noteworthy, but the fact that Chicago rapper Common has a film career at all is sort of remarkable. Usually, the only MCs who pursue acting are ...

Pros: A few bright moments, some positive messages, “Gladiator”
Cons: A few excruciating moments, commercialism, lack of creativity and subject matter, “Sex 4 Suga”

Very few emcees belong in the same echelon as Chicago native Lonnie Lynn, better known as, Common (or Common Sense). Nearly every track he drops is gold. His creativity is unparalleled, his social consciousness a breath of fresh air in the age of ...

Pros: Original
Cons: Experiments fail

"Universal Mind Control" is the eighth album from the Chicago MC, Common. It came out at the end of 2008, and had the artist completely change up his style by havng The Neptunes take over with the production, and make his album a Hip Hop one, based upon ...