I Used to Love H.E.R.

Released on 27 September 1994 as the lead single from Resurrection, it was produced by No I.D. over a sample of George Benson's The Changing World. Common told Complex that the idea came while friends were talking at his home one night, and that he wrote the song after they left. When he recorded it, his roommate Rassan was in the studio and thought it was about a woman, until Common reached the last line, Who I'm talkin' bout y'all? It's hip-hop. No I.D. said he built the bassline on an SP1200 and wanted the beat harder than Benson's melody alone, and that producers began asking him for beats after the record came out. Derek Dudley said it was the song that solidified Common in hip-hop.

In the story, the woman moves to the West Coast and takes on a gangsta persona to make money. Some heard it as a rebuke of West Coast rap, and it set off a feud with Westside Connection, who answered with Westside Slaughterhouse. Common replied with The Bitch in Yoo, produced by Pete Rock, and Louis Farrakhan helped end the dispute. Common has said he meant East Coast rappers imitating West Coast artists. VH1 placed it at 69 on its 2008 list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. Writing in 2025, Pitchfork's Tal Rosenberg said its concept had weakened with time but admired how No I.D.'s beat drew out the texture of Benson's guitar. 9th Wonder released a remix, and Kanye West refers to it on Homecoming, from Graduation.