Universal Mind Control is the 8th studio album by Chicago rapper Common, released on December 9th 2008. It was the third and final album from Common to be released on Kanye West’s GOOD Music label and Geffen Records. Following his first ever No. 1 album Finding Forever released in 2007, Common set to work on a follow up, stating from early in the recording process that the album would have more party jams and fun, upbeat production that he felt was missing from his catalog. In January of 2008, Common announced the album would be titled “Invincible Summer”, and would therefore be released in the summertime of that year. Common was at work on acting in the film “Terminator: Salvation” during the recording for this album. On July 1st 2008, Common released the “Announcement EP” with the first two singles for the album on it – “Universal Mind Control (UMC)” and “Announcement”. Around this time, Common had delayed the release of the project, and officially changed the title to Universal Mind Control. He also announced that most of the album would be produced by The Neptunes who had previously worked on Common’s polarising 2002 album Electric Circus. After more delaying of the project, Common finally released the album in December 2008. Unusually, there was no Kanye West production on here, with The Neptunes and Mr. DJ handling all of the production on here. When the album dropped, it didn’t do very well commercially or critically. The album was divisive at time of release, with Metacritic giving it a score of 53 out of 100. Meanwhile, it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 – not bad, but nowhere near as well as his previous two efforts. The electronic production and often sexual lyrics was a massive stylistic departure for Common, and isn’t something he has really experimented with since. Following the release of this project, Common left GOOD Music and Geffen, hooking up with producer No I.D. for upcoming projects.