Classic: I Used to Love H.E.R.

Common - I Used to Love H.E.R.

Any hip hop heads should already know this track. By heart, actually. It's 101 type stuff and quite possibly the most perfect representation of all the potential any rap song could ever have with its creativity, delivery, presentation, hook, and reminiscent yet prophetic message.

Common is a legendary MC. But he suffers from delayed-appreciation syndrome with the public. We'll forgive him for his 1992 debut with his voice cracking, but let it be known, all six records since then are essential. Even Electric Circus. Don't believe the hate hype on that one.

"I Used to Love H.E.R." is the song that every rapper in history wishes that he wrote before Common. But no one did and no one ever will match the level of perfection in which he orated it. The "yes, yes, y'all" refrain is hauntingly brilliant and so raw that you can't help but go along with it between verses. And producer No I.D. pushed all the right buttons production-wise to create a thoughtful, yet attention-keeping atmosphere. Fittingly, he's making a grand return to the forefront of world-scope production by helming all of Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 with Kanye West. The song even started one of the greatest (and unexpectedly) lop-sided beefs of all-time, ending with Common lyrically demolishing the then gangsta-of all-gangsta-rappers Ice Cube and his Westside Connection crew.

I can never recreate the level of jaw-dropped amazement I had when I very first sat down with this track and hung on every word til the climactic end. I swear I prolly spun it back five or six times in a row once I understood it. I had a cultural lens to look through simply from Common pulsating through my ear buds way back then.

I met this girl when I was ten years old, and what I loved most ...

... and so concludes another masterpiece