Resurrection
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Album Summary
Resurrection is Common's second studio album — not his debut, but the record that truly introduced the world to who this man was and what he was capable of. Recorded primarily in 1993 and released on Relativity Records on October 4, 1994, this album was a meeting of minds and cities, with sessions stretching across Chicago and New York. The production roster reads like a who's who of the era's finest architects: No I.D., Pete Rock, DJ Premier, and Q-Tip all lent their hands to shaping this thing into something special. Common — then performing under the name Com — was just a young brother from the South Side with something serious to say, and Resurrection was the moment he said it loud enough for the whole hip-hop world to hear.
Reception
- The album received widespread critical acclaim from hip-hop publications and underground music critics, cementing Common's reputation as one of the most articulate and thoughtful voices emerging from the mid-'90s scene.
- Resurrection performed modestly on commercial charts upon release, but built deep and lasting credibility within hip-hop communities that would sustain Common's career for decades to come.
- The album's introspective lyricism and exceptional production quality earned it recognition as a landmark independent hip-hop release of the mid-1990s, praised for its artistic integrity over commercial ambition.
Significance
- Resurrection positioned Common squarely within the mid-'90s underground hip-hop renaissance, placing him in conversation with the likes of Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, and Pete Rock — artists who believed hip-hop could be both intelligent and soulful at the same time.
- The album demonstrated that Chicago had something profound to contribute to hip-hop beyond the dominant sounds of the day, establishing the city as a home for lyrical depth and conscious thought that would echo through future generations of artists.
- Tracks like 'I Used To Love H.E.R.' — a poetic allegory for hip-hop itself — showed the genre was capable of genuine literary sophistication, and that piece alone gave this album a permanent place in the canon of important hip-hop statements.
Samples
- "I Used To Love H.E.R." — one of the most culturally referenced tracks in conscious hip-hop history, sampled and interpolated across numerous recordings as artists sought to invoke its allegorical weight and boom-bap elegance.
- "Resurrection" — the title track has been sampled by later hip-hop artists drawn to its raw lyrical energy and the distinctive sonic foundation No I.D. constructed beneath it.
- "Watermelon" — has been sampled in subsequent hip-hop productions seeking to capture the laid-back, jazz-inflected groove that defined the album's deeper cuts.
Tracklist
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A1 Resurrection 91
3:47
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A2 I Used To Love H.E.R. 91
4:39
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A3 Watermelon 93
2:39
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A4 Book Of Life 86
5:06
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A5 In My Own World (Check The Method) 89
3:32
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A6 Another Wasted Nite With... —
1:02
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A7 Nuthin' To Do 89
5:20
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B1 Communism 96
2:16
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B2 WMOE 92
0:24
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B3 Thisisme 91
4:54
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B4 Orange Pineapple Juice 89
3:28
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B5 Chapter 13 (Rich Man Vs. Poor Man) 172
5:23
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B6 Maintaining 97
3:49
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B7 Sum Shit I Wrote 81
4:31
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B8 Pop's Rap 91
3:22
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.
