Very few recognized as masterful rappers are as bound by their producers as Common. His original classic, Resurrection, is as recognizable for No I.D.’s jazzy, languid beats as it is for Com’s loose, insightful rhymes. This trend has continued throughout his career, perhaps best exemplified by the large-scale fan rejection of the wildly experimental sound of his Electric Circus LP in 2002. Common is such a reliable constant in the equation that perhaps the only variable left is the production. His second consecutive album executive produced by Kanye West has some of the same problems that plagued its predecessor, Be.

Unlike, Be, however, this album does not make a good first impression. Standing in stark contrast to the three instantly recognizable bass notes that open Be, the instrumental intro track of Finding Forever is a formless waste of 77 seconds. The album limps on with the unimpressive Start The Show. Be’s title track was a tight, succinct mission statement over a tight Kanye collabo beat. This song is a sprawling mess, with an unfocused beat that seems to lose Common at times, making every verse sound like it stops a bar early, and giving the impression that he’s simply run out of rhymes. It is a discouraging start to the CD.

After stumbling out of the gate, however, the first single, The People, pulls things back together. A Gil Scott-Heron sample and good key work from Omar Edwards provide a decent backing, even in the near-absence of drums. This would’ve been a much better opening track: Common is in better form, and assuming his favored leader-of-the-people persona much more convincingly this time. It is only a temporary reprieve; however, as Drivin’ Me Wild is one of the worst of Kanye tracks, and Com’s story raps can’t overcome the non-bouncing piano loop and background screeching from Lily Allen. The good news is that with the disc’s two worst tracks out of the way, things fall back into place with I Want You. Will.I.Am is in typically fine form as he laces a dusty conga-driven swerve for an inspired heartbreak track.

Southside cries out for a mixing engineer, with a fat, swerving energy, and basically no drums. However, Common and ‘Ye (in the album’s only guest verse) manage to pull some magic out of this less-than-ideal setting. Their Chicago swagger and tight flows play off one another very well. The Game is pretty mean on all accounts, with a fairly blistering flow from Com: “Punchlines are like jab hits to rappers/ whose careers now ashes, it’s too many slashes/in his name/came to the game as gun clappers/from weak rhymes to clothing line to an actress.” Cuts courtesy of DJ Premier make one wonder why he wasn’t tapped for the track, being that his 6th Sense was one of the best tracks of Common’s career.

U, Black Maybe is fairly skippable, and the fact that So Far To Go is right after it only compounds this. The latter features a remixed Donuts beat by J Dilla and a pleasingly mack-ish reworking of Com’s original freestyle on the track, which was released last year on Dilla’s The Shining: “Sweetheart, you know that you the most/Important, at least on the west coast.” Break My Heart is a nice use of George Duke’s Someday as a sample, and a lighthearted story rap. The best beat on this album belongs to Misunderstood. Low-pitched pianos and haunting Nina Simone vocals lie under a somber track with similar themes to Be’s It’s Your World. Thankfully, Pops returns to take us home at the end of Forever Begins. His grandfatherly spoken word is an asset Common has always been well-advised to use. As Common’s career progresses into its later stages, Pops’ reflections on leaving behind a legacy become ever more relevant.

When Be came out, I blamed Kanye for a lot of the same production issues this album faces. At this point, however, I have to remember that it is Common’s album, and he does have some creative responsibilities for the final product. Why ‘Ye chose not to use his connections with John Brion (or the reliable Rocafella engineering team, for that matter) is anyone’s guess, but quite simply, he should not be allowed near a mixing console. Com navigates through troubled waters once again though, still able to preach enlightenment without being overbearing, saving a lot of the album’s potential disasters. Hope springs eternal that he will move toward a more reliable production team in the future, but for now, like Be, what could’ve been a great album is just a good one.