{"id":6328,"date":"2025-02-26T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=6328"},"modified":"2025-02-20T16:32:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T21:32:43","slug":"arachnophonia-common-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2025\/02\/arachnophonia-common-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Common – “Be”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student manager Isaac (class of 2025) and features Common’s 2005 album Be<\/strong><\/a>. Thanks, Isaac!<\/em><\/p>\n

Common<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Be<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Common<\/a><\/p>\n

Be<\/em> by Common<\/a> is a special album because it\u2019s honest, inspiring, and full of heart\u2013\u2013and also one of my favorite albums in the music library. <\/p>\n

Released in 2005, it came at a time when Common<\/a> wanted to reconnect with his roots in hip-hop and tell stories that felt real to him. Produced largely by Kanye West<\/a>, the album\u2019s beats have a warmth and depth that perfectly complement Common\u2019s thoughtful lyrics. <\/p>\n

Tracks like “The Corner”<\/a> and “Go!”<\/a> bring vivid imagery of urban life, while songs like “Love Is\u2026”<\/a> and “Faithful”<\/a> explore love and spirituality with nuance and sincerity. <\/p>\n

Common himself is known for being one of the most reflective and poetic voices in hip-hop, never missing a chance to reference his hometown of Chicago. With Be<\/a><\/em>, he really focused on making music that felt authentic and meaningful, not just catchy. Songs like “The Corner” talk about life in the city, while “Faithful” and “Love Is…” explore deeper ideas about relationships and spirituality. <\/p>\n

My personal favorite track, \u201cThe Food (Live),\u201d<\/a> is a grainy live recording of Common and Kanye West performing the song in Chicago, with the two windy city natives poetically discussing their hometown in a raw, authentic manner that\u2019s emphasized by the live atmosphere, supported by a punchy, upbeat production in the background. The way the album was made \u2014 focused on collaboration and storytelling \u2014 makes Be<\/a><\/em> a gem at the music library, and I recommend checking it out one day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Arachnophonia (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library\u2018s collection. All links included in these … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[231704,15223,15242],"tags":[61217,231411,231763,231730,61214,120758,231764,38104,231068,13996,231728],"class_list":["post-6328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arachnophonia-arachnophonia","category-collection","category-promotional","tag-arachnophonia","tag-arachnophonia-24-25","tag-common","tag-conscious-hip-hop","tag-hip-hop","tag-kanye-west","tag-lonnie-rashid-lynn","tag-neo-soul","tag-progressive-rap","tag-rap","tag-rapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgMV3E-1E4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6331,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions\/6331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}