Release date: 03-10-2007

2007 US 2-LP vinyl set -An overview of Common's early days on Relativity - featuring a few tracks each from Can I Borrow A Dollar?, Resurrection and One Day It Will All Make Sense - a strong sample of his earlier greatness - presented in stickered & sealed gatefold sleeve.

Tracks:
01. Take It EZ
02. I Used To Love H.E.R.
03. Retrospect For Life (featuring Lauryn Hill)
04. Invocation
05. Heidi Hoe
06. I Used To Love H.E.R.
07. Book Of Life
08. Resurrection
09. thisisme
10. Retrospect For Life (featuring Lauryn Hill)
11. Reminding Me (Of Sef)
12. All Night Long (featuring Erykah Badu)
13. G.O.D. (Gaining One's Definition) (featuring Cee-Lo)
14. Stolen Moments Pt. III (Intro/Outro: Q-Tip)
15. High Expectation
 
As is often the case with Common, jazzy beats and samples are used a lot, with 'Coldblooded' being a good example. 'The Light' and 'The 6th Sense' are the tracks you will have heard and these are brilliant. Other standout tracks are 'Funky For You', featuring an excellent chorus sung by Jill Scott, 'Thelonius' and 'A Song for Assata'.

Common (originally Common Sense) was a highly influential figure in rap's underground during the '90s, keeping the sophisticated lyrical technique and flowing syncopations of jazz-rap alive in an era when commercial gangsta rap was threatening to obliterate everything in its path. His literate, intelligent, nimbly performed rhymes and political consciousness certainly didn't fit the fashions of the moment, but he was able to win a devoted cult audience. By the late '90s, a substantial underground movement had set about reviving the bohemian sensibility of alternative rap, and Common finally started to receive wider recognition as a creative force. Not only were his albums praised by critics, but he was able to sign with a major label that guaranteed him more exposure than ever before.