Common Is Using Mind Control To Get You To Buy A Zune (And His Album)

Our look at the closing lines of reviews of the week’s biggest new music continues with a look at reactions to Common’s Universal Mind Control, which arrives in stores today:

• “On the hard-edged ‘Gladiator,’ he shows that his music is not just for the backpackers, who might find inspiration in the more upbeat ‘Changes.’ West, Cee-Lo and Pharrell Williams all put in cameos on this latest chapter from an artist who always seems to be thinking ahead.” [USA Today]

• “Universal Mind Control seems to move Common backward instead of forward, which for a lyricist of his caliber is truly disappointing.” [Entertainment Weekly]

• “On the Biggie-style ‘Announcement,’ he calls hip-hop his ‘bitch’—shocking for a guy who made hip-hop his girlfriend on ‘I Used to Love H.E.R.’ Only ‘Change’ finds him back in street-preacher mode; it’s a hopeful tribute to his Chicago homeboy, Obama.” [Rolling Stone]

• “UMC plays at a coherent message on ‘Changes,’ a salute to Barack Obama that feels like an exercise in covering bases after a half hour of slumming. Common’s inability to sound sincere about a man he spent two years championing is the most telling part of this consciously shallow caricature of hip-hop’s dregs.” [Paste]

• “But too much of Universal Mind Control falls conceptually flat. ‘Sex 4 Sugar’ hints at Barry White, but it stalls out with Common’s unclever seduction rhymes. Wasted opportunities abound, including an inconsequential final track with Tricky’s muse-chanteuse, Martina Topley-Bird. Common gained currency, but too much is squandered.” [LA Times]