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''Be'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper Common, released May 24, 2005 on GOOD Music and Geffen Records. Primarily produced by hip hop artist Kanye West, the album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart and became Common's second album to sell over 500,000 copies (over 800,000 copies). ''Be'' also became a critical success, receiving general praise and accolades from several critics and music publications. The album received a perfect "XXL" rating from hip hop publication ''XXL'' magazine. - Wikipedia

Common has always functioned most comfortably as a hip-hop everyman. But when he raps, "We write songs about wrong/ 'Cause it's hard to see right" on "Corners," it's somewhat misleading, considering that Common's reporter's eye has always been kind of rose-tinted. That's not to call him a fabulist, just to say that the everyday life he chronicles so easily usually has a romantic aspect to it, like a documentary shot in slow motion. When he raps about hanging out on the corner, he takes you right in-the aroma, the outfits, the chess games, the wind whistling through your clothes.

Common is at his most determinedly quotidian on Be, as if he's consciously stepping back after the brave, indulgent fripperies of 2002's Electric Circus. That album may have been produced by the Roots, but Be is Common's real roots move. With Kanye West handling most of it, and Jay Dilla working on "It's Your World," it's lean where Circus sprawled: 11 cuts, no skits, few guest stars, most notably the Last Poets on "Corners." The hip-hop equivalent of a neo-soul album, Be does have some of that genre's sonic conservatism. But with Common asserting himself more fluently than he has since 1994's Resurrection, that's hardly a problem.