Be (20th Anniversary)

Intimate yet expansive in its depiction of his Windy City, Be is Common’s return to his street-poet roots after the quirky Electric Circus. There’s a starkly real yet ultimately positive worldview throughout, because Common brings as much thoughtfulness to a track about gangbanging (“The Corner”) as he does the gorgeous self-love anthem “It’s Your World.” It’s the equivalent of listening to riveting stories from your pops . . . but over a soulful, scratchy beat.