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By MELISSA WISEMAN
Staff Writer

One of the things that kept running through my head when I sat down for a bit to take the time to listen to Common Thred, was that a good critic is given material from all aspects in order to give an unbiased opinion. Not that I was going to sit down and be critical of all the artists I had to review or write about in the future. Nonetheless it was something to think about.

Common Thred consists of Shareef a.k.a Azteknique – The Tek Baby and Kovan – The Pen Master. Aztek is considered the "Hip" member of the group. He is a writer/producer/MC and has worked (remixing songs) with such known names as TLC, Brandy, and Missy Elliot, just to name a few. Kovon is a singer/songwriter/musician who is "The Soul" that keeps the "HIP-SOUL" sound prominent in the duo. This HIP-SOUL duo is backed by ‘The Thred’, the band responsible for the music behind the lyrics. The duo has three albums to date with songs such as "Good Music", "Papa’s Son", and "They Know".

Browsing their press kit, I noticed that the genre of music was Hip-Hop/Rap, a genre of music that I was not completely partial to. I knew this was going to be a hard review to tackle, making sure that I was fair in every aspect. As I made my way to the audio section I was anxious to see what would be waiting. Would I like it? Or would it be the same as the rest of this genre that I seemed to push aside.

One of the things that caught my attention was the different type of music and songs that were present. Some of the songs had a unique sound behind them. The beats were especially catchy in "Unbreakable" and made me think of times I spent dancing the night away with friends and I couldn’t help but start tapping my feet to the sound.

One of the things I love in music is the lyrics and when there is a meaning behind them, rather than just a bunch of words thrown together on a piece of paper. I noticed the lyrics of the song "Reflections" as I was sampling the audio available. This song is deep and seems to have a meaning that they want to get out to their audience. Through the lyrics it shows the passion that the duo may have towards certain world situations. They are voicing their opinion, but I’ll leave it to you to check out Common Thred and listen to this song yourself to see what I mean.