Finding Forever is the 7th studio album by conscious Chicago hip-hop artist Common, released on July 31st, 2007. It is also the rapper’s 2nd studio album released under Kanye West’s GOOD Music label, following 2005’s Be. The album is Common’s most successful release to date, as it peaked at No.1 on the Billboard 200 on release, the first and last time Common would achieve such a feat. The album ended up peaking at No. 110 on the year-end chart for 2007. The singles for this album were all fairly successful as well; “The People” and “The Game” were released together on May 22nd of 2007 as the lead singles for the album, and the former peaked at No. 11 on the Bubbling Under Charts. Third single “Drivin' Me Wild” with singer Lily Allen charted in the United Kingdom, and the final single, “I Want You” with Will.i.Am peaked at No. 12 on the Bubbling Under Charts. The album shared multiple characteristics with its predecessor Be. The project was executively produced by label head Kanye West, who produced on almost all of the songs (8 out of 12 to be exact). The project was fairly short compared to some of Common’s earlier work (under 50 minutes), and had a reasonably minimal feature list. These are all characteristics that the album shares with Be, and this led to a lot of people referring to this as Be 2, or simply as a continuation of that earlier work. However, there is no question that this is a whole new album experience compared to Be, and the projects do sound very different. The album was mainly produced by Kanye, but other producers left their mark on this under-appreciated work, including Will.i.Am, the late J Dilla, Derrick Hodge and Devo Springsteen. It contained features from R&B singer D'Angelo and female vocalist Lily Allen, as well as the inevitable vocals from Kanye West. Buyers of this album on iTunes, or in the UK, did receive a bonus track, namely “Play Your Cards Right” featuring Bilal, who lent his vocals to multiple other songs on here, albeit uncredited. The track was taken from the soundtrack to Smokin' Aces, which was Common’s first film that he starred in. Common’s acting career was flourishing at the time of this album’s release, but the quality of music on here shows that he remained dedicated to the art form even in the wake of his new ventures. Finding Forever is an under appreciated classic, and another brilliant project in the catalog of Mr. Lonnie Lynn.