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NEW YORK,
Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Common,
star of next month's motion
picture "American Gangster," has
the early days of his rap career
revisited with the November 27th
release of "thisisme then: the
best of common." This 15-track
compilation covers 1992-1997 and
includes all of the artist's
solo hits from that period
alongside collaborations with
Lauryn Hill ("Retrospect For
Life"), Chantay Savage
["Reminding Me (Of Sef)"],
Erykah Badu ("All Night Long"),
Cee-Lo ["G.O.D. (Gaining One's
Definition"], Q-Tip ("Stolen
Moments Pt. III"), and more.
Common debuted at #1 on the
Billboard Top 200 Album Chart
earlier this year with the CD
release "Finding Forever."
"Sometimes
the most telling aspects of an
artist's career are their early
works," writes Leah Rose, Music
Editor of XXL magazine, in the
liner notes to thisisme then:
the best of common. "The
ambitious and sometimes rough
attempts that show the world who
they are and who they are about
to become."
Common's
early works (before his 1999
major label signing) were the
first three albums he recorded
for (then) indie label
Relativity Records: "Can I
Borrow A Dollar?" (1992, for
Combat, distributed by
Relativity), "Resurrection"
(1994, on Relativity's Ruth less
imprint), and "One Day It'll All
Make Sense" (1997, for
Relativity proper). All six
chart singles from those albums,
plus a baker's dozen critically
chosen album tracks (including a
contribution to the "Soul In The
Hole" movie soundtrack) are
gathered on this first
compilation of his career.
Issued in both CD and vinyl
formats, thisisme then: the best
of common will be released by
Relativity/Legacy, a division of
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
Adding to the
collection are four CD extra
bonus video tracks: "Take It EZ"
(Common's first Rap chart
single, from "Can I Borrow A
Dollar?"); "I Used To Love H.E.R."
(from "Resurrection"); and
"Retrospect For Life" (featuring
Lauryn Hill) and "Invocation"
(both from "One Day It'll All
Make Sense").
In 1992,
20-year-old Chicago-born and
raised freestyler Common Sense
(as he was first known) could
hardly imagine where the future
would take him. One decade
later, his heartfelt rhymes and
uncompromising hip-hop attitude
earned him his first Grammy
Award (Best R&B Song for the #1
"Love of My Life (An Ode to
Hip-Hop)" with Erykah Badu), and
the first of several
high-profile movie roles. Film
has expanded the scope of his
art into new directions,
climaxing with his part in
"American Gangster", starring
Denzel Washington and Russell
Crowe, opening next month.
Earlier this
year, Common's most recent
album, "Finding Forever"
(produced mostly by Kanye West)
debuted at #1 the Billboard Top
200 Album chart - the artist's
first #1 debut. In the school of
hip-hop noted by the positivism
of such literate (and often
jazz-influenced) artists as De
La Soul, Digable Planets, the
Roots, A Tribe Called Quest,
Pharcyde, Jurassic 5, Gang
Starr, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and
others - Common has staked out
his own unique and important
position.
With music as
his artistic foundation, Common
has followed in the footsteps of
other rappers (such as Ludacris
and Mos Def) into film. His
first support role was last
year's Las Vegas-based
action-comedy "Smokin' Aces",
starring Ray Liotta and Jeremy
Piven. Following his current
role in "American Gangster",
Common will be seen in two films
next year: "The Night Watchman",
a rogue cop thriller with Keanu
Reeves, Hugh Laurie, and Forest
Whitaker, written by James
Ellroy; and "Wanted", the
adaptation of the graphic comic
novel, starring Angelina Jolie
and Morgan Freeman.
"Common's
first three albums are truly a
coming of age," Leah Rose
concludes. "As one of rap
music's most talented MCs, he
literally grew up in the music
that his loyal listeners still
cherish more than a decade after
its initial release. This
collection of songs draws from
that much missed era in hip-hop,
when lyrical prowess was the
hallmark of a rapper's success."
LegacyRecordings.com
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