Common Scores His First Number One Album

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Common's latest album, Finding Forever, entered the Billboard 200 at Number One this week after selling more than 155,000 copies its first week in stores. The album is the rapper's seventh studio release and it appears that seven is his lucky number, as Finding Forever is the first Number One album of his career.

The rapper's last album, Be, sold 184,000 copies its first week in 2005 but that was only enough to land at Number Two.

Finding Forever is the rapper's second album since signing with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label. The move has apparently paid off as he's enjoying the best sales of his career. Common explained that he just came to realization that he had to take control of his career. The rapper said: "It taught me that you gotta do for self. You gotta take your life and your career and your being into your hands and take control of that. I was so dependent on the label, like, promoting me and going out, like, putting out stickers and stuff like that. And it's like, 'Man, this is my career. I'm just a product on their label.'So it was like, 'Yo, who's gonna take control? Who's gonna do for me better than me?'"

Finding Forever, which is in stores now, features collaborations with D'Angelo, Kanye West, the late J Dilla, Will.I.Am, Bilal, Dwele, and UK pop singer Lily Allen.

In related news, Common is one of the stars of the new movie, American Gangster, which opens nationwide on November 2nd. The film also stars Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, T.I., and RZA.