Common - Finding Forever

I was being hard on Common. My initial impressions of his new album weren't great. His lyrics don't seem as strong. Kanye's production isn't hitting me like his work on Be. I'm not in love with the cover art. I had also been reading a lot of negative reviews and opinions which may have swayed my own. I still don't think this lives up to his previous. I feel that neither of those live up to Like Water For Chocolate. But after watching some Lil' Wayne and 50 Cent videos, I'm realizing that anything Common puts out is more meaningful and important than the grill-wearing, gang-banging thug themes that typically get the spotlight with mainstream audiences. Common is a Soulquarian and Native Tongue, after all. LWFC is still my favorite. But overall Finding Forever is still a satisfying, good album.

Anyway, this blog is supposed to be about album artwork, primarily. I'll stop ranting about Common's music. Like I said, I'm not loving the album's cover. It is much more futuristic than I expected, with clean vectors flying all directions, bits of splattered ink, an okay photo and some odd form engulfing his head. The font used for the title and track-list bothers me as well. But after listening to the album, the cover fits with the theme. I still think Be and LWFC top this. But it's decent. The photography comes thanks to Nabil Elderkin who I will save for later as I think his work on the up-coming Talib Kweli album is great.

The artist behind the cover is Nigel Evan Davis (aka Electric Heat). At only 24, he has a long, impressive client list ranging from Converse to Coca-Cola to Sandisk to Pitchfork Media (nice) to Upper Playground (very nice). He has plenty of collaged compositions making use of photographer, type, illustration and shiny things. I found out that he also did the artwork for Goepele's album, Change it All, which caught my eye more than once on the walls of Tower Records (RIP).

You can find Nigel Evan Davis' portoflio here.
And again, Common is here.