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Hip-hop superstar and actor Common contributes a best-of list to The Aftermath's mixtape series. The Chicago rapper, who is highly respected for his lyrics, has compiled a list of his top 3 songs based on metaphors.
CommonAmong Common's favorites are songs from Main Source, Nas and himself. Common describes Main Source's "Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball" as the first record he ever heard with a double meaning. "[The song] uses all these baseball terms to talk about what's going on with police brutality," he says about the 1991 track that comes in at Number 3 on his list.
Common's Number 2 pick is Nas's "I Gave You Power" in which the Illmatic compares himself to a lethal weapon. "The song is about him becoming a gun," Common says. "It was dope, very dope song, well written. I think it's one of the greatest songs." The song appears on Nas's 1996 album "It Was Written."
The top song in Common's ranking is his 1994 record "I Used To Love Her." "It's about hip-hop being this woman and how I love this woman and she's going through these changes and I didn't know how I felt about that."
HEAR COMMON'S TOP 3 METAPHORICAL RAP SONGS
(WARNING SONGS CONTAIN EXPLICIT LYRICS)
Main Source
"Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball" (1991)
Nas
"I Gave You Power" (1996)
Common
"I Used To Love Her" (1994)
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Camera and video editing: Robert Gardner