Common

GOOD Music. Like Water for Chocolate. Finding Forever. Chicago elder statesman.

Common's evolution from hungry Chicago lyricist to elder statesman reflects hip-hop's own maturation—his early albums established him as a conscious rapper willing to challenge trends, most memorably when he dissed Ice Cube for embracing gangsta rap on "The Bitch in Yoo," a beef that defined the late-90s conscious versus commercial divide. After the introspective masterpiece *Be* produced by Kanye West in 2005, Common became the gold standard for intelligent hip-hop, a status cemented through collaborations with No I.D. on *Like Water for Chocolate* and his deep Chicago connections with peers like Twista. His romantic history with Erykah Badu symbolized a certain elegant intersection of neo-soul and hip-hop consciousness that influenced a generation of artists.