| "The People" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Common | ||||
| from the album Finding Forever | ||||
| B-side | "The Game" | |||
| Released | May 22, 2007 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 3:31 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Kanye West | |||
| Common singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"The People" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Common, released as the second single from his seventh studio album Finding Forever. The song made its first appearance on fellow American rapper Kanye West's Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape. The song features production by West and contains background vocals provided by soul singer Dwele. The original version of the song had Common singing the hook by himself, but this was later replaced with Dwele singing the hook.[citation needed] It contains samples of "We Almost Lost Detroit" by Gil Scott-Heron as well as vocal samples of "Long Red" by Mountain (the latter of which was sampled on "Wouldn't Get Far" also produced by West).[1] This action was part of West's intention to pay tribute to J Dilla through the production style expressed within the album.[2][3]
Though it performed moderately on the charts, "The People" became one of the most critically acclaimed songs of the year. The song was listed at number twenty-nine on Rolling Stone's the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[4] It also received a nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 50th Grammy Awards.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
linernoteswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Track by Track: Common's Finding Forever from Fader Magazine". Retrieved June 11, 2007.
- ^ Rodriguez, Jayson (2007-04-11). "Kanye West, Lily Allen Finding Something In Common". MTV. MTV Networks. Archived from the original on April 16, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2007.
- ^ "The 100 Best Songs of 2007". Rolling Stone. RealNetworks, Inc. 2007-12-27. Archived from the original on December 15, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-21.