When Common penned these lyrics in “Blue Sky,” could he have known they'd come true: “Red carpet, imagine takin' pictures with the president/ Told him for health care, my music was the medicine”? But when the MC visited the White House for a poetry reading in 2011, right-wing news sensationalists like Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin raised hell because of the MC's anti-police lyrics. The White House responded that while President Obama doesn't agree with that message, reports were distorting what Common--a philanthropist and writer of lyrics often dealing with self-empowerment and equal rights--stands for more broadly. For instance, “Blue Sky” speaks to goals and aspirations of a better life. That tune, off of critically acclaimed The Dreamer/The Believer, marks Common's return to collaborating with No I.D., the producer who collaborated on 1994's Resurrection, the album that launched Common's career. R&B up-and-comer Aloe Blacc starts things off.
