Our favorite track from the Likwidation LP. Spare beats with a staccato piano line throughout plus the sound of rolling bottles as percussion, with a great appearance by the late great ODB! 12-inch, Vinyl record

"I rap with the Passion of Christ, Ni**a, cross me!" BE isn't exactly a back-to-basics LP in the vein of his classic work for Relativity – but it is indeed a return to a focused, genuinely soulful, no BS approach – and it's a very welcome one at that! It seems like Com was a bit affected by some of the criticism folks had for the spacious, astral Electric Circus LP – if you ask us Common had no reason to apologize, but we'd be lyin' if we said we weren't hoping for another batch of tracks that sound like they could have been written on a front porch on the southside of Chicago. This is indeed that record – 12 tracks, few guest appearances, and a warm, consistent sound all the way through. There's a 3 track span on this album, from "Chi-City" through "Real People", that's seriously close to perfection. Welcome home, Common! Ruggedly produced by Kanye West, with a couple of stellar production contributions from Jay Dee! Other tracks include "The Corner" feat Last Poets, "Go!", "Faithful", "Testify", "Love Is. . .", "The Food (live)" (this great track has been circulating for a while since it was performed on Chappelle's Show, and we're thrilled Common and Kanye had the good sense to include it on the album), "They Say" featuring John Legend and "It's Your World (Part 1 &2)". LP, Vinyl record album

De La Soul take on the world of hip hop with a record that's very much at the top of their game – leaner in production than before, but at a level that also brings a bit more bite to their rhymes – a good thing too, as the group take on some of their contemporaries as they assess the state of hip hop in the shadow of the 21st Century! The shift from previous records is almost like that taken by Tribe Called Quest on Low End Theory – focusing their music, while still throwing in some of their trademark skits – and maybe even making the group sound more serious, yet never in some of the "too hard" styles that they rail against on the set. The set has two key moments for the up-and-coming generation – great cut "The Bizness", with a guest appearance by Common, and "Big Brother Beat" with help from Mos Def – next to other tracks that include "Supa Emcees", "Itzsoweezee", and "Betta Listen". CD