BY PARFIT • JUNE 2, 2019

Since the release of his 1994 song “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” Common has had a complex and well-documented relationship with Hip-Hop. At first listen, the song played like Common Sense’s ode to a woman with whom he’d had a life long affair, which was a love-hate relationship. At the end of the record, however, Common revealed the woman about whom he rapped had actually been a metaphor for Hip-Hop.

Over the years, Common has added chapters to what has become an anthology about H.E.R. (Hip-Hop in its Essence is Real). The next installment came in the form of a verse he performed on The Roots’ “Act Too (The Love Of My Life),” from their 1999 album, Things Fall Apart. In the 5 years since he first broached the topic, Common had lost even more respect for Hip-Hop, lamenting on what he saw as its bastardization through over the top Hype Williams videos, and mainstream records produced by Puff Daddy. He also referenced a beef that had ensued with Ice Cube, over a reference Common had made to “boyz n the hood” on “I Used To Love H.E.R.” By the end of the song, Comm’ was able to express gratitude for what Hip-Hop had given him over the years, in retrospect, but it seemed begrudging.

Common’s next flirtation with H.E.R. came in 2002, by way of a verse on Erykah Badu’s “Love Of My Life (An Ode To Hip-Hop),” from the Brown Sugar soundtrack. Nearly 10 years removed from his original song, Common’s bitterness toward his first love was beginning to soften. The time that had passed gave him better understanding that Hip-Hop’s ability to make money didn’t cheapen the culture, and its evolution to embrace singing and other more mainstream-friendly elements did not necessarily dilute it.

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