Resurrection

There’s something special about albums that team one MC, one producer and one DJ to create a cohesive body of work, and Resurrection, Common’s second full length, is one of the best examples of this type of chemistry. Producer No I.D. provides soulful and hard-hitting backing tracks, Common finds his form as a conversational but incredibly dope MC, and DJ Mista Sinista tops it all off with well-placed scratching that brings a nice touch of musicality to the proceedings. Listeners who only know of Com’s acting or his award show spoken word persona may find themselves surprised to hear him here, light on his feet, funny, a wry observer of his hometown of Chicago, about to explode from regional phenom to global superstar.

The sophomore album by Common Sense before his name change, Resurrection was a fitting reinvention by the once brash, bratty Chicago rapper who seemingly matured into an elder statesman in between LPs. Common and the production pair of No ID and Ynot embraced the jazz-flavored hip-hop pioneered by A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets, and you can easily imagine vibing to the LP in a smoky lounge while soaking into singles like the title track “I Used to Love H.E.R.” and “Communism.”