This week's Hip-Hop CDs reviewed

COMMON
Universal Mind Control Geffen****
As Lonnie Rashid Lynn is realising, good things do come to those who wait. For a start, Hollywood has come a-calling, casting him in movies ( Terminator Salvation, American Gangster, Street Kings) and, since 2005's awesome album Be,Common has also found an audience to applaud his creative musical smarts. Album number eight sees him putting his production faith in The Neptunes, who toughen up his grooves and add some silky, shiny disco magic to the sound. Lyrically, too, there are a couple of changes, with Common willing to kick back a little to sell himself to the ladies ( Punch Drunk Loveis as salacious as he has ever got). Yet he's still the conscious liberal rapper he has always been. Tracks such as Changes(his celebratory ode to fellow Windy City boy Barack Obama) and Gladiator(Common laying down the law in the same way as he has always done) catch him in full flow. www.common-music.com JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Gladiator, Changes