Top Five Reasons Common Should Be In Your Top Five

“Top 5” lists are often a personal thing. Everyone has their reasons for their top five emcees. Sometimes, those reasons will include “because I said so," or the other go-to "because it’s my list,” When talking personal favorites, your list is your list. Things are different when arguing greatest of all-time however.  Certain guys are almost required to be mentioned. List the top five greatest emcees of all time, and leave off Nas…see the reaction. The man made Illmatic…one of the greatest albums of all time. When he was counted out, he came back with Stillmatic. Nas made classic tracks like “If I Ruled The World” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”…leaving Nas out of the top five greatest of all-time is foolish. You can not like him, but to try to deny what he's done within the culture, for the culture, and to the culture is an exercise in futility and/or expression of ignorance.

Most would agree the same arguments could be made for Jay-Z. While Hov and Nas are locks for Top 5 greatest emcees of all-time nearly across the board, the same arguments (and some unique ones) could also be made for Common. 

Check out a few reasons why you should consider adding Com to your top five.

Classic albums are a requirement to be considered a great emcee. Everybody has had hot lines here and there. You and your boys might have kicked some dope rhymes in a cypher. Putting together a classic piece of work is a different story. Some of your favorites have yet to do it. Once an artists drops a classic, they're forever cemented in the history books of Hip-Hop. without it, they risk becoming "Remember..."

Most would agree, Common has at least two classic albums to his name in Like Water for Chocolate, and Be. Common worked directly with two of the greatest producers of all-time in J Dilla, and Kanye West, yet he was never overshadowed by the production. Common showed his diversity, while never giving off the feeling of reaching outside of his lane. Hard aggressive rhymes, story telling, varied content, even displaying a sense of humor times, on both Like Water for Chocolate and Be Common covered all bases. 

When Common isn’t dropping classics, he still releases solid albums like Nobody’s Smiling and One Day It’ll All Make Sense. 

Every now and then, a song cements itself in the history of Hip-Hop. You go to a Hip-Hop show, you know “93 Til Infinity” is going to play. You have to question anyone who claims to not know the words to “Electric Relaxation”. While not every emcee can make a classic album, it’s almost rarer that they make a classic song. Common has done both. “I Used to Love H.E.R.” will go down as the official love letter to Hip-Hop which actually makes it kinda tricky for the emcee once referred to as Common Sense. With a song like “I Used to Love H.E.R.” coming early in Common’s career, other songs like “The Light” tend to get outshined. (Did you catch that?)

Let’s not forgot his collaborations. At times, collaborations become more competition than working in unison. While the competitive collaborations are great, and can turn out good records, true collaborations are rare. The ability to collaborate on a track without simply rhyme battling is a skill in itself. The assist Common gave Black Star on “Respiration” is as solid as they come. His feature on Erykah Badu’s “Love of My Life” may not have been long, but it was a big part of what made the song.

The great Rakim once said “emcee means move the crowd”. The live show was once a necessity to be an emcee. You couldn't just hide behind music video camera's, or kick bars off your phone at the radio show. You had to get on that stage and rock the mic. All the early greats did it. While your favorite new artist may lack the ability to rock a crowd, a Common live show is a sight to see. You’re nearly guaranteed to get a freestyle, and his 2013 Rock the Bells performance found the then-40-year old emcee break dancing. His bars are as on point as when you're listening to his music at home. He doesn't forget his songs, new or old unlike some of your other favorite artists because he's dedicated to his craft.  

Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. Can someone really be considered one of the greatest emcees off only one or two albums? They have a great little run and then vanish...how can you consider them in the top five? At one point, cats thought Canibus was the illest rapper alive. Now, he's losing rap battles rhyming from notebooks. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Relevance, relevancy, and relevant have all become dirty words in Hip-Hop. Understandable. You can never really call someone like Chuck D irrelevant. While that's understood by most who truly love the culture of Hip-Hop, we also have to be honest, everyone isn't delivering the same quality of music they once did. As much as we love and respect Rakim for what he's brought to the game, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who would tell you his 2009 album The Seventh Seal was on par with Clipse Hell Hath No Fury or anywhere near the top releases of that year. As a Lakers fan, I know Kobe's run of being top dog is over, even as he continues to play.

Common came in the game in 1992 as Common Sense, dropping Can I Borrow a Dollar. However, in 1994 he dropped Resurrection, which featured the aforementioned Hip-Hop classic "I Used To Love H.E.R.". In 2014 Common dropped Nobody's Smiling, one of the years best releases, and currently Grammy-nominated. When you consider the quality of the projects released between 1994 and 2014, that's 20 years of quality music. Sure, they weren't all Be...but did Common ever truly fall off? Can you name five other artists with a similar run? I doubt it.

Record sales and recognition from outsiders is normally deemed irrelevant when speaking on who's the best within the culture, and it's done for valid reasons. While marketing, hype, and pop appeal can lead to album sales, it doesn't make an emcee dope. Still, the rare occasion when a dope emcee does get those looks, does sell records, or does get acknowledgement from the mainstream without reaching, it should be appreciated. As phrases like 'cultural appropriation" have become popular (necessary) topics of discussion as of late, receiving accolades from mainstream society without compromising one's art has always been a difficult task in the world of Hip-Hop.

Common is as true to the culture as they come. Searching his catalog looking for his "You Owe Me" record would be a waste of your time. Still, the Chicagoan has been constantly acknowledged as one of the top artists in the game, not just from within the culture, but those on the outside who have been known to "miss the boat". Take the Grammy's for instance...Common has been nominated for at least one Grammy at 6 different Grammy Award shows with a pending 7th, with a total of 16 nominations. He's won twice. In comparison, Nas has 12 nominations with no wins. While this doesn't and shouldn't place Common above Nas, it shows just how hard it is to get acknowledgement without sacrificing art. Common recently won a Golden Globe for his collaboration with John Legend, "Glory", and is nominated for an Academy Award as well.  

While Common hasn't gone diamond, both of his classic albums were certified Gold. A solid accomplishment for someone without big marketing bucks or gimmicks behind their music.