The Dreamer/The Believer is the ninth studio album by American rapper Common. It was released in the UK on December 19, 2011 and in the US on December 20 through Warner Bros. Records alongside Common's newly launched Think Common Music Inc. Common's longtime friend and frequent collaborator No I.D. handled the album's production entirely himself.
Background
Recording sessions for the album began in 2009, and was originally due for a spring release, but was not completed because Common wanted to concentrate on acting. The album was scheduled for an April 2011 release, but was pushed back to late 2011. The first single was "Ghetto Dreams" featuring Nas. The music video was directed by Matt Alonzo and executive produced by Leah Harmony. It was released on iTunes July 6, 2011. In preparation for the album's release, Common spoke with The BoomBox about how the LP was taking shape and that he and No I.D. were crafting the album in a more positive direction: "It's going to be positive hip-hop. Hip-hop that can really generate good spirit, the spirit of the music and just good energy. I'm excited about the album 'The Dreamer, The Believer'. I feel blessed that I got to work with No I.D. I'm enthused to do hip-hop, which is something that I have to do when I feel it. It's the spirit and energy of hip-hop that made you just enjoy it and love the music and not feel like, 'Man, is this gonna sell?' or 'I sold this many.' It's stuff that made you feel something, it's stuff that you can use that inspired your life. I think about hip-hop like Brand Nubian and KRS-One and N.W.A and Rakim, that stuff inspired my life. Those things really shaped who I am." The Target Exclusive Edition comes with two additional tracks.
The second single off the album was "Blue Sky" which was officially made available on iTunes October 7, 2011. The song samples "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra.
Controversies
After releasing the single "Sweet," the blog-sphere was ablaze with speculation regarding the song's possible target. Many hip hop blogs guessed the song might be about rapper Drake, as he often interjects singing into his raps and "Sweet" makes critical jabs at singing rappers. Common insisted "Sweet" was about anyone who feels it and not specifically written for any person, but at a concert in L.A., Drake fired shots widely seen as directed towards Common, and on January 6, 2012, Drake once again responded on a track called "Stay Schemin'" from Rick Ross' new mixtape Rich Forever. This resulted in Common remixing the same track with his own verse and the lines "I’m taking too long with this amateur guy, You ain’t wet nobody, n****, you Canada Dry".<ref>{ { cite web|title=Common Calls Drake 'Canada Dry' On 'Stay Schemin Remix|url=http://rapfix.mtv.com/2012/01/09/common-calls-drake-canada-dry-on-stay-schemin-remix/|access-date=10 January 2012}}</ref> The feud has since settled down with the two eventually coming face to face at the Grammys, on February 12, 2012. Not long after the Grammys, the two were photographed together after Drake greeted Common at the NBA All-Star game.
Reception
Critical responseThe Dreamer/The Believer received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".The Independent gave the album all five stars and said of Common, "That he manages to express such ethical and religious principles without coming across like a sanctimonious buzz-killer is quite remarkable." In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave it a three-star honorable mention () while picking out two songs from the album ("Raw [How You Like It]" and "The Believer"), and quipped about Common, "Still on a major label, he's damn well gonna act it."