I Used To Love H.E.R. / Communism
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Album Summary
Born out of the fertile Chicago hip-hop underground, Common dropped this EP in 1994 on Relativity Records, and baby, it was something special from the moment it hit the streets. Produced by the legendary DJ Premier — a man who could make a drum machine sound like it had a heartbeat — the project centered around the now-immortal track 'I Used To Love H.E.R.,' a song that arrived like a thunderclap and let the whole world know that a young man named Common Sense was not playing around. Recorded during a period when Common was sharpening his voice and finding his place in the culture, this EP captured an artist in full bloom, weaving allegory and soul into something that felt both urgent and timeless.
Reception
- 'I Used To Love H.E.R.' received heavy rotation on hip-hop radio and was embraced by critics as one of the most intelligent and affecting rap tracks of the decade, establishing Common as a formidable new presence in the game.
- Hip-hop publications and tastemakers praised the EP for its lyrical depth and DJ Premier's characteristically sparse, soulful production, positioning it as a standout release in an already competitive era.
- The project extended Common's reach well beyond Chicago, earning him respect from hip-hop communities on both coasts and helping legitimize the Midwest as a serious force in rap music.
Significance
- 'I Used To Love H.E.R.' stands as one of the most celebrated allegorical works in hip-hop history, using the metaphor of a lost love to deliver a profound and tender critique of hip-hop's drift toward commercialization — it was a love letter and a eulogy all at once.
- The EP cemented the creative chemistry between Common and DJ Premier, a pairing that represented the very soul of 1990s underground hip-hop — two artists who believed that consciousness and craft were never mutually exclusive.
- At a time when the national hip-hop conversation was dominated by the coasts, this release planted a Midwest flag with grace and force, helping pave the way for a generation of introspective, lyrically-driven rappers who followed in Common's footsteps.
Samples
- I Used To Love H.E.R. — one of the most referenced and interpolated tracks in conscious hip-hop, widely sampled and quoted across numerous hip-hop recordings throughout the late 1990s and 2000s as a touchstone of the genre's artistic legacy.
Tracklist
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A1 I Used To Love H.E.R. (Radio Edit) —
4:29
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A2 I Used To Love H.E.R. (Instrumental) —
4:43
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A3 I Used To Love H.E.R. (Acapella) —
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B1 Communism (LP Version) —
2:16
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B2 Communism (Instrumental) —
2:39
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B3 Communism (Acapella) —
Artist Details
Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. in Chicago, Illinois back in 1972, is one of the most soulful and intellectually sharp emcees to ever bless a microphone — a cat who came up through the Chi-Town hip-hop scene in the early '90s and helped define what conscious rap could sound and feel like, blending jazz-drenched production with poetic verses that spoke to love, Black identity, and the streets all at once. He brought that real head-noddin', soul-searchin' energy to the game with classics like *Resurrection* and *Like Water for Chocolate*, earning the respect of both the underground faithful and the mainstream without ever selling his soul to do it. Common's legacy runs deep not just in hip-hop, but in culture itself — an Oscar winner, an activist, and a living testament to the fact that rap music, when it's done right, is as profound and lasting as any art form that ever graced this earth.
