Shouts out to my boy Harold, who seems to have used his Purple Crayon to direct Common’s video for his new single "Announcement" (below)! J/k, it was actually directed by the talented Lil’ X. But the clip’s a lot of fun anyway. In addition to the whole 2-D look, I’m particularly enjoying the sidelong triple-take entrance of Pharrell, who produced "Announcement," at roughly 1:25-1:31. And the song’s a winner for sure. There’s a cool new laid-back party vibe emerging for Com’s new album, next month’s Invincible Autumn Summer… though it’s always possible that "Announcement" would sound different if I weren’t bumping it on the very same super-headphones that the dude in the video is rocking at the beginning. You’ll just have to tell me: Does this video look and sound as great to all of you?
Aug 28
2008
05:17 PM ET
Common's 'Announcement' video: Throw your crayons in the air!
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I’m a giant Common fan, and I am not feeling the love for this song one bit. It’s like he got overly defensive for being known as hip-hop’s socially conscious nice guy and now he’s turning his back on it and becoming almost misogynistic and ugly. I get he doesn’t want Invincible Summer to be “Be Part 3,” but there is just a phony hardness to the whole song that reeks of desperation.
Wow, I think you just described what I’ve been feeling towards this song. It just didn’t sit right.
Yep, something’s just not right. This is an honest to goodness lyric from the song
“I still love her she be needing a d*ck
when it comes to hip hop it’s just me and my b**ch”
It just makes it hard for all the times I’ve defended hip-hop from people who don’t get a lot of it, and now one of the intelligent beacons from it seems to be turning his back on what he was before. There was even that hilarious skit on Like Water where it was revealed he was a pimp, making light of his pro-women image. Where did that go?
This must be a come-on for the audience or some inside joke I’m not grasping, because that’s definitely not the same Common from his last two albums. It just sounds very out of place for a more mellow rapper.
Fatima pretty much nailed it. It’s fine if he wants to diverge from the direction that spawned ‘Be’ and ‘Finding Forever’ (though I see nothing wrong with that…the rap industry needs something to counter balance the Soulja Boys) but this is too left field for him.
The worst offense is that the song isn’t even good, misogynistic goals or otherwise. Pharrel showing up for a cameo doesn’t help either (never liked him as a rapper and can barely tolerate him as a producer).
And what is so awful about Common being a positive voice in hip-hop in the first place? Someone has to have the title, and I’m glad it has been Common. He stands out among a sea of “bling and ho” mongers. He is the positivity that hip-hop started out as. This is a little sad to me.
That’s what’s so ironic about Common’s title as the socially conscious rapper. Nowadays, the act is practically an aberration, but the genre used to be much more focused on social progression before gangsta rap came to the scene. It’s not just Common. Lupe Fiasco faces it too (and addressed the issue on The Cool’s ‘Dumb it Down’) and Nas as well (notably with his album Hip Hop is Dead). Kanye too, but he’s too much of an egomaniac to care about his views.
Still, it’s not like the rap world needs another crass artist, tainting the scene.
I don’t know about hip-hop rap, but I like the video.
that is good stuff. fun video but more importantly really great song. feels old school in a good way.
for the people who saying he going in a different direction then BE and Finding Forever, it’s because Kanye’s not producing the new album, pharell and the neptunes are so you can’t expect it to stay the same, so just enjoy the music cause its dope
its not so much the production, it’s that his lyrics got stupid and degrading and so so so anti-Common.
yhyh, i know what u mean lyrics wise, but we have only heard 3 songs off his new album, also this was just suppose to be a album u listen to in the summer, wen u at party’s, its not meant to be a deep meaning album like BE
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It’s good! rolex watch?
luxury watch?