To commemorate the ten-year anniversary of his Be album, XXL recently spoke to Common.
Since its release on May 24, 2005, Be has reached gold status selling over 800,000 copies. The rapper-turned-actor tells the Hip Hop publication that the album “might’ve been one of the highest points” in his career as a musician.
“I felt like, creatively, I hit that moment with Kanye where things were just flowing very naturally and the result came out really good,” he says. “People enjoyed it and it was at the right time.You have those moments in your career where that can happen and it happens more than one time in your career.”
The response to the album was quite favorable for Common. Be received a perfect rating from XXL and to date, Common says people still approach him and say, “That was a classic album.”
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“[It’s] definitely one of the most important albums in my career,” he says. “I’ve had 20-year-olds come up and say Be was one of their favorite albums…I felt like, ‘Man, this is a classic album.’ I felt the power of it, the soul of it and the heart of it. From the first note that the bass player Derrick Hodge played on the beginning of “Be” and just hearing the end, the mixes and the mastered version of it along with the album cover, I felt like it was the first time I immediately felt like I can say, ‘Man… This is a classic.’
“When XXL gave it a classic rating I was waiting on it, I ain’t gonna lie. I remember me and Kanye both were excited about that, because you know we fans of hip-hop and we love the music and you want to make an album that’s great. Especially me and Kanye, we want to make something that goes down as a classic.”
For more Common coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
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