Common on Vinyl: Where to Start and Where to Go Next

Lonnie Rashid Lynn was born in Chicago on March 13, 1972, and made his first records as Common Sense. The debut, Can I Borrow a Dollar?, arrived in 1992 on Relativity, and two years later Resurrection turned him from a promising South Side rapper into one of the writers other rappers watched. An Orange County ska band with the same name sued shortly after, and the Sense came off for good.

What makes the catalog worth collecting as a run is that he keeps moving rooms. The early Relativity albums are Chicago boom bap built almost entirely by No I.D. Around 2000 he moved into the Soulquarians orbit at Electric Lady with J Dilla, Questlove, and James Poyser, and came out with a looser, warmer, more musical record. In 2005 Kanye West produced most of Be for GOOD Music. The recent run on Loma Vista is quieter and jazz-leaning, made with Karriem Riggins and then with Pete Rock. Very few rappers get four distinct periods that all hold up.

He is also a working actor and author, which is part of why the music never settled into one lane. Here is the shape of what we carry, in order.

Can I Borrow a Dollar? - 1992

The 1992 debut, credited to Common Sense and released on Relativity, is a young rapper showing off, and it is a lot of fun for exactly that reason. No I.D. and the Twilite Tone built the beats out of jazz records and hard drums, and the writing is dense with punchlines rather than the reflection he became known for. This 180 gram pressing is the cleanest way to own it.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The origin point, and the only place to hear him before the voice settled.
• Early No I.D. and Twilite Tone production, and a template for Chicago rap that followed.
• 180 gram pressing of a record that spent a long stretch out of print.

Resurrection - 1994

Out October 4, 1994 on Relativity and cut at Battery Studios, Resurrection is the record to start with. No I.D. produced all but two tracks, and the sound is warm, jazz-sampled Chicago boom bap that never once tries to sound like New York. I Used to Love H.E.R. sits at its center, an extended metaphor about hip-hop as a woman who changed, and it drew a public response from Ice Cube that ran for the better part of a year. We also carry an import pressing and an opaque blue and butter cream color edition.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The single most important album in the catalog and the correct entry point.
• No I.D. across almost the whole record, one of the great producer and rapper pairings.
• Three pressings on the shelf, so you can choose the version you actually want.

One Day It'll All Make Sense - 1997

Released September 30, 1997 on Relativity, One Day It'll All Make Sense is the first album billed simply as Common, and the first written from the inside out: fatherhood, faith, and doubt in place of battle raps. No I.D., James Poyser, Karriem Riggins, and the Twilite Tone handled production, and Erykah Badu is among the guests. It closes the Relativity years and points straight at what came next.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The pivot record, where the writing turns personal and stays that way.
• The last album with No I.D. as primary producer until 2011.
• 25th anniversary caramel color pressing from Get On Down.

Like Water for Chocolate - 2000

Like Water for Chocolate came out in 2000 on MCA and is the Soulquarians album: recorded largely at Electric Lady with J Dilla, Questlove, James Poyser, and Karriem Riggins, with Mos Def, Bilal, Slum Village, and Femi Kuti passing through. The Light, built by Dilla from a Bobby Caldwell loop, is the song most people know, but the album around it is the real argument, live-feeling and unhurried in a way rap records rarely were then.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The essential Soulquarians document alongside Voodoo and Things Fall Apart.
• J Dilla production at his most melodic, including The Light.
• The bridge between 1990s boom bap and everything neo-soul did next.

Be - 2005

Released May 24, 2005 on GOOD Music and Geffen, Be is short, focused, and produced almost entirely by Kanye West, with J Dilla handling Love Is and co-producing It's Your World. The Last Poets open it, John Legend and Bilal sing on it, and the whole thing runs about forty minutes with nothing wasted. If Resurrection is the head, this is the one that gets played most.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The most replayable album he has made, and the easiest first listen.
• Kanye West production across a full album, in his soul-sample period.
• Two J Dilla contributions, made near the end of his life.

A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2 - 2021

Out September 10, 2021 on Loma Vista and produced start to finish by Karriem Riggins, A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2 is the sequel to his 2020 album of the same name and the better of the pair. Black Thought, Brittany Howard, Seun Kuti, James Poyser, and poet Jessica Care Moore appear. It is a live-band record more than a sample record, closer to a jazz session with rapping over it.

Why it's worth purchasing

• Karriem Riggins producing alone, which is a rare and worthwhile thing.
• Black Thought and Brittany Howard on the same album.
• Neon yellow color pressing from Loma Vista.

The Auditorium Vol. 1 - 2024

Common and Pete Rock made The Auditorium Vol. 1 together, released July 12, 2024 on Loma Vista, with Pete Rock producing and mixing the whole thing. Posdnuos of De La Soul, Bilal, Jennifer Hudson, and PJ appear, and J Rocc cuts on one track. Two men in their fifties made the most straightforwardly enjoyable rap record either had put out in years. Also on the shelf in translucent forest green and a yellow import.

Why it's worth purchasing

• Pete Rock producing a full album, which does not happen often.
• The strongest late-career record in the catalog, and a good second purchase.
• Three pressings carried, including two color editions.

Where to go next in the catalog

Two related titles sit nearby. August Greene, the 2018 trio album with Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper, is the jazz side of his recent work taken all the way, and it explains a lot about where A Beautiful Revolution came from. Amerigo Gazaway's Common Wonder sets his verses against Stevie Wonder productions, and our Amerigo Gazaway guide covers that series. Elsewhere in the discography, Electric Circus from 2002 is the strange one, Finding Forever picks the Be formula back up, and Black America Again from 2016 is the most political thing he has made, though we do not currently stock those three.

If You Like Common

• A Tribe Called Quest: the jazz-sampling standard he measured himself against. Our Tribe guide maps that catalog.
• De La Soul: the other great conversational rap group, and Posdnuos turns up on The Auditorium.
• Pete Rock: his Auditorium partner, and worth hearing with CL Smooth first.
• J Dilla: the producer behind The Light and two songs on Be, and the center of the Soulquarians.
• The Roots: the live-band answer to the same question, with Questlove connecting both catalogs.

If this is the corner of the shelf you are building, our Hip-Hop and Funk / Soul / Disco sections are where the rest of this conversation happens, and the Essential 90s Hip-Hop guide sets the wider scene. To see every title we carry by him, including pressings not covered above, browse everything at Common.