Common: Electric Circus

2003 saw the release of Common‘s Electric Circus and if this album isn’t an experience, I don’t know what is. Over the years I’ve found that this is an album you either hate or love. The people who love it tend to commend Com for his risk taking and his adventurous route taken on this release and those who hate it, in fact, hate it for the exact same reasons.

This project was recorded in large part at Jimi Hendrix‘s studio and the vibe of this album is definitely something I could imagine Jimi rocking to. Usually I do not like when albums have large amounts of features but the features on here add to the contrasting sounds on Electric Circus. When an album has only 13 tracks there is very little room for mistakes and Common stays far away from those. The 13 songs on here are so different, yet they blend perfectly together and every track is a new ear opening experience, whether it is Com alongside Cee-Lo or Sonny from P.O.D.

“Come Close” was the lead single from this album and it features Mary J. Blidge. Common gets his grown man on but in a great way; he really makes it believable that he specifically wrote this for his one special lady. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite Common songs, in general. It’s a shame that so many people probably wrote off this album after hearing “Come Close”. But those of us that opened up our ears and actually listened to this without bias got a pleasant surprise.

Only in hip-hop can you get slammed for venturing out and trying to be different. However, the great thing Common did with this album is show us how far hip-hop can go if we allow it. This album is every bit hip-hop as Resurrection or Like Water for Chocolate, just a different hip-hop than we are used to. I personally love this project probably because I was mainly influenced by people like Hendrix and artists of his generation. I just wish more people would open up and take the trip to the Electric Circus with me.

4/5

Stand Out Tracks:

“Aquarius”

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“The Hustle”

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“Come Close”

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“Between Me, You and Liberation”

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