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cynics, critics, and mathematics - oh my!

© Steve Juon

Personally, I believe we may have gone a LITTLE bit overboard in the hip-hop cynicism department -- and I have strong evidence to support that statement.

Critics of Common's new album said he was going "commercial" by doing a song where Chantay Savage sung the hook. They take this two or three steps further by saying that all of the guests who were on his album are "hot", such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill.

Frankly, I heard Common's single when it came out, and to me it was a song about Chicago. A lot of the references were to obscure things that only residents of Chi-Town would know or get, so if it's a crossover single, it's not one that very many people could relate to. That doesn't mean it's not a good song - in fact it's Common at his best - it's just not for everybody -- which defies the whole notion and idea of crossover.

As for who's "hot", guest star Canibus may be on the underground buzz, but not in sales to date. In fact, Q-Tip's last album with Tribe and De La Soul's last release together probably didn't sell 600,000 COMBINED, so even though they are perennial hip-hop favorites their work is not what you'd call a blazing inferno of pop chart heat.

So let's do the math: you take one superb hip-hop MC, and you pair him with another superb hip-hop MC, and you've got double the dopeness. It's not anything to do with being hot or having a chart buzz. In fact, if being hot was the issue, wouldn't Common have had his album be produced and written by Puff Daddy?

Peace, Flash

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