Electric Circus

Released by MCA, it was Common's second and last album for the label. It was recorded at Electric Lady Studios with Questlove as executive producer, and Common and Derek Dudley as executive producers too. Common said his motivation came from other genres, such as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. Mary J. Blige sang on the lead single Come Close, the Neptunes produced two tracks, and Pharrell sings the hook of I Got a Right Ta. Erykah Badu joins Common on Jimi Was a Rock Star, a tribute to Hendrix, P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval sings on Electric Wire Hustler Flower, and Heaven Somewhere has several vocalists describing their idea of heaven, ending with Common's father. The cover pictures 87 people, among them Prince, Erykah Badu, Louis Farrakhan and Jimi Hendrix. Soul Power, produced by Dilla, was the first song recorded. In 2002 Common said he had decided he did not care what anyone thought and was breaking free of what hip-hop was supposed to be.

It debuted at 47 on the Billboard 200 and sold 295,000 copies by 2005 SoundScan figures. Only one single, Come Close, was released, and MCA's absorption into Geffen the next summer left the album with little promotion. Reception was mixed. Pitchfork's Hanif Abdurraqib wrote in 2017, when it was reissued on vinyl for the first time, that it was a flawed but classic album. Record Collector later included it among its 70 landmark albums of the last 70 years.