Not So Common

Common came back to the home team in 2004, signing with fellow Chicagoan—and No I.D. protégé—Kanye West's newly formed G.O.O.D. Music. Their first project, 2005's Be, found Common harking back to his B-boy basics over Kanye's gritty, meat-and-potatoes soul samples. The album was Com's highest-selling and acclaimed to date, selling 800,000 copies and earning a perfect "XXL" rating in XXL magazine.

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