Very few rap albums are timeless in the sense that their themes are universal enough to be understood by any individual.

However, Common’s latest album, “Finding Forever,” generates an extraordinarily euphoric sensation that prompts the listener to confront the beautiful merging of the right words and the right sounds in music. That is hip-hop.

Starting off with a simple, harmonious intro that contains no vocals, the tone is instantly set. The mind is eased into preparation for a collection of songs that are straight from the soul.

The sophisticated emcee, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, proves that he is still relevant and in touch with the pop culture happenings around him. Throughout the album, the balance between substance and lyrical filler lean toward absolute perfection.

The most moving song on the 13-track album is the “The People,” a feel-good composition in which Common delivers a three-verse journey through the streets over Kanye West’s soulful construction of sampled humming and vintage breakdowns.

Common demonstrates why it is only the great hip-hop artists who make an effort to perceive humbleness as a crucial theme in the human experience.

Delivering lines in “Forever Begins” like, “Watch gangstas turn God in the midst of war/no matter how much I elevate, I kiss the floor” puts him in the light of the most revered artists of all mediums, who believe that they themselves are no greater than the work they create.

And in that same respect, no arrogance or pride spoils this work of genius.

As the music progresses into the second half of the album it gets softer with tracks like “Break My Heart” and “So Far To Go” which features R&B singer D’Angelo, who has been missing in action on the music scene until recently.

What immediately follows is probably one of the most coherent social commentaries on blacks ever performed in a rap.

The lyrics in “U, Black Maybe,” substitute paranoia driven conspiracy theories of the status of blacks in modern society for a thought provoking observation of the black experience through the eyes of someone trying to live it ethically.

From beginning to end, the album leaves behind a fulfilling sentiment of enlightenment and self-motivation at its calming end.

Every young person should listen to this album in its entirety, as it is reflective of the everyday man’s eagerness to find meaning in life.