Anticipated almost as hotly as the album itself, was the announcement of the various collaborations for The Dreamer/The Believer. Common has been known to work with big names from every walk of musical life - collabs can make or break an album, especially in the hip-hop industry but Common has had nothing but success in this respect. His title track and album opener, The Dreamer is a testament to that fact, and features the one and only Maya Angelou. Civil rights activist, author and poet, Angelou was the perfect fit for this song. An incredibly uplifting number with a strong beat and a ton of emotion, The Dreamer is vaguely reminiscent of Lennon’s Imagine – but only thanks to Angelou. Common seems to struggle to find the right words to express his message (whatever that may be?) and it is Maya Angelou’s spoken word during the slower part of the track that is effective. Common’s verses, while lyrically, are a bit lacking, he manages to provide a solid number. A few clever and sometimes endearing verses from Common save this song from being imbalanced and lacklustre.

The album’s second track, and second collaboration switches it up and brings back a flair that’s reminiscent of early-mid 1990’s hip hop – a time when the genre was at its peak. Ghetto Dreams featuring rapper/artist Nas, is a tough, edgy song with a hard-hitting beat. The track’s simple hook is definitely not its strongest point, but the song as a whole has a kind of new school meets old school feel that is really cool. You can hear the 90s hip-hop nature at the soul of this number, with horns and a jazz-like influence subtly in the background. The only downside to this song is that it references the prototypical perfect girlfriend, who not only makes pancakes while naked but isn’t opposed to getting stoned in the backseat of Common’s car after a quickie. The lyrics make this song feel very predictable, but the tone is abrasive and uncompromising, and altogether pretty different for Common.

Another track worth mentioning is definitely Sweet, an unabashedly obvious quip at Canadian hip-hop artist Drake. Accusations of “softness” and name calling take control of this number and I had a good chuckle at Drake’s expense. The song is pretty justified as Common has years of experience and success on Drake, but that’s beside the point. The song is about competition, much like the world of hip-hop itself. Common’s fearless nature is evident here and the song’s roughness is the perfect match to the message it puts forth. Using the same old school vibe as Ghetto Dreams, Sweet is one of the stronger songs on The Dreamer/The Believer.

Especially pleasing was his track with John Legend, The Believer, which was choc-full of emotion and power. The song had me bobbing along from the first beat, and the passion in Legend’s voice made it clear that this collaboration was the right choice.

The rest of the album was a mish-mash of soulful hip-hop with an R&B flavour, to gritty rap numbers with hard beats. Infused with everything from sexy female vocals, to samples from Curtis Mayfield to a speech made by Common’s own father in Pops’ Belief, The Dreamer/The Believer covers a ton of ground. This is not to say that the album was interesting in every respect – songs like Windows and Blue Sky fell a bit short. All in all, the album is appealing and different, but, for me, didn’t emulate everything I had heard about Common’s greatness. His lyrics failed to blow me away, but I was impressed with his collaborations.

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