This is a rap album, so I'm pleasantly surprised that it opens with a bass line played on a real bass. Not even an electric bass, a stand-up bass. It's a good line, and if Common had rapped over a real bass line, the piano part, and drums it might have been interesting. Alas... there's also a cheesy synth riff which follows the bass line and a scratchy sample from a Marvin Gaye song (edit: Wikipedia tells me it's from "Mother Nature" by Albert Jones). Regardless, this will probably wind up being my favorite song on Be mainly because it's only 2 minutes long.
Is it illegal to make a rap album without saying nigga? It must be. It must also be illegal to not shit all over motown and funk songs by punctuating your melody with poor quality samples. I know I make those comments all the time, but if rap is gonna be so fucking derivative so is my commentary. To be honest I just don't care enough to think too hard about another rap album. If there's something revolutionary here I'm gonna completely miss it.
A couple notable things- The album seems to include a performance by Common and Kanye West appearing on Chappelle's Show, which is weird. Kanye West appears on the album a couple other times and was also the album's producer. And a weird bit of trivia, John Mayer supposedly played on one of the songs, not that I would notice a part by John Mayer.
The album closes with a spoken part that feels like an inspirational clip out of Mr. T's Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool! It features a lot of children saying things like, "I wanna be an astronaut." and "I wanna be an obstetrician." (!!!) Then some guy starts reciting a free-form poem, I guess, telling me, "Be a brilliant soul sparkling in the galaxy! Be loved by God as much as God loved Gandhi! Be the resident of the 12th house!" and other such nonsense. Common really missed out on an opportunity to make something amazing by not having Mr. T recite this closing monologue. Oh well... Be would still be a 2-star album in any case.
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