Music Class: Common - I Used To Love H.E.R. UPDATE: HOT 97 LIVE

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
* Salute Common. But it sad as hell that this song is still as relevant NOW as it was back then. One of the best MCs to do it. Great production ILL concept smart creative lyrical deep just damn :cool:


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[Hook]
Yes, yes, y'all and you don't stop
To the beat ya'll and you don't stop
Yes yes, y'all and you don't stop
1, 2, ya'll and you don't stop
Yes yes ya'll and you don't stop
And to the beat Com sense'll be the sure shot
Come on

[Verse 1]
I met this girl, when I was ten years old
And what I loved most she had so much soul
She was old school, when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me
On the regular, not a church girl she was secular
Not about the money, those studs was mic checking her
But I respected her, she hit me in the heart
A few New York niggas, had did her in the park
But she was there for me, and I was there for her
Pull out a chair for her, turn on the air for her
And just cool out, cool out and listen to her
Sitting on a bone, wishing that I could do her
Eventually if it was meant to be, then it would be
Cause we related, physically and mentally
And she was fun then, I'd be geeked when she'd come around
Slim was fresh yo, when she was underground
Original, pure, untampered, a down sister
Boy I tell ya, I miss her

[Hook]

[Verse 2]
Now periodically I would see
Old girl at the clubs, and at the house parties
She didn't have a body but she started getting thick quick
Did a couple of videos and became Afrocentric
Out goes the weave, in goes the braids beads medallions
She was on that tip about stopping the violence
About my people she was teaching me
By not preaching to me, but speaking to me in a method that was leisurely
So easily I approach
She dug my rap, that's how we got close
But then she broke to the West coast, and that was cool
Cause around the same time, I went away to school
And I'm a man of expanding, so why should I stand in her way
She probably get her money in L.A
And she did stud, she got big pub but what was foul
She said that the pro-black, was going out of style
She said, Afrocentricity, was of the past
So she got into R&B hip-house bass and jazz
Now black music is black music and it's all good
I wasn't salty, she was with the boys in the hood
Cause that was good for her, she was becoming well rounded
I thought it was dope how she was on that freestyle shit
Just having fun, not worried about anyone
And you could tell, by how her titties hung

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
I might've failed to mention that this chick was creative
Once the man got to her, he altered her native
Told her if she got an image and a gimmick
That she could make money, and she did it like a dummy
Now I see her in commercials, she's universal
She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle
Now she be in the burbs looking rock and dressing hippie
And on some dumb shit, when she comes to the city
Talking about popping Glocks serving rocks and hitting switches
Now she's a gangsta rolling with gangsta bitches
Always smoking blunts and getting drunk
Telling me sad stories, now she only fucks with the funk
Stressing how hardcore and real she is
She was really the realest, before she got into showbiz
I did her, not just to say that I did it
But I'm committed, but so many niggas hit it
That she's just not the same letting all these groupies do her
I see niggas slamming her, and taking her to the sewer
But I'mma take her back hoping that the shit stop
Cause who I'm talking bout y'all is hip-hop
 
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* THIS is the Common Sense I KNOW :cool: When I first heard this I was like :eek: and he was from the Chi:eek: This dude had INSANE skills and was nothing to play with. And his production was CRAZY (Beatnuts, No ID etc.)...great beat selection. This is one of those you remember where you first hear it songs. I STILL have the cassette single:lol: The remixes were just as good too. DAMN hip hop sucks now :smh:

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(Chorus)
Boom it and you boom it and you boom it in your jeep
Type of shit that hit when you pump it in your trunk
Boom it and you boom it and you boom it in your jeep
Babum, babum, make the speakers pop

I'm as bad, bad as Leroy Brown, Brown
I'm a pro p-pro, but not a noun n-noun
If you got beef, beef, you get ground, ground
Cut up in soul, soul by the pound for pound
I'm going downtown like Julie Brown, I'm the brown mound
Not a rebound, but like a hound, I get down
Never wore a leash but I'm a show ya
How loose is my goose, got more soul than combat boots
(I got soul, you got it) That's why I came
They keep calling me, man, they keep calling me, they call my name
And say, I can't give it away, give it away now
Or say whiz, say what or say how
Sh, ok, between you and me, man it's all this white rap
I got the power, hachoo, I'll just bite snap
Bum ba-bum, bum bum
Think fast, cause I'm the Ramadan
Ahoy-he-hoy-he, I'm Fat Boy
Shibidabibidabee, boom boom, I'll be the bad boy
Having a party, but I'm not a democrat
Spoiled as a child, but now I'm milk like Similac
Don't have Cinemax because my cable's pirated
Bug out wit the rhyme, try to swat and I'll get fly wit it
For pest control, I suggest some soul
For a dick I got it, but I have no breath control
So gimme a TO, baby like um, Chris Webber
I got myself together
Now I'm straight, are you straight, if you straight, then I'm straight
Rock me tonight, just for old time's sake

Chorus

Roll to the rock, rock to the roll
Can't no A & R tell me that I ain't got soul
C'mon, can I get a clap, can't you see I'm trapped
And I'm so confused
News is getting paid but what about the bills
I wanna make some dough yet I wanna show my skills
Do you even know where I'm going
I ain't scared of you muthafuckers, though I am of the Omen
I jam like a cobra, make note, I'm not caress
Cause I control minds wit rhymes, so FBI don't test
I got a no. 2 pencil and I'm a scribble all over your face
You see I don't pack no gat
I didn't see CB4 'cause I heard that shit was wack
Like Chris I rock, i'm strapped like my jock
Peace to NO ID and my nigga YNot, check it

Chorus

Wopee, look at me, I'm hipper than a hippie
Chicks flyer than the boots, so ill the MC's say you make me sick
Well go see the doctor, in your car, rock my tune
Wit the Boom shak lak lak boom
I'll buy you on a cracker, bayow, watch where the sparks went
Fatter than Dre, a Lover like Ed, super as Clark Kent
So give it away Lois, as I change clothes without a booth
And ride like this, like woof
The roof is on fire, it's not an LA riot
I got more ho, ho hos than the jolly green giant
Large as the Professor and I'm never faking funk cock
Fat as heavy metal yet I'm harder than punk rock
So take me to a land I know not too far away
I got skills like Tim and I'm coming in a hardaway
So keep the crossover, common as a b-boy
While you be dragging last, I be kicking like Bruce Lee would
Sho nuff, yo I got the stuff that tops the stove
And I am about to explo-o-o-ode
Who was that masked kid, that's what'cha ask kid
Free to be stroke, cut throat, Lonnie or rash it
But oh no, this was Common wit his soul glow
Coming from Chicag- but yo I gotta go- go
The go, check, check the go(ha-ha) the go, check check the go(yea)


 
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Roll to the rock, rock to the roll
Can't no A & R tell me that I ain't got soul
C'mon, can I get a clap, can't you see I'm trapped
And I'm so confused
News is getting paid but what about the bills
I wanna make some dough yet I wanna show my skills

* guess Jay Z was just saying what was in Common's heart :cool:

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If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be
Lyrically Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did 5 mill' - I ain't been rhyming like Common since
 
* Rest In Peace...show your Dad some love today.



[Verse 1]
Night glows, stoves don't work, hoes at work
A warrior, so I wear 'em on my shirt
Wish I was free as Che was, I spend a day buzzed
Trippin' on heights, wishin' for Nikes in different flavors
The age of Kane and Big Daddy, shown by the caddies
Uncles named Larry, that never really grabbed me
My mother gave birth but she really never had me
Left to the hood to play daddy
Raised by niggas named Butch through the bay bay
With waists so they weigh they status on the streets
License plates that say they, motto
This is Chicago in the hay day
Similar to Good Times, I guess that I was Jay Jay
A skinny nigga, young girls with penny figures
So many niggas, stacked upon each other
It's the black upon each other that we love so much
Wonder how many of us, these drugs gonna touch
Used to gang bang, ain't really thug that much
Rather have some thick broads then the dutch to clutch
Went to school in Baton Rouge for a couple of years
My college career got downed with a couple of beers
Came back home, now I gotta pay back loans
Same nigga, same block, same shit they own
Only thing different, quicker, they click that chrome
In my defence, yo I had to hit that zone
Man to man, I'm good workin' with my hands
My generation never understood workin' for the man
And, of being broke I ain't a fan
Now I stand in the same spot, as my old man
My life I planned not to be on this corner
I still wanna see California
But this is my world

[Hook]
It's your world

[Verse 2]
Life and death flow around us
Four pounds and pounds of bird from out of towners
It's hard to stay grounded
We stay high, that's why old folks down us
Lost, nobody found us, the force that surrounds us
Ain't with us, they get us on the ground and hit us
We paint pictures of the chains under their names and scriptures
Removed from Earth, only to return through birth
Knew this girl sellin' her body, wish she knew what it was worth
Between God and trash, lookin' in every car that pass
With a walk that suggests head, to milk niggas she was breastfed
She know dairy so she say cheese to get bread
In the area where it's more weaves and less dreads
Kinda scary, amongst thieves and base-heads
Said it was her toes, but I could tell her soul hurt
She was cold turk, growin' up she got to know hurt
Very well in a world where self hate is overt
Her stepfather thought he was Ike, so her mother he strike
She got to like like-minded niggas, who liked crimes and figures
Doin' white lines and liquor, see hard times had kicked her
In the ass, it used to be thicker
Life is fast, some choose to be quicker
I remember in high school she had a passion to sing
Now she see herself in a casket in dreams
These are the children of crack and rap, blacks that lack
Self-esteem, yo we forgot the dream
On our Jeffersons y'all but we forgot the theme
In the Chi, we even rootin' for a garbage team
This queen never seen herself on this Corner
She still wanna see California
But this is her world

[Hook]

[Kids stating their dreams]

[POPS]
Be, be here, be there, be that, be this
Be grateful for life, be grateful to life
Be gleeful everyday, for being the best swimmer among 500,000
Be-nign, be you, be mom's mean pie, be little black sambo With bad hair
Be aware of Willie Lynch's, Be, be boundless energy
Be a four star ghetto general, be no one except I
Be a strong academic student, be an A student in sociology
Be food for thought to the growin mind, be the author of your own horoscope
Be invited, be long-living, be forgiving, be not forgetful
Be a proud run, only to return to fight another day
Be peaceful if possible, but justice in ways (?)
Be high when you low, be on time but know when to go
Be cautious of the road to college, takin a detour through Vietnam or the middle east
Be absent of wars at any past or present fought amongst themselves
Be visual of foreclosure over your shoulder while beggin
A nation built on free labor for reparation, Be a cartographer
Be a map maker, be able to find Afro-American land
Search thoroughly it may be close to black land
Be amended 5/5ths, be amended 5/5ths human
Be the owner of more land than is set aside for wild life
Be cupid, to world government
Be found among the truth, lost tribe
Be at full strength when walking through the valley
Be not foolish as temporary king of the mountain top
Be a brilliant soul, sparkling in the galaxy while walking on earth
Be loved by God as much as God loved Gandhi and Martin Luther King
Be that last one of 144,000, be the resident of that twelfth house
Be... eternal
 
* Common is one of the BEST MCs and poets of our generation. Go back and listen to the QUALITY of this man's catalog. We have had recent discussion about 'grown folk' hip hop and this man has been delivering just that for YEARS now. You can track his growth and development not only as an MC but as a man from album to album and this record right here is one of the high points and a perfect example why good positive black music can still be made in this thing we call hip hop.



[Intro]
Yeah
Doo-doo-doo, mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm
Doo-doo-d-doo, diggy-doo YO

[Verse 1]
I never knew a luh, luh-luh, a love like this
Gotta be something for me to write this
Queen, I ain't seen you in a minute
Wrote this letter, and finally decide to send it
Signed sealed delivered for us to grow together
Love has no limit, let's spend it slow forever
I know your heart is weathered by what studs did to you
I ain't gon' assault em cause I probably did it too
Because of you, feelings I handle with care
Some niggas recognize the light but they can't handle the glare
You know I ain't the type to walk around with matching shirts
If relationship is effort I will match your work
I want to be the one to make you happiest and hurt you the most
They say the end is near, it's important that we close
.. to the most, high
Regardless of what happen on him let's rely

[Hook]
There are times.. when you'll need someone
I will be by your side
There is a light, that shines
Special for you, and me

[Verse 2]
Yo, yo, check it
It's important, we communicate
And tune the fate of this union, to the right pitch
I never call you my bitch or even my boo
There's so much in a name and so much more in you
Few understand the union of woman and man
And sex and a tingle is where they assume that it land
But that's fly by night for you and the sky I write
For in these cold Chi night's moon, you my light
If heaven had a height, you would be that tall
Ghetto to coffee shop, through you I see that all
Let's stick to understanding and we won't fall
For better or worse times, I hope to me you call
So I pray every day more than anything
Friends will stay as we begin to lay
This foundation for a family - love ain't simple
Why can't it be anything worth having you work at annually
Granted we known each other for some time
It don't take a whole day to recognize sunshine

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
Yeah.. yo, yo, check it
It's kind of fresh you listen to more than hip-hop
And I can catch you in the mix from beauty to thrift shop
Plus you shit pop when it's time to, thinking you fresh
Suggesting beats I should rhyme to
At times when I'm lost I try to find you
You know to give me space when it's time to
My heart's dictionary defines you, it's love and happiness
Truthfully it's hard trying to practice abstinence
The time we committed love it was real good
Had to be for me to arrive and it still feel good
I know the sex ain't gon' keep you, but as my equal
It's how I must treat you
As my reflection in light I'mma lead you
And whatever's right, I'mma feed you
Digga-da, digga-da, digga-da, digga-digga-da-da
Yo I tell you the rest when I see you, peace

[Hook]

[Outro]
(I'll) take my chances.. before they pass
.. pass me by, oh darling
You need to look at the other side
You'll agree
 
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Uprooted: Common - The Light

Common.jpg


In the hands of talented producers, great samples can transcend the boundaries of genre. This is the case with Bobby Caldwell's Open Your Eyes which was used famously in Common's superb hip hop track The Light and recently sampled at length in Brookes Brothers' drum & bass tune of the same name.

Common's producer on The Light was Jay Dee, otherwise known as J Dilla. He made the track by blending samples from Caldwell's song with the drums from You're Getting a Little Too Smart by the Detroit Emeralds. Dilla made some amazing tunes in his all-too-short career (he died tragically of a blood disease at the age of just 32), and this is one of his best. The beat has a groove and sexiness that testifies to Dilla's skillful touch – the simple but delicate piano and synthesiser parts perfectly complementing Common's voice and the tone of Caldwell's sample.

As a standalone piece, Common's track is notable for being a touching love song, thought to have been written for Common's then-girlfriend Erykah Badu. It's a far cry from the posturing aggression of gangster rap and reflects a strand in hip hop that many outsiders dismiss or fail to see. (Another pro-female respect anthem is Mind Sex by Dead Prez). It's proof, if proof were needed, that hip hop is bigger and deeper than the media stereotypes of money, guns and bling.

Brookes Brothers may well have been inspired by Dilla / Common's track to take a longer sample from Caldwell's song and work into a lively and soulful drum & bass number. Their skill and appreciation for the source song shine through in this, one of the best liquid drum & bass tunes to come out in 2007.

As for Caldwell, his influence on the world of sampling is so great that he could fuel countless posts on this blog. Hip hop producers in particular are enamoured of his voice. But I'll leave you with another example from drum & bass: Goldie's What You Won't Do for Love, featuring vocals by Diane Charlemagne, is a cover of Caldwell's famous track of the same name, originally released in 1978.

 
Questlove Shares Candid Footage Of J Dilla Playing Drums In Session w/ Common + The Soulquarians



Today, February 10th is Dilla Day to musicians, vinyl junkies, drumheads and beat connoisseurs worldwide–commemorating cold-hearted L.A. that day we lost one of the GOAT, just a few short days after his 32nd birthday. This week DJs have made mixtapes in J Dilla’s honor and the brilliant Robert Glasper unveils the third installment of his “Dillalude” suite (listen to it here — via OKP premiere!). But sadly, we are not beatmakers, players of instrument or virtuoso pianists ourselves. We blog. So to pay our own humble respects at the well-adornded shrine of Dilla, we dug in the archives and came back with this candid footage of one James Yancey, contributing drums to a country-fried reggae rhythm during a Soulquarians session.

We contacted the videographer (you may know him better as drummer, bandleader and master of records Questlove) who graciously shared not just the video footage but also his reminiscences of the vibes, circumstances and historical context surrounding that particular session. Read on, and scroll down to watch the clip in full:

so here are the facts as i remember them, of June 27th 2002.

The Roots & Common were midway recording followup albums to their breakthrough Things Fall Apart & Like Water For Chocolate projects. two unapologetic “Neo Soul” joints.

having formed an unofficial collation sometime in 96, using the Native Tongue blueprint. The Soulquarians were born.

i guess you can say it “officially” started with “Otherside Of The Game” on Erykah’s Baduism lp. 3 weeks later D’angelo came to Philadelphia to put the finishing touches on “The Hypnotic” for The Roots 3rd album Illadelph Halflife (the last song recorded) realizing we had 4 hours to kill we told the engineer to put more tape up and lets jam. little did we know that Illadelph’s last day wound up being the first day of recording for Voodoo an album that will take us 4 years to record (a walk in the park, when you consider Voodoo‘s followup will take 4 years to make as well…..—-sorry pardon me i meant FOURTEEN (14) years to make)

in that time period, his friends will meet my friends and then they will be friends and introduce other friends and so on and so on and so on.

the time between 1996 and 2002 will spawn a lot of landmark albums created by the Soulquarian collective.

but sometime in 2001 something occurred…….or snapped depending on who you ask.

we are no longer the underdog. now we were the belle of the ball, when previously we were not even invited to be the help staff of such a prestigious affair. but soon our sound became universal and it was everywhere.

to which Jdilla responded without hesitation “we gotta switch it up” if cats wanna “neo” it up let em do it. but since we leaders, lets lead and go places never seen before.

Common and Dilla said we gotta go “Kraftwerk”, go electronic. leave our comfort zone. ill admit i thought that was way extreme, having got into The White Stripes via my pal dream hampton that year, i thought maybe rock would be a cooler departure point. but since The Roots were really in the recording zone with Phrenology i didn’t wanna make a twinsie album for Com.

so we went electronic for the Electric Circus album.

although you can’t tell from this particular clip.

this is how a majority of the jams we make get started: you jam and jam and jam and jam. then you go back and listen and listen and listen then suddenly something hits you like “there is the magic!” soon when developed, that process becomes a song.

40 mins after this clip we will have discovered the blueprint that will be the album’s 3rd song “Aquarius”

5 mins after that Pino Pallidino will discover that he will inherit the bass kingdom keys from the just passed John Entwistle.

he has 6 days to study 43 Who songs. and they pretty much chartered a flight for him to fly to London that in 3 hours.

this will be the last time this particular jamming ensemble will play in this configuration again.

for this album (more than anything I’ve done previously) Dilla will show me that ANY rhythm is acceptable. even if you don’t hit the drums. his “Think Twice” drum sticks were mallets hitting drums that had more toilet paper and tape than on the drum heads. why? why hit something so muted and dry? welp, *shrug* to try something different. (i used this trick recently on Black Messiah’s “1000 Deaths” normal now for 2015 but back in 2002 this was risk at its best)

i believe for this morning we worked on “Drive Me Wild” for the unfinished MCA/McNasty project

btw- we is: Frank “Philly Frank” Knuckles on percussion. James Poyser on synth/clav/organ. future Who-er Pino Pallidino on bass. the late awesome Jef Lee Johnson on guitar (one of the most colorful, VIOLENT guitar soloists EVER—he was a Soultronic with D’angelo since 96) and Dilla on drums (that unorthodox rhythm method is classic Dilla btw a great “less is more” trust method of just kick and stick clicks)

although i was deep in the session i had an emergency on my hands, i had about 3 weeks to solve the “Break You Off” fiasco (we’d gone through about 9 singers with no luck)—so occasionally i’d pop my head inside to see what they came up with in between The Roots looking for a Plan B. so i grabbed the camera while they were in the zone:

Dilla-drums1.jpg
 
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My favorite track from Common and that says a lot because he puts out constant bangers.
It was funny to hear him talk about when Midnight Marauders was coming out and he was asking cats
where they were going and they told him to shoot for the cover,he said since he didn't get invited he
had to step his game up.And this was after Resurrection.

Peace
 
Like Water For Chocolate is a hip hop classic to me. Everything was magic on that album. The SoulQuarians production. Common's lyricism and flows. The features.

I mean it's tough to flip a song that's already a classic (Bobby Caldwell killed the original).... and somehow he did it.

Great shit :cool:
 
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That was Dope.
To this day i will pretty much sample anything but anytime i come across
that Bobby Caldwell joint or anything else Dilla sampled,i just skip it.
There is no way anyone is doing any better than what Dilla did with that
track.

Peace
 
That was Dope.
To this day i will pretty much sample anything but anytime i come across
that Bobby Caldwell joint or anything else Dilla sampled,i just skip it.
There is no way anyone is doing any better than what Dilla did with that
track.

Peace

church tabernacle choir
 
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