Common| Like Water For Chcolate

Like Water for Chocolate

Is a critically acclaimed album by rapper Common, released on March 28, 2000 (see 2000 in music). It was a considerable commercial breakthrough for the rapper, selling 70,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified Gold on August 11, 2000. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 748,000 copies by March, 2005. The video for "The Light" was frequently shown on MTV, adding to Common's exposure. The album also formally marked the coming together of the Soulquarians; a collective composed of ?uestlove (of The Roots), the late Jay Dee (formerly of Slum Village), keyboardist James Poyser, and bassist Pino Palladino among numerous other collaborators. This group of musicians would also be featured on Common's next album, Electric Circus. The album's cover photo, 1956 Alabama by Gordon Parks, is a photo of a young black woman in Alabama, dressed for church, and drinking from a "Colored Only" drinking fountain.

Background

Following 1997's One Day It'll All Make Sense, Common moved to New York City where he began collaborating with the Soulquarians at Electric Lady Studios. It was there that Ahmir Thompson (?uestlove) who oversaw the album's production, introduced Common to D'Angelo. Thompson had been doing a great deal of producing there with several members of the Soulquarians, including D'Angelo. The track "Geto Heaven Part Two" was originally supposed to be a track on D'Angelo's 2000 album Voodoo, but was traded for "Chicken Grease," a track which Common had intended to include on Like Water for Chocolate.?uestlove on "Chicken Grease": By mid '99 the Soulquarians were in full swing (D, Me, Jay Dee, James Poyser) and we were working on Common's Like Water for Chocolate when we came up with this lethal jam. It was so good that D pulled me to the side and said 'I ain't no indian giver....but I ain't lettin Com walk off with this song..' He called me 3 times that morning begging to ask Com for that track. Com agreed, and we named it 'Chicken Grease' after a phrase that Prince uses when he wants his guitarist to play a 9th minor chord while playing 16th notes. Title Significance The title Like Water for Chocolate comes from the 1989 Laura Esquivel novel Like Water for Chocolate, which was adapted into a movie in 1993.The phrase "Like water for chocolate" is of Spanish origin (translated, como agua para chocolate). In many Latin American countries, hot chocolate is made with water rather than milk. The phrase refers to someone who has reached their boiling point, like water ready to be used to make chocolate. In an interview with Combustible the Poet, Common compared the main character, Tita de la Garza's passion for food with his passion for music: Actually the album is named after a movie of the same title. In the movie the main character was a really good cook. She would always be cooking for people. Whenever she would cook, she would really put a lot of emotion into it. So when people would eat her cooking, they were able to feel the same emotions she felt while cooking it. You feel me? So this is the same thing. I put all my heart, my mind and my rawness into these tracks. So I hope that people can feel that when they listen to the album.