Robbed hit of the week 6/6/22 - Common's "The Light"...

 

 

"The Light" - Common

from the album Like Water For Chocolate (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #44 

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from rapper and actor Common, who grew up Lonnie Rashid Lynn in Chicago, where he started his music career at first as a part of a local group before heading out solo under the moniker Common Sense. Signed by the indie label Relativity, he released his debut single "Take It EZ" in September of 1992, which went to #5 on Billboard magazine's Rap Singles chart. His first album, Can I Borrow A Dollar?, followed a month later, and got to #70 on Billboard's R&B Albums sales tally.

Common Sense's sophomore effort, "Resurrection", was even more jazz and spoken-word influenced, and placed the rapper on the Billboard 200 sales tally for the first time at #179, and into the R&B Albums top-40 at #27. Lead single "I Used To Love H.E.R." also got him on the R&B Singles chart at #91. The second, "Resurrection", got to #88 at R&B and "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #102. At this point, legal action from a band with the Common Sense name had the rapper shorten himself to just Common for this third and final release on Relativity, One Day It'll All Make Sense, in 1997. That set made the top half of the Billboard 200 at #61, helped by single "Reminding Me (Of Sef)" with singer Chantay Savage, which came a notch from the Hot 100 at #101, while peaking at #57 on the R&B chart and landing his first minor hit in the UK at #59. 

 

With this momentum Common signed with major-label MCA Records, where he would take three years to record his next album Like Water For Chocolate. Executive produced by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of the Roots, and contributions from the New York-based Soulquarians music collective that included singers D'Angelo, Bilal, and Erykah Badu, the critically-heralded record really delved into the African-American experience through the art form. Lead single "The 6th Sense", featuring Bilal,had a violently riveting music video, and hit #87 on Billboard's R&B chart, and #14 on their Rap Singles list.

 

The second release from Like Water, "The Light", was built on a sample of Bobby Caldwell's album nugget "Open Your Eyes".  Produced by friend James "J Dilla" Yancey, the track narrows his focus to the woman he loves, with descriptive verses you really need to pay attention to as it washes over you. Badu appears in the video as the woman in question...

While "The Light" became Common's highest-charting single as a lead artist on Billboard's R&B chart at #12, it just missed the pop Hot 100 top-40 by a handful of notches in September of 2000. The song also climbed to #13 on the Rap Singles chart, and #21 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic radio format list. Internationally, the single was packaged as a two-fer with "6th Sense" in the UK, where it was a minor hit at #56. The Like Water For Chocolate album, released in March of that year, rose to #16 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #5 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half-million copies. At the 2001 Grammy Awards, "The Light" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance, losing to Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady".

A third single from the album, "Geto Heaven Remix T.S.O.I. (The Sound Of Illadelph)" featuring singer Macy Gray, went to #61 on the R&B Singles chart in America. It was Common's biggest hit as a lead artist in Britain, cresting at #48. In 2002, Common returned with his fifth album and second on MCA, Electric Circus. The wide-reaching collection of genres got mixed reviews, and lead single "Came Close" featuing Mary J. Blige stopped at #21 on the R&B chart, and #65 on the crossover Hot 100. The album made the R&B Albums top ten at #9, and placed at #47 on the Billboard 200. At the same time, Common appeared on Erykah Badu's single "Love Of My Life (Ode To Hip-Hop)", which gave the rapper his sole top ten rank on the Hot 100 at #9 (it'll be on the main "song of the day" series).

Kanye West took Common on to his G.O.O.D. Music label, where he released his next album Be in 2005. The record spent a week at #2 on the Billboard 200, and topped the R&B Albums list for a week. "Go!", the third single from the album, made the R&B top-40 at #31, and got to #79 on the pop Hot 100. Album track "They Say", featuring West and singer John Legend, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, which went to rock band Linkin Park and rapper Jay-Z for their "Numb/Encore" mashup. Second single "The Corner", featuring The Last Poets, barely missed the R&B top-40 at #42, and was up for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance, which the Black Eyed Peas took home for "Don't Phunk With My Heart". The fourth, "Testify", which also peaked just under the R&B top-40 at #44, also got nominated for Best Solo Rap Performance, which his own produced Kanye won for his "Gold Digger", as well as taking the Best Rap Album award for Late Registration over the Be album.  

The second album from Common on Kanye's label, Finding Forever, spent a week at #1 on both the Billboard 200 and R&B Albums charts in 2007. Lead single "The People", which went to #55 on the R&B Singles chart, was nominated for the Rap Solo Grammy losing again to West for his "Stronger", as well as the album did to West's Graduation. But album track "Southside", which did feature Kanye on the track, won for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance. That album was followed by Universal Mind Control in 2008, which earned Common another Best Rap Album nomination, losing to Eminem for his Relapse release in 2010. That same year, Common appeared on rapper Kid Cudi's single "Make Her Say" with Kanye, which just missed the pop top-40 at #43, and making it on the R&B list at #39. The song was nominated for the Best Duo/Group Rap Performance Grammy, which went to Eminem, Dr. Dre, and 50 Cent for their crass "Crack A Bottle". 

Warner Brothers gave Common his own vanity imprint Think Common, where he released his next album The Dreamer/The Believer in 2011. He also sang on John Legend and the Roots' cover of "Wake Up Everybody", which went to #53 on the R&B chart and was nominated for the Rap/Sung Grammy, which went to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys for their "Empire State Of Mind". He then moved to Def Jam's label ARTium headed by his producer Ernest "No ID" Wilson, for Nobody's Smiling, which returned Common to the #1 spot on Billboard's R&B Albums chart in 2014, and the top ten on the Billboard 200 at #6 in 2014. The set scored yet another Best Rap Album Grammy nomination, which Eminem took home for The Marshall Mathers 2 Album, while "Blak Majik" with singer Jhene Aiko from the set was up for Best Rap/Sung Perforamnce, also going to Eminem and Rihanna for "The Monster". That same year, Common and Legend recorded "Glory" for the civil rights movie Selma, which won the Grammy for Best Original Song and popped on to the pop Hot 100 chart at #49 and #18 on Billboard's R&B Singles list. It also won the Grammy for Best Song from Visual Media, and was up for Best Rap Song (losing to Kendrick Lamar's "Alright") and Best Rap/Sung Performance (which went to Lamar with Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat for "These Walls"). A second album on ARTium Records, Black America Again, made the Billboard 200 Top-40 at #25, and R&B Albums top 10 at #3. 

Common's most recent album, Let Love, came out in 2018, and went to #118 on the Billboard 200. He released a series of singles in 2021, most recently being "Majesty (Where We Gonna Take It)". 

(7/10)

Here's Common and Bilal performing "The Light" on a TV appearance promoting the album...

Next up, for Yahoo!'s live set in 2009...

and lastly, in concert in 2019 with Robert Glasper...