Classic Vibe: Common "I Used to Love H.E.R." (1994)

In the spirit of having the opportunity to speak with the man yesterday, I thought I'd throw up one of his classics which also happens to be one of the biggest classics of all time in hip hop. In the song, he uses a woman as a metaphor for hip hop, with H.E.R. standing for "Hip Hop in its Essence & Real." The song goes on to criticize the direction that many artists were taking the genre of the music, especially into the mainstream. I never actually understood what he meant at the time, but as the years went on, I started to relate more and more to the song and now I can rarely even listen to hip hop anymore.