Common: Universal Mind Control

The more things change for Lonnie Rashid Lynn, the more they stay the same. A 1980s disco sheen - courtesy of a rejuvenated Neptunes - makes this the 36-year-old rapper's pop album. Yet Common seems keen to prove he is still an all-time rap great, a hip-hop intellectual - and a ladies' man. His eighth LP is most compelling where these themes collide, such as on Punch Drunk Love, where the salacious production meets its match in imaginative innuendos. But Change, a euphoric hymn to his fellow Chicagoan, Barack Obama, shows he can't leave "conscious rap" alone. Gladiator, the best track, is a witty battle anthem, all imperious arrogance and self-aware swagger.