Common Celebrates 20th Anniversary of ‘Be’ With Studio Version of “The Food”

Common’s 20th anniversary edition of his 2005 album Be includes a studio version of “The Food.”

Ever since Common included a performance of the track that he and Kanye West did on the Dave Chappelle Show on his landmark album, fans everywhere wanted to hear the studio version.

Luckily for everyone, Common’s brought the official version to this new anniversary edition of Be. Check it out below.

Be was Common’s sixth studio album. Primarily produced by Kanye West, with additional production from J Dilla, the LP debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 units sold in the first week in the US.

The LP would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA and is commonly referred to as Common’s greatest work — and one of the best rap albums of all time. Be’s released singles were “The Corner,” “Go!,” “Testify,” “Faithful,” and “The Food.”

Common hopped on X ahead of the project’s release to give his thoughts about the LP so many years later.

“Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of Be,” he wrote. “It’s hard to grasp that it was 20 years ago. What Ye was doing was super special, what J Dilla was doing was super special and I am forever grateful to them and everyone who contributed to this album. Be means so much to me because I have had so many different types of people tell me what it means to them. And there is no greater feeling than to have your music mean something. Thank you GOD you are the greatest.”

Common has remained a force in hip-hop who loves it like a sport. Last year, he gave his thoughts about Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s rap battle shen speaking on the Earn Your Leisure podcast that’s hosted by Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings.

“The battle? I gotta say, initially, I was like, ‘Wow. This is for real. These dudes are going at it because Drake was delivering and then Kendrick came, and Kendrick kept giving him blows,” said Common. “[Kendrick] did what he had to do and he came out the victor… point blank, he won… I think it’s just a victory for hip-hop that the battle went down the way it did and had people paying attention to lyrics in hip-hop.”

Common said that the rap battle made everyone pay closer attention to Lamar’s messages.

“I love that Kendrick, within a battle, is able to give you lessons and spiritual things,” Common said. “I’m, like, damn that is crazy… This dude is dropping knowledge and still battling. It’s ridiculous.”

That might sound like a lot of Lamar praise, but Common did also give Drake his flowers. “To be able to make songs at the level and be making hits over and over, that says something,” he said. “Even pop artists that had some big hits, they don’t last decades. So, Drake is a super talented dude.”