“I don’t need to say shit/ She can feel it…”
Hip-Hop have been anxiously awaiting this collaboration since it was confirmed a little over a month ago. And boy does it deliver. There’s no laid back flowing here; the beat is chock full of urgent, pulsing energy. Their voices have the higher, youthful timbre of the flows they mastered in the bygone 90s. Common’s two verses revolve around the lust and admiration he has for his ride or die chick (“The type of bitch Big said he would die for/Is the type I’d rather stay alive for”). There’s none of the flowery language Common’s female fans loved him for on “The Light” and “Come Close”. Still, the track doesn’t fall into the degradation lesser emcees fall do. Common lauds his ghetto queen for managing the household (children, kitchen etc.) so well it reminds him of his mother.
Nas approaches the topic as a man knee-deep in debauchery while waiting for the one. There’s small allusions to the Kelis break-up, but nothing big that detract from the song. While he awaits his “Cleopatra, African queen,” bachelor Nas is running the streets. He’s unapologetic about his contradictions, closing with a witty line about his “nice girl” joining him on the red carpet of his non-profit that’s sponsored by alcohol companies.
Sounds like Nas isn’t the only one taking it back to the essence.
COMMON X NAS “GHETTO DREAMS”
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 