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"The Light" is the Grammy-nominated second single from Common's 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate. It was produced by Jay Dee and features keyboards performed by James Poyser. It samples "Open Your Eyes" as performed by Bobby Caldwell and the drums from "You're Gettin' a Little Too Smart" by The Detroit Emeralds. Framed as a love letter, it is a confession of Common's love for a woman – specifically, his girlfriend at the time, Erykah Badu (in 2012, Common acknowledged in a video for RapGenius that the song was about her). Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters describes it as a "charming, tender, and undeniably soulful declaration of affection and respect." The music video (directed by Nzingha Stewart) features Common, Erykah Badu and "recognizable sensual delights" including "a homemade Minnie Riperton cassette, a mango, a pink lava lamp a 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's "Top 500 songs of the 2000s".
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