Common, Be

"They were hitting me with their hands, and that one said something to me, also"
-Mr. Show

So, this week saw the release of two great albums, Sleater-Kinney's 'The Woods' and Common's 'Be'. Now, you should already have purchased the S-K album, and, if you haven't, why not? It's absolutely badass. Now, Common, I can understand as being a harder sell. It does have a number of strikers against it:
-it's produced by Kanye West, who is in severe danger of Lindsay Lohaning himself into that state of "God, won't he just go away for a couple of minutes".
-it's Common, the same Common who did those irritating, vaguely annoying safe sex commercials where he's riding the bus in his little knitted cap.
-it's Common, who has been somewhat hit or miss the past few years.
-John Mayer guests on a track, and everyone seems to hate him for some reason. I like John Mayer, I don't understand the hatred, but you can't deny it exists.
So, to win you back, I provide you with this, the first track on the album.

Common "Be" {it's a yousendit link, so left click, not right)

This is such an amazing track. It starts off with a simple bass, and it's instantly the catchiest thing ever, but then the bass is buried underneath a keyboard riff that is soooooo even catchier, and you're bopping your head along, and, THEN, the keyboard and bass both shift into the background as some sampled strings take centre-stage and this is it, this is the song, and it's perfect. Now, this is just meant as the intro to the album so it's short, but in that shortness, you have one of the most exuberant moments of the year, so far. So, download this, then buy the album ASAP, because it's an early contender for hip hop album of the year.