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The album includes a handful of well-placed and effectual guest contributors, including Bilal, Dwele, Lily Allen, Common's dad, and the one and only Primo. Still, it's a shade less satisfying than "Be."
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Whether Finding Forever surpasses "Be" is a matter of individual, song-for-song taste: At worst, it's on par--a laudable accomplishment for a veteran now 15 years into his career.
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Common has made a record that follows the same formula as its predecessor. Not a bad move considering the success of the four-time Grammy Award-nominated "Be."
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Finding Forever finds Common at his best lyrically, which means at his most basic, bending beats to fit his deliberate delivery.
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Entertainment WeeklyThe album is both lush and gritty, integrating awkwardly hacked samples, rowdy percussion, and sweet backing vocals. [03 Aug 2007, p.67]
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Although Common has always been an earnest rapper, his drive to induce meaning on many of these tunes sometimes comes at the expense of catchiness. They're like cauliflower: nutritious, but without much flavor.
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The best music here is so deep it's more powerful than the rhymes.
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The rest of it though, is soulful and intelligent where 'intelligent' is not exclusive to 'good beats and rhymes.' Which is what it's all about.
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West produces the bulk again on Finding Forever, and it's his skill in embellishing a sample and his unerring eye for a soulful hook that is consistently bringing the best out of his mentor-turned-protege.
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Finding Forever is a winner, lean and mean and without a minute of wasted space.
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Finding Forever, then, is Common's snapshot of hip-hop's awkward middle age--an album that is neither here nor there.
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'So Far to Go' embodies everything great about Common--his witty delivery, smooth flow, loquacious lyrics and perfect sense of timing --but then the same could be said for virtually any track on Finding Forever.
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His ear-grabbing command stands up to almost any MC out there.
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SpinForever is livelier, grittier and better [than "Be."] [Aug 2007, p.101]
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It's tight, cohesive, devoid of filler, refreshingly brisk (at 50 minutes long), and sonically and lyrically focused.
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Finding Forever, Common’s spectacular seventh full-length, isn’t 'The Bitch in Yoo,' but it is his hardest release since.
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VibeForever captures Common maturing graefully into his--and hip hop's--middle age at a time when many peers are either talking retirement or being forced into it. [August 2007, p73]
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With Forever, Common delivers the expected--political, lover-man, and battle rhymes told with wit and complexity over street-commercial beats--in spades.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 61 out of 69
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Mixed: 6 out of 69
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Negative: 2 out of 69
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Aug 5, 2014
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TONYB.Dec 31, 2007HEAT
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TrellT.Dec 6, 2007Nearly perfect...it really is. Saved hip-hop for the year in my opinion.