Be (album)

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For the album by Pain of Salvation, see BE (album)

Be
Image:Bealbum.jpg
Studio album by Common
Released	May 24, 2005 (U.S.)
Recorded	2004-2005
Genre	Hip hop
Length	42:43
Label	GOOD/Geffen
Producer(s)	Kanye West J Dilla
Professional reviews
AllHipHop.com Image:5 stars.png link All Music Guide link Blender link IGN Image:Stars10075.png link RapReviews.com link Rolling Stone link The Source link XXL Magazine Image:XXLmagRatingXXL.gif link
Common chronology
Electric Circus (2002)	Be (2005)	Finding Forever (2007)

Be is a 2005 album by rapper Common, produced by Kanye West and J Dilla. The album reached a peak of #2 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart, and became Common's second album to sell over 500,000 copies. Currently it has sold 800,000.^[1] Common released Be under West's record label, GOOD Music, and West produced 9 of the 11 songs off the album ("Love Is..." and "It's Your World" are both produced by Dilla).

Contents 1 Overview 2 Singles 3 Grammy Nominations 4 Track listing 5 Album singles 6 Chart positions 6.1 Album 6.2 Singles 7 External link 8 References

Overview

Be was touted as Common's comeback album after the commercially disastrous Electric Circus. His new alliance with Kanye West, also helped to spark public interest in the project. The results show that Common was clearly aware, and perhaps agreeing, with the negative criticisms about Electric Circus. In comparison to that album, Be is lean, immediate, and commanding, yet also restrained in its musical ambitions. Many believe it to be his safest album. Of the reaction to the album, the rapper said: "I don't think Electric Circus was as focused. Though I'd done some progressive hip-hop, people know me as the b-boy. When I showed them something different, a different style of b-boy, there were like, "Hold up. You can be Afrocentric, but what's this rock shit that you're doing?"^[2]

Singles

"The Corner"

Common gave his reasons for featuring controversial spoken word recording artists, The Last Poets, on the album's first official single, "The Corner": "They gifted at writing. They voices is incredible. They took my song to a higher level. And that's what hip-hop was about to me. It would have a message. It would take you to the next place. It was fresh as people say -- something new. They brought newness to what "The Corner" was and they also brought some nostalgia, too. Just them being from the '70s and being used in hip-hop and their spirit brought something pure to it. They gave me a better understanding of the corner after that. I knew those who had been listening to hip-hop would know who the Last Poets were and if they didn't they would feel it in their souls sooner or later. And I also felt good about introducing some of the youth to the Last Poets.^[3]

"Go!"

"Go" was the album's second, and highest charting single. The song featured Kanye West and John Mayer, however all the verses are performed by Common. The song continued Common's now apparent "ladies' man" persona, which begun with 2000's "The Light", and 2002's "Come Close". The video for the song included shots of Common surrounded by numerous models.

"Testify"

The album's third single, "Testify" received a type of promotional video known as a "mini-movie"; a term coined by Michael Jackson to describe a music video with a complex plot and a suitably long running time, often with intermissions between the song's parts. The video featured acting parts from, Taraji P. Henson, Bill Duke, Steve Harris, and Wood Harris, and received notable spins on specialist channels such as MTV2. The song samples "Innocent Until Proven Guilty" by Honey Cone.

Grammy Nominations

Be was nominated for four 2006 Grammy Awards.

• Best Rap Album, for Be

• Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "The Corner" (featuring The Last Poets) (from Be)

• Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, for "They Say" (featuring Kanye West and John Legend) (from Be)

• Best Rap Song, for writing "Testify" (from Be)

Track listing

#	Title	Length	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Performer (s)	Sample
1	"Be (Intro)"	2:24	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Caesar Frazier	Kanye West	Common James Poyser (keyboards) Derick Hodge (acoustic bass)	Contains samples from "Sweet Children" by Caesar Frazier Contains samples from "Mother Nature" by Albert Jones
2	"The Corner"	3:45	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Abiodun Oyewole Umar Bin Hassan Leon Moore	Kanye West	Common Kanye West The Last Poets	Contains samples from "You Make the Sun Shine" by The Temprees
3	"Go!"	3:44	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West John Mayer Linda Lewis	Kanye West	Common John Mayer Kanye West DJ A-Trak (scratches) Num Amuntehu (percussion)	Contains samples from "Old Smokey" by Linda Lewis
4	"Faithful"	2:36	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Dewayne Julius Rogers	Kanye West	Common Bilal John Legend James Poyser (keyboards) Ken Lewis (sample recreation)	Contains samples from "Faithful to the End" by DJ Rogers
5	"Testify"	2:36	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Angelo Bond General Johnson Gregory Perry	Kanye West	Common	Contains samples from "Innocent Til Proven Guilty" by Honey Cone
6	"Love Is..."	4:10	Lonnie Lynn James Yancey Anne Gaye Marvin Gaye James Nyx Elgie Stover	J Dilla	Common Luna E James Poyser (all instruments)	Contains samples from "God Is Love" by Marvin Gaye
7	"Chi-City"	3:27	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Eddie Cornelius	Kanye West	Common Kanye West DJ A-Trak (scratches) DJ Dummy (scratches)	Contains samples from "Since I Found My Baby" by Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
8	"The Food (Live)"	3:36	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Sam Cooke Stanley McKenney Eugene Record	Kanye West	Common Dave Chappelle Kanye West DJ Dummy (scratches)	Contains samples from "I Never Had It So Good" by The Chi-Lites Contains samples from "Nothing Can Change This Love" by Sam Cooke
9	"Real People"	2:48	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West Caesar J. Frazier	Kanye West	Common	Contains samples from "Sweet Children" by Caesar Frazier
10	"They Say"	3:57	Lonnie Lynn Kanye West John Legend Thomas Bell Linda Epstein	Kanye West	Common John Legend Kanye West	Contains samples from "Ghetto Child" by Ahmad Jamal
11	"It's Your World (Part 1 & 2)"	8:33	Lonnie Lynn James Yancey James Poyser Karriem Riggins Lonnie "Pops" Lynn Robert Curington Willie Lestor	J Dilla James Poyser (co-producer) Karriem Riggins (co-producer)	Common Bilal Lonnie "Pops" Lynn "The Kids" Kanye West (keyboards) James Poyser (keyboards and strings) Karriem Riggins (percussion)	Contains samples from "Share What You Got" by The Modulation

Album singles

Single information
"The Corner" Released: March 1, 2005 B-side:
"GO!" Released: June 14, 2005 B-side: "Chi-City"
"Testify" Released: September 27, 2005 B-side:

"The Food" was unofficially released as a single.^[4]
Although not officially released as a single, "Be" received a video treatment from Paul Hunter.^[5]

Chart positions

Album

Year	Album	Chart positions
		Billboard 200	Top Canadian Albums	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
2005	Be	#2	#10	#1
2006	Be			#1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2005	"Go!"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	31
2005	"Go!"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	46
2005	"Go!"	Hot Rap Tracks	21
2005	"Go!"	The Billboard Hot 100	79
2005	"Go!"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	68
2005	"Testify"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	44
2005	"The Corner"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	42
2005	"The Corner"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	64

External link

• XXL Calls 'Be' a Classic
• Common Hoping To Get Kanye To Work On His New Album Tentatively Titled "Finding Forever"

References

v • d • e Common
Discography
Studio albums
Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992) | Resurrection (1994) | One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997) | Like Water for Chocolate (2000) | Electric Circus (2002) | Be (2005) | Finding Forever (2007)
Singles
"Take It EZ" | "Breaker 1/9" | "Soul by the Pound" | "I Used to Love H.E.R." | "Resurrection" | "The Bitch in Yoo" | "Retrospect for Life" | "Reminding Me (Of Sef)" | "All Night Long" | "One-Nine-Nine-Nine" | "Car Horn" | "The 6th Sense" | "Funky for You" | "The Light" | "Geto Heaven Remix T.S.O.I. (The Sound of Illadelph)" | "While I'm Dancin'" | "Come Close" | "The Food" | "The Corner" | "Go!" | "Testify"
See Also
Soulquarians | Native Tongues Posse | Lonnie Lynn | GOOD Music | List of Common songs | Smokin' Aces | American Gangster

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