Finding Forever
| Finding Forever | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Common | ||||||||||
| Released | July 31, 2007 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2006–2007 | |||||||||
| Genre | Hip hop, Conscious hip hop, neo soul | |||||||||
| Length | 49:53 | |||||||||
| Label | GOOD, Geffen | |||||||||
| Producer | Kanye West (exec.), Common (co-exec), Derek Dudley (co-exec), will.i.am, J Dilla, Devo Springsteen, Karriem Riggins, Derrick Hodge | |||||||||
| Common chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 73/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| The A.V. Club | B+ |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| MSN Music | A− |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 5.6/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | |
| XXL | 4/5 |
Finding Forever is the seventh studio album by Common, released on July 31, 2007 on GOOD Music and Geffen Records. Like Common's previous album, Be (2005), Finding Forever is primarily produced by Kanye West. The album debuted at the number one on the Billboard 200, selling 155,000 units in the first week, becoming Common's first chart-topper. Selling over 500,000 units in the US, it has been certified Gold. Finding Forever was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, losing to Kanye West's Graduation at the 50th Grammy Awards.
Common explains that "Finding Forever really means to find a place in music where you can exist forever. Music can be forever if you make it from the heart, if you make it from the soul and it’s good. And I look at music like Bob Marley's or Marvin Gaye's or Stevie Wonder's or A Tribe Called Quest's, that's forever music. And I’m continuing on the quest to make forever music."
Common also says: "And now with the death of J Dilla and other things, you start thinking about forever lasting for real through music [...] Jay Dee will last forever through his music and hopefully generations down the line will know about Common through his music. And it's also saying: I been doing this for a nice period of time, so I'm trying to find the place where I can keep existing in the game and make music I love."
Common began working on the album in early 2006, recording it throughout the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and Spain with Kanye West. Most of the album was recorded while he was filming his roles in American Gangster and Smokin' Aces. Common explained that "if you working on a movie or something ... [there is] less weight on writing the songs... At a certain point, as an artist, you go through things like, 'Man, I gotta make something better than what I did before.' [But] I didn't feel like that this time, like I got to make this better than Be. I wanted to make a better album... I definitely felt freer." Kanye West described the recording sessions as "a real easy environment".
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