HE may not be a household name this side of the Atlantic, but all that could just be about to change.

Common is ostensibly a rapper, and a damn good one at that, but here, he is also a maverick band leader with a vision, in the tradition of a George Clinton or Curtis Mayfield, steering an all-star cast on an ambitious voyage that incorporates soul, psychedelia, rock, jazz and experimental music - but all rooted firmly in heavyweight hip-hop beats and enough bass to flatten a building. When the catalogue of collaborators wanting to be seen with you ranges from Prince playing keyboards, to British experimental pop band Stereolab, to R'n'B diva Mary J Blige (on the hit-in-waiting Come Close), something big is surely brewing. Electric Circus is on the spiritual, cosmic side of hip-hop, while always looking to push music further. The Erykah Badu collaboration and Hendrix tribute, Jimi Was A Rock Star, collapses into a babble of looping voices and psychedelic guitar noise that Jimi would have been proud of, and sounds like nothing you've heard on a rap album before. A remarkable album - welcome to 2003.

Updated: 10:38 Thursday, January 16, 2003