Resurrection is the second album by American rapper Common (then known as Common Sense).
Released in 1994 (see 1994 in music), the album received a great deal of critical acclaim, but not a significant amount of mainstream attention. Resurrection was entirely produced by No I.D. (who also produced the bulk of Can I Borrow A Dollar?), and Ynot. The record was originally rated 3.5 mics in The Source in 1994. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums .
The album is divided into two sections; the "East Side of Stony" (tracks 1-7) and "West Side of Stony" (tracks 8-15). Stony Island Avenue is a street that runs through the South Side of Chicago, where Common was raised. The closing track, "Pop's Rap" was the first of a series of tracks featuring spoken word and poetry by Common's father, Lonnie "Pops" Lynn, which Common has used to close several of his albums since. Interlaced throughout the album are short interludes which form a loose narrative concerning day-to-day life on the South Side.
Songs such as "Thisisme", are full of self-assessing raps that reflect the rapper's personal growth since 1992's Can I Borrow A Dollar?. Likewise the crasser moments found on that LP, such as a the misogynistic "Heidi Hoe" are greatly toned down for Resurrection, and replaced by thought-provoking narratives such as "Chapter 13 (Rich Man Vs. Poor Man)", and "I Used to Love H.E.R." - a song that re-imagines Hip hop as a formerly unadulterated woman, led astray after being enticed by secular elements of life. The use of a conflicted woman as an allegory for Hip hop allowed Common to covertly express his disdain at the music's turn towards gangsta rap inspired content, and what he saw as the resulting reorientation of rap artists.
Incidentally this song, which brought Common to the attention of fans and music critics alike, would also become the cause of a rift between the rapper and West Coast emcee Ice Cube, who took exception to the insinuation that the West Coast pioneered style of gangsta rap was detrimental to Hip hop - even going as far as to claim that Hip hop altogether "started in the West". Together with his Westside Connection compatriots, Cube hurled insults Common's way on the song "Westside Slaughterhouse" and throughout their album Bow Down, to which the rapper replied with the equally venomous "The Bitch in Yoo". In the aftermath of the murders of both Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., the rivalry would be settled out of public view at a peacemaking function held by Louis Farrakhan at his home.
The album is broken down track-by-track by Common in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique.
The lyricism of Resurrection is highly acclaimed, and marked the beginning of Common's reputation as a lyrically challenging artist, and one who is able to lend intellectual weight and depth to his muses on the human condition. Using a combination of irony and double entendre, the rapper relates on "Book of Life":
They say become a doctor, but I don't have the patience
Adjacent to that situation
I want an occupation that I'm into
'Cause yet if I begin to
Live to my potential
I went to School for fourteen years and my best teacher was experience.
In The Source, Chairman Mao wrote that "Common Sense presents a thinking man's perspective on rhyming that's admirably down to earth and free of gimmicks". Common's style of delivery, speedy and somewhat erratic on Can I Borrow, is here smoother and more evenly paced. As before he occasionally ventures into a faux-singing mode, albeit less frequently (for example, he quotes the refrain of "Get Up, Stand Up" in "Book of Life"). Many of the songs hooks are provided by scratches and samples.
Resurrection is frequently held to be a classic album by rap critics. Many longtime Common fans believe it to be the rapper's best work. This album signified both the arrival of a level of maturity in Common's work, and yet the end of his first phase, which was characterized by a more straightforward, and underground based sound. Subsequent albums by the rapper would see him delving into experimentation and themes such as love, which perhaps marks his second phase.
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