Common - Electric Circus

Chicago-bred rapper Common was formerly known by “Common Sense,” but he ditched the last part of that sobriquet a few albums back. One might wonder if he jumped the gun a little on that decision after making it through Electric Circus, an ambitious yet ultimately solipsistic “concept” album that attempts to harness Jimi Hendrix’ and Sgt. Pepper’s mind-expanding rock vibe, but really just comes off as a pretentious attempt at “artsiness.” What did you do to him, Erykah Badu? To be fair, you can’t really fault Common for trying. Much of today’s commercial hiphop is sorely in need of an injection of creativity. And Common certainly tried his best at enlisting a stellar lineup of producers (the Neptunes, ?uestlove of the Roots, and Slum Village’s J Dilla, among others) to aid him in his mystical vision quest, or whatever it was he thought he was doing. Yet when the proceedings get as anemic as “Jimi Was A Rock Star” or the absolutely lethargic first single, “Come Close” (featuring an underused Mary J. Blige), it should sound the alarm that somebody’s got to put some sense back into Common. [www.okayplayer.com]