Like Water for Chocolate is the fourth studio album by American rapper Common, released on March 28, 2000, through MCA Records.

The album also formally marked the formation of the Soulquarians, a collective composed of Questlove (of The Roots), J Dilla (formerly of Slum Village), keyboardist James Poyser, soul artist D'Angelo and bassist Pino Palladino, among numerous other collaborators.

[1][5] Following 1997's One Day It'll All Make Sense, Common moved to New York City where he began collaborating with the Soulquarians at Electric Lady Studios.

[6][7] Questlove on "Chicken Grease": By mid '99 the Soulquarians were in full swing (D, Me, Jay Dee, James Poyser) and we were working on Common's Like Water for Chocolate when we came up with this lethal jam.

It borrows from the Afrobeat genre on the track "Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)", the Tony Allen-sampling "Heat" and the Slum Village-assisted "Nag Champa (Afrodisiac For The World)".

MC Lyte and Mos Def join Common for the amusing "A Film Called (Pimp)" and "The Questions," respectively.

A slightly altered version of the album was released after its success on the charts, with the Macy Gray-assisted "Geto Heaven Remix T.S.O.I.

As of 2011, the musical interludes on tracks such as "A Film Called Pimp" and "Time Travelling" have been removed from all online versions of the album, possibly due to unconfirmed sample-clearing issues.

Track 2, "Heat" samples Tony Allen, Fela Kuti's one-time fellow band member and co-founder of the Afrobeat genre.

Working as both a battle song and self-reflection, the sensuous "Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World)" sees Common proclaiming himself "The Earth, Wind, and Fire of hip hop" while admitting "By Rakim and Short I been inspired"—a comment which compounds the two very contrasting rap artists.

Common goes on to note: The mind is funny, how it's spent on gettin' it [money] I'm sittin wit descendants of Abraham Who say the jam is "Money, Cash, Hoes" "Nag Champa" is one of the rare occurrences in which Common's frequent collaborator, producer J Dilla, takes on the role of singer.

[15]Although Questlove was the album's executive producer, a large deal of the production work was handled by Jay Dee (aka J Dilla) of Slum Village and The Ummah.

The track "Thelonius" was even placed on both Like Water for Chocolate and Slum Village's 2000 release Fantastic, Vol.

In an interview with New Jeru Poet, Common described his motivation to work with DJ Premier: Like you said, being that he is one of the most respected producers, I really loved his music throughout the time.

"[20] Spin's Peter S. Scholtes praised Like Water for Chocolate as "his most aggressive and powerful record yet",[25] and The Wire also hailed it as his best album.

[27] Akiba Solomon of The Source wrote that the album finds "a more worldly Common ... creating full-fledged jazz, funk and soul songs".

"[28] RapReviews critic Steve "Flash" Juon wrote: "From 'Payback is a Grandmother' all the way to the finale 'Pop's Rap III' you'll find your ears have been smothered in a sweet darkness that Dove has never been able to wrap in foil and sell for ninety-nine cents.

"[29] Q described Like Water for Chocolate as "wholemeal hip hop: chewy and a wee bit bland but nutritious all the same.

"[30] In a mixed review, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine felt that the album "certainly attempts to make change (musically and socially), but part of my disappointment comes from the high expectations that naturally arise when an artist tries to break from the norm", concluding that "maybe if there were more hip-hop artists like him, the burden wouldn't be placed solely on one rapper's shoulders.

[32]The music online magazine Pitchfork placed Like Water for Chocolate at number 169 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.

[33] The album's hit single, "The Light" received a 2001 Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance.

It featured the Soulquarians more prominently than Like Water for Chocolate, but was not nearly as successful because of its more eclectic vision, and relatively poor promotion from MCA Records.