''Can I Borrow a Dollar?'' is the debut studio album by American rapper

Common Sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...

. It was released on October 6, 1992, by

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

. The album was entirely produced by

No I.D. Ernest Dion Wilson (born June 23, 1971), professionally known as No I.D. (formerly Immenslope), is an American hip hop and R&B producer from Chicago, Illinois. Wilson is also a disc jockey (DJ), music arranger and former rapper, having relea ...

(then called Immenslope) and

The Twilite Tone Anthony Christopher Khan (né Craig; born July 13, 1971), known by his stage name The Twilite Tone, is an American record producer, recording artist, composer, DJ, and radio host. Among others, he has worked with Gorillaz, Kanye West, Common, B ...

, with additional production by

The Beatnuts The Beatnuts are an American hip hop group and production duo from New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu (born Jerry Tineo on December 14, 1968) is a Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les (born Lester Fernande ...

, and includes guest vocals from Immenslope, Miss Jones and Common's then-girlfriend Rayshel. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

s Neil Drumming described it as "a clever but little-noticed first album".

Overview

Background

In 1991, a feature was written about Common in the

Unsigned Hype ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the magaz ...

section of ''

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

''.

soon signed Common, and prepared to release three singles for his debut album. The first and best-charting single was 1992's "

Take It EZ "Take It EZ" is the debut single by Chicago rapper Common from his debut album '' Can I Borrow a Dollar?''. It is produced by 2 pc. DRK, a production team made up of Immenslope and The Twilite Tone. The song's beat mixes keyboards and saxophone ...

". It reached #5 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 stati ...

chart while his next two singles, " Breaker 1/9" and "

Soul by the Pound "Soul by the Pound" is the third Single (music), single from rapper Common (rapper), Common Sense's 1992 in music, 1992 debut album, ''Can I Borrow a Dollar?''. Its beat, produced by No I.D., Immenslope and The Twilite Tone, is similar to much pro ...

," reached #10 and #7 respectively. All of these singles combined to give Common a strong underground reputation prior to the album's release.

Content

''Can I Borrow A Dollar?'' shows Common's early style of rapping; namely a sing-songy and inflection-heavy vocal delivery, as well as lyrics packed with

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

and

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

s. The album's production, utilizing samples, keyboards, and drum breaks prominently, tends to be minimalistic, jazzy and laid back. ''

'' called the production top notch. Although receiving a lukewarm reception, Stanton Swihart of

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 databa ...

considers it to have put

Chicago hip hop Chicago, Illinois is a major center for music in the midwestern United States where distinctive forms of blues (greatly responsible for the future creation of rock and roll), and house music, a genre of electronic dance music, were developed. Th ...

on the map and to be an underrated debut album.

Track listing

*All tracks produced by Immenslope &

, except track 4 produced by

Chart positions

Album chart positions

Singles chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Can I Borrow A Dollar? 1992 debut albums Common (rapper) albums Relativity Records albums Albums produced by No I.D.