Common

With Kanye West manning the boards, Common recorded his 2005 comeback album <i>Be</i>, a soulful, down-to-Earth record that resuscitated Common's career after 2002's ambitious but muddled <i>Electric Circus</i>. Since then, life has been good for Common, who became the face of the Gap and launched a respectable acting career. Common teamed up with West again for much of 2007's <i>Finding Forever</i>, a respectable sequel that never fully captured the simple charm of <i>Be</i>, before turning to more danceable, electronic sounds on 2008's <i>Universal Mind Control</i>. Fan response to that record was mixed, but Common returned to the simple-pleasure hip-hop he's best at on his latest album, last year's <i>The Dreamer/The Believer</i>.