"The Light" is the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-nominated second single from

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

's 2000 album '' Like Water for Chocolate''. It was produced by

Jay Dee A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...

and features

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

performed by

James Poyser James Jason Poyser is an American songwriter, record producer, musician and current member of the hip hop band The Roots. Poyser has written and produced songs for various legendary and award-winning artists such as Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, ...

. It samples "Open Your Eyes" as performed by

Bobby Caldwell Robert Hunter Caldwell (born August 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He released several albums spanning R&B, soul, jazz and adult contemporary. He is known for his soulful and versatile vocals. Caldwell released the ...

and the

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

from "

You're Gettin' a Little Too Smart "You're Gettin' a Little Too Smart" is a song written by Abrim Tilmon and performed by the Detroit Emeralds. It reached number 10 on the R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United Stat ...

" by

The Detroit Emeralds The Detroit Emeralds are an American R&B/soul vocal group, best known in the early 1970s. They enjoyed a run of successful records in the decade including their 1973 transatlantic hit single, "Feel the Need in Me". Career "The Emeralds" were f ...

. Framed as a love letter, it is a confession of Common's love for a woman – specifically, his girlfriend at the time,

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

(in 2012, Common acknowledged in a video for

RapGenius Genius is an American digital media company founded on August 27, 2009, by Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, and Mahbod Moghadam. The site allows users to provide annotations and interpretation to song lyrics, news stories, sources, poetry, and document ...

that the song was about her). Cynthia Fuchs of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

describes it as a "charming, tender, and undeniably soulful declaration of affection and respect." The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

(directed by

Nzingha Stewart Nzingha Stewart is an American filmmaker. She began her career directing music videos, later moving to the television and movie industry in 2010 with the drama ''For Colored Girls'' as an executive producer. She has directed two movies for Lifetim ...

) features Common, Erykah Badu and "recognizable sensual delights" including "a homemade

Minnie Riperton Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You" and her four octave D3 to F7 coloratura soprano range. She is also widely known for her use o ...

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

, a mango, a pink

lava lamp A lava lamp is a decorative lamp, invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. It consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel, the remainder of which ...

nda deeply green water-beaded leaf." "The Light" is Common's first single to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it peaked at #44. The song was listed at number 268 on

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

's "Top 500 songs of the 2000s".

Overview

Reception

After the release of ''Like Water for Chocolate'', the song almost immediately attained the status of one of hip hop's few "precious" love songs and women's anthems. It also reached Common's best chart positions: #44 on

The Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in ...

, #21 on the

Rhythmic Top 40 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

chart and #12 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart. Additionally, it reached #13 on the

Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

chart, a feat that Common had previously surpassed.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

writer Steve Huey says that "The Light" as well as " The 6th Sense" are "quintessential Common, uplifting and thoughtful ongs thathelped bring him a whole new audience." The song received a 2001 Grammy Award nomination for

Best Rap Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously, a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. In 2003, this award was split into separate awa ...

Alternate versions

*A live seven-minute version featuring vocals by

and

Bilal __NOTOC__ Bilal may refer to: People * Bilal (name) (a list of people with the name) * Bilal ibn Rabah, a companion of Muhammad * Bilal (American singer) * Bilal (Lebanese singer) Places *Bilal Colony, a neighbourhood of Korangi Town in Karachi, ...

scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...

by DJ Dummy, keyboards by James Poyser and Omar Edwards,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

by Adam Blackstone,

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

by Kevin Hanson and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

by Frank "Knuckles" Walker is featured on ''

Dave Chappelle's Block Party ''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'', also known as ''Block Party'', is a 2005 American documentary film hosted and written by comedian Dave Chappelle, and directed by Michel Gondry. The film and its soundtrack are dedicated to the memory of music pro ...

'' 2006 soundtrack. *A

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

featuring vocals by Erykah Badu was released by

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

as a single in 2000 for the ''

Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's success. ...

'' soundtrack. *The original version is featured on compilations such as 2000's ''The Source Presents: Hip Hop Hits, Vol. 4'', 2001's ''Grammy R&B/Rap Nominees 2001'', 2001's '' Pure R&B, Vol. 2'', 2001's '' Wrap It Up'', 2004's ''

The Hip Hop Box The Hip Hop Box is a four-disc compilation of Hip Hop tracks, spanning from Sugarhill Gang's ''"Rapper's Delight"'' in 1979 to 50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, ...

'' and 2006's ''Hip Hop: Gold''. *" The Light '08 (It's Love)", a remake made by Common and producer

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Blaze attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue his m ...

, featuring

Marsha Ambrosius Marsha Ambrosius-Billups (born 8 August 1977) is an English singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England. She embarked on her musical career as a member of Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album '' Late Nights & Early Mornings'' in Ma ...

, was released in 2008 for a Smirnoff advertising campaign.

Track listing

US version

A-side

# "The Light (Album Version)" (4:02) # "The Light (Instrumental)" (4:07) # "The Light (Acappella)" (3:42)

B-side

# "Funky for You (Album Version)" (4:28) # "Funky for You (Instrumental)" (4:26) # "Funky for You (Radio Edit)" (4:28)

Import

A-side

# "The Light (Album Version)"

B-side

# " The 6th Sense (Something U Feel) (Album Version)" # "The Light (Instrumental)"

Remix

A-side

# "The Light (Remix) (Radio)" (4:01) # "The Light (Remix) (Main)" (6:03)

B-side

# "The Light (Remix) (Instrumental)" (5:49) # "The Light (Remix) (Acapella)" (5:56)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Light, The 2000 songs 2000 singles Common (rapper) songs MCA Records singles Music videos directed by Nzingha Stewart Song recordings produced by J Dilla Songs written by Bobby Caldwell Songs written by J Dilla Songs written by Common (rapper)

Overview

Reception

Alternate versions

Track listing

US version

A-side

B-side

Import

A-side

B-side

Remix

A-side

B-side

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

See also

References