TOUCHDOWN

Mood: Sway
Simple pleasures of life are somethin'/
You need to see 'em and love 'em.

I get the stress like everyone else. A lot of it, really. But every once and awhile you get one of those things that lifts ya — � something that would be of little consequence to many others, in fact you'd struggle to explain why it's got you so amped.

Like today.

The new Common CD Be shows up in the office. A legit surprise because you wouldn't expect seeing one of hip-hop's fathers showing up on disc in an office situated right in the middle of country-ville. Cowboys and buckles is Brandon, not ghetto prophets and corn rows.

An uplifting, overwhelming, feel-good-all-damn-night surprise because Common is one of the most important and influential musical voices of our time. Chicago's finest has teamed with Kanye West, also from the City of Wind, in producing an album that has already earned rave reviews ( and here)as an opus of inspired beat-producing, lyrical genius and chin-rubbing introspection. An appearance by ChiCity's John Legend, who I call the most important R&B artist of the past 10 years, adds to the power of the album, along with striking production from Kanye which shows originality and creativity are not liabilities in today's watered-down world.

Be is an album that reminds me why I believe hip hop is great. Not great in the "well done" sense, great in the "important it exists" sense. One of the things I've always said about the culture of hip hop is that it has to answer for its ugly sisters more than any other genre. Mention you're into hip hop and likely you're getting people assuming that means Nelly, 50 Cent, Ja Rule and other uninspired bling-blingers that are around to hit Top 40 charts and get regular spin on your pop radio. Not all hip hop is good hip hop, but that goes for any genre. Saying you like "rock" won't get anyone responding: "Oh, so you're into Nelson, or Hanson?"

But hip hop IS great. And important. It once stood as the new rock and roll, a genre of protest and inspiration; rising up to right wrongs and spitting about what really mattered, all the while angering the powers-that-be the same way Elvis did by shaking his hips. While Public Enemy opined to bring down the government, or NWA violently shot back at the world that held an entire culture down, those growing up and absorbing the sounds genuinely indentified with the messages they heard.

Back to Common. Perhaps it is because I lose faith in the state of hip hop seemingly daily, as I get old and revert to the geriatric battle call "this music nowadays, they don't do it like they used to." But Common has stood the test of time, swimming through the waters made murky by many uninspired contemporaries, to emerge time and again with something new, something to show the world that hip hop is still, on some level in some capacity, the important voice it has been for nearly 30 years.

Kanye's appearance on the scene is one that I struggle to reconcile with. Undoubtedly, his emergence into the wider scope has LeBron to the NBA-type magnitude on it. The hoopers are trying to annoint a new Jordan, while true hip hop heads want to know that the next generation of the culture will still be in good hands. Kanye gives me, this old-timer who so often doubts and is left frustrated, faith that intelligent lyricism is still a priority. What throws me the curve, though, is his status in popular culture. He has been well-received on TV and radio, and straddles the line of pop artist and poet at every pass. His position as producer on this particular album shows how flawlessly he can work with a great lyricist and make a memorable album. His ability to spin witty prose with infectious rhythms leaves the larger consuming public also scooping up his CD's, leaving me to generally say: "Did you hear that? Did you hear that?" because, in this case, the message is more important than the medium.

In school we study centuries-old poetry, dissect and analyze each line and, when done, consider ourselves educated and the subjects' undeniably paramount. It is a significant exercise, without a doubt and it wouldn't be my position to put Common, or colleagues, in the category of Yeats, Pope or Kipling. That's apples and oranges. Still, because the language has changed and the subjects are profoundly different, should not take away from the fact that poetry exists in these lines.

Nas, dubbed by the Village Voice as one of the most important voices of our time, said he was "a poor man's dream, a thug poet." And maybe that's the best way to articulate this. Poetry, among other things, has a powerful ability to inspire despite the verbiage or the audience on which it has an effect. Just as Yeats penned lines for lovers, Nas can do the same for his followers, with similar influence and equal importance. I would urge many readers to just sit and read the words of some of these artists I consider to be important. Common's words, for one, don't need a beat behind them to remain meaningful.

And, if I struggle to explain why seeing a CD on a shelf elevated my mood to ecstatic, then using that example should suffice.

Common inspires. Inspires me to put pen to pad, to stop and listen and to take account. How many people do that to you? And how often do you get that feeling in a day? A week? A month? Not often, but it's a good feeling when it comes around.

... And reminds me why hip hop is great.

Lyric of the day:
Real People walk in the streets, the streets is talkin'
Often it's beef this city never does
People walk and talk in they sleep
Cold sweats and wet dreams
On how to get green our faith is all in a jeep
Black souls raw and they deep
Hypes tryna talk with no teeth
Shorties sayin' ball or retreat
A lesson we all speak at one point or another
Whatchu expect from one who smoke a joint with his mother
Anointed hustlers in a fatherless region
Through the pain wish they know that God was just teachin'
We want decent homes
So dreams we say out loud like speakerphones just to keep em on
It's like a colored song that keep keepin' on
I guess knowin' I'm weak is when I'm really bein' strong
Somehow through the dust I could see the dawn
Like the Bishop Magic Juan, that's why I write freedom songs
For the real people
Common, Real People