COMMON AND THE CITY

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Common - Next Time


I like when unreleased tracks finally see the light of day.  When I saw this, I was kind of excited because this is a throw away from Finding Forever.  As a producer I'm always interested to hear what a Kanye, No I.D., or Pharrell throw away sounds like.  This song is produced by Karriem Riggins who recently produced one of my favorite songs of 09, Actin' Normal, by Slum Village.  I love the beat but after listening thoroughly, the song gets annoying because of Common's lyrics.  Something people rarely talk about when mentioning Common's music is his disdain for women.  Women are either objectified, vindictive, or need to pull themselves up from despair and victimization.  On Kid Cudi's, Make Her Say, he says, "But they say you be on that conscious tip, get your hair right and get up on this conscious dick" (objectification).  On Testify, the women he describes in the song, masterminds putting her man in jail in a very Greek tragedy way (vindictive).  On Your World, he blames women for their victimization:

Removed from earth, only to return through birth. Knew this girl selling her body, wish she knew what it was worth. Between God and trash, looking in every car that pass, with a walk that suggests head, to milk niggaz she was breastfed, She know dairy so she say cheese to get bread. In the area where it's more weaves and less dreads, kinda scary, amongst thieves and base-heads. Said it was her toes, but I could tell her soul hurt. She was cold turk, growing up she got to know hurt, very well in a world where self hate is overt. Her step-father thought he was ike, so her mother he strike. She got to like, like minded niggaz, who liked crimes and figures, doing white lines and liquor, see hard times had kicked her. In the ass, it used to be thicker. Life is fast, some choose to be quicker"

Step Your Gender Game Up Qoutes from "Next Time":

• "We dipped to the bathroom where she can try my love, and now she a member of the mile-high club.
• "Steppin' into first class, wondering why these flight attendants don't be havin' no ass."
• "In the back they was playin' light jazz, spotted this light plus she had a bright ass."
  

I think pseudo-conscious chauvinism is just as bad as overt, aggressive lyrics because so many pseudo-conscious rappers get praise for being progressive in regards to breaking traditional notions of masculinity.  It's just a new age guise.  Don't let the urban outfitters uniform fool you. Furthermore, his lyrics on this song were pretty bad, elementary and absurdly hilarious.  Yes, this song wasn't supposed to be released, but it was the tipping point for me because I'm tired of loving his beats and having to bypass his lyrics.  He is a good rapper but he has been dropping the ball in regards to women.  Don't forget, the brother is from Southside Chicago and Bishop Don Magic Juan was in the Resurrection video.  Chi-Town is entrenched in pimping.  I'm from Oakland and know that pimp culture has affected how men communicate to and treat women.  Let us pray.       

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