Ten years have come and gone since Common’s debut album Can I Borrow a
Dollar? and it has to be said that Electric Circus doesn’t even come close
to the freshness of his debut.
Much of Electric Circus sees Common experiment with different musical
styles, and he really moves away from the raw beats and rhymes that made him
a star in the first place.
Jimi Was a Rock Star, for example, is an incredibly nauseating ode to Jimi
Hendrix featuring Erykah Badu on ‘vocals’. Both she and Common wail
appallingly throughout, making those eight and a half minutes feel as long
as a wet weekend in Scunthorpe.
Come Close is the incredibly banal opening single from Electric Circus and
features the vocal talents of Mary J. Blige. Common talks his way through
the track almost lazily and it really never delivers what this partnership
promises.
The Light (a single from 2000) has been included as something of a bonus
track and is one of the few bright spots (no pun intended) on what is a very
drab affair by Common’s high standards.
For an emcee whose articulate rhyming ability was once so awe-inspiring that
it was anything but common, he now appears to be no better than ordinary.
Hugely disappointing.
www.mcahiphop.com
Reviewed by Fraser Syme
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