Like Water for Chocolate

Released by MCA, it was Common's first major-label album. After moving to New York he worked with the Soulquarians at Electric Lady Studios, where Questlove oversaw the production and introduced him to D'Angelo, and sessions also took place at Studio A in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Questlove was executive producer, with Common and Derek Dudley as co-executive producers. J Dilla produced everything except Cold Blooded, Geto Heaven Part Two, A Song for Assata and Pops Rap III, and DJ Premier produced The 6th Sense. Geto Heaven Part Two was first meant for D'Angelo's Voodoo and was traded for Chicken Grease, a track Common had planned for this album.

Common said that while making it he went to Detroit two or three times a month and burned nag champa incense in Dilla's basement, which gave the song Nag Champa its name. The song had no chorus for a long time, until T3 of Slum Village started a chant and Dilla sang it into shape. The title comes from Laura Esquivel's novel. Common said its heroine put her emotion into her cooking, and that he put his heart, mind and rawness into these tracks. The cover is Gordon Parks's photograph 1956 Alabama, of a young woman drinking from a fountain marked Colored Only. Common traveled to Havana during the making of the album and met Assata Shakur, whose story A Song for Assata tells, and Time Travelin' (A Tribute to Fela) honors Fela Kuti. As on his two previous albums, his father Lonnie Pops Lynn closes it with spoken word.

It sold 70,000 copies in its first week, was certified gold on 11 August 2000, and reached 16 on the Billboard 200 and 5 on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart. The 2001 Grammy nomination for The Light was for Best Rap Solo Performance. Kris Ex of Rolling Stone called Common a hip-hop MC willing to actually examine himself through his art, and Robert Christgau graded it A-. Pitchfork's 2000 review said that in 2000 this was just about as good as hip-hop gets, and its later list of the best albums of the 2000s placed it at number 169.