Common's 4th studio album, 'Like Water For Chocolate,' was released 17 years ago today via MCA Records. With heavy influence from Questlove of The Roots and production from J Dilla, DJ Premier, and Karriem Riggins + features from Slum Village, D'Angelo, Bilal, Cee-Lo, MC Lyte, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott & more, this album was Common breaking through. Tracks like 'The Light' and 'The 6th Sense' were the big singles + 'Dooinit' had a push & the remix with Macy Gray for 'Geto Heaven', but for album cuts, the Dilla-produced 'Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World)' was the one! In the Billboard article (Feb, 2000) above, my OG, DJ Eclipse, was interviewed about the album at Fat Beats and he said, 'Common's albums seem to mature every time out. He provides a good balance between mainstream and the underground.' That about sums it up and was definitely accomplished on 'Like Water for Chocolate.' Common's catalog isn't without a couple missteps, but this was not one of them. Did anyone receive any of the eight digital postcards that were supposedly sent out for the album? If so, tell me about them in the comments, I'm curious if it happened. Revisit the LP below...