A Common Identity Crisis

The Rapper's Soul-Searching Persists

Last year, the rapper Common grabbed the holy grail in terms of mainstream American pop culture relevance: He became a Gap ad.

Over a beat from the Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am (who made his own Madison Avenue bones with Apple a few years back), Common peddled the Gap's holiday line of sweat shirts by twisting off a double-entendre about "rockin' the 'hood." Yet Common's ground has always been more boutique than barbershop, his image more wholesome than fearsome. On his latest album -- the fine but flawed "Finding Forever" -- he continues his vain pursuit of gritty credibility.

On his single "The People," Common observes: "While white folks focus on dogs and yoga, people on the low end try to ball and get over." But he knows better. On "The Game," he values the metaphysical too much to reject it: "Whether yoga or doja [i.e., marijuana], we all get lifted." And back and forth he goes for the whole album, showing his sophistication while trying to prove that his blood doesn't run khaki.

It's annoying, because Common's insecurity is the only thing holding him back. Shepherded like his last effort, "Be," by executive producer Kanye West, "Finding Forever" is a tightly sequenced collection of ferocious, creative pieces, from the dramatic opening strings of "Start the Show" to the slices of sampled Nina Simone in "Misunderstood." What separates these songs from the transcendent tracks of his 2000 album, "Like Water for Chocolate," is Common's continuing identity crisis. During the shuffle of "Break My Heart," when someone he's after says she doesn't date rappers, Common quickly produces his Screen Actors Guild card.

In the climax of "U, Black Maybe," he tells the story of a successful star returning to his friends in the old neighborhood: "When paper and fame came, they ain't know how to react / Them same studs shot him in the back." His best moments come when he doesn't care how he looks in the 'hood while rocking his Gap hoodie, as when he reunites with fellow corporate huckster Will.I.Am on "I Want You," a brooding, brilliant love song.

Common also shines with D'Angelo on "So Far to Go" and drops lyrical jewels of the highest karat on his duet with British songstress Lily Allen, "Drivin' Me Wild": "Unbreakable like Bobby and Whit / Or Ryan and Reese / Or Kimora and Russ / Relationships can be dead but look live to us / I guess we all been through it, where we try too much / Losing yourself and your lyin' and stuff."

Unless he starts taking his own advice, it will take Common forever to find himself.

DOWNLOAD THESE: "Drivin' Me Wild," "I Want You," "U, Black Maybe"