All the publicity and hype surrounding Common's new album, Be, has focused on two things: the collaboration with kindred spirit Kanye West and the "return to form" for Common after the disappointing sales of his last album Electric Circus. In just about every interview and article, Common has to defend the album and its merits. He gives reasons why the album sounded the way it did (he wasn't into much hip-hop at the time) and his motivations for doing it (he wanted to expand the boundaries of hip-hop). The general consensus is that Common's fans didn't like Electric Circus and neither did the general record buying public. The album only had one single, "Come Close" which featured Mary J. Blige and was produced by The Neptunes. However, I feel that the album has gotten a bad rap and is a wonderful, innovative album that audiences just weren't ready for.

Electric Circus is an album that is influenced by rock. It doesn't combine rock with hip-hop in the way acts like Linkin Park or Rage Against The Machine did. Instead, it uses rock as a starting point to create songs that are still hip-hop, much in the same way that A Tribe Called Quest used jazz samples to create the soundscapes of their album The Low End Theory. Also, the album doesn't use rock from the 80's or the 90's as a starting point, but rock primarily from the 1970's, the progressive, experimental kind. Common said in interviews around the time of this album that he had gotten into artists such as Traffic. The result is a sound that is vastly different from any of Common's other albums, even Like Water For Chocolate.

Each song on Electric Circus has a distinct sound. "Soul Power" has a pulsing bass-heavy beat that is punctuated by handclaps and a spacy synth. "Electric Wire Hustler Flower" has a slow, funky sound with a hint of rock courtesy of Sonny from P.O.D. "Come Close" is a Neptunes production that is smooth and subdued while "I Got A Right Ta" is a Neptunes production that sounds closer to N.E.R.D. territory. "New Wave" is the perfect title for this song with a beat that is clearly influenced by New Wave music, complete with a guest appearance by Laetitia Sadler of Stereolab. "Star *69 (PS With Love)" sounds a lot like a Prince song in part because Prince himself plays guitar and keyboards on it. "I Am Music" has a jazzy feel that is perfect for the vocals of guest Jill Scott. "Between Me, You & Liberation" is a smooth jam worthy of The Roots and one that shows Common's maturity in its subject matter. "Jimi Was A Rock Star" is probably the least hip-hop track on the album, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix that is unusual but compelling.