The unforgettable moment of the night was when Common took us way back with a lesson in hip-hop that got the whole crowd singing along to his take on old-school tracks…

“Common featuring special guest Q-Tip” is what the tickets read for the Sept. 22 concert at The Rave. If we had flipped the script back to the mid-90s, we would have seen young Q-Tip with his group, A Tribe Called Quest, headlining the bill with no idea who Common Sense, the Chi-town rapper, was.

As I walked into the venue, Q-Tip had already taken the stage and was entertaining the crowd with some classic Tribe songs, such as “Find a Way” and “Electric Relaxation.” Q-Tip exceeded expectations by performing entire songs by himself. It’s questionable if anyone else could have pulled this off so smoothly, other than the legendary “Abstract.” During “Scenario,” Tip handled Phife’s verse and then proceeded to mimic the lyrics of a rambunctious Busta Rhymes that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

A major highlight of the evening came during a performance of “Check the Rhime.” Q-Tip stopped the music, saying, “It just didn’t feel right, this song in particular just don’t feel right.”

He then picked out a member of the audience who knew all the words to the song and brought him on stage. The crowd went wild when “Phife Dawg Reincarnated,” as he called himself, rhymed word-for-word beside Q-Tip.

To much satisfaction, the set was essentially a solo performance of greatest hits, including “Award Tour” and “Vivrant Thing.” The set ended with “Work It Out,” the single from his new album “Live at the Renaissance,” due out in February.

Now let’s fast-forward to 2007, the year of Common. After 15 years in the rap game, the “conscious rapper,” as critics have dubbed him, has earned his first number-one selling album on the billboard charts.

Common hit the stage with “Go,” produced by his personal beat maestro, Kanye West. Common hypnotized the crowd with a laidback, jazzy groove that allowed the emcee to display his smooth, sensual style with crystal-clear precision in an atmosphere of remarkable sound quality, unexpected of The Rave.

The crowd got a taste of new material and its feet moving early with the new single “Driving Me Wild,” as well as “The People,” another melodic masterpiece produced by Mr. West.

Common made a request to the crowd to put their fists in the air during the performance of “Black Maybe” from the new album “Finding Forever.” He then addressed the crowd about the oppositions that minorities face. A call for change became the theme of the evening.

Heads got banging for “The Game,” a gritty track for the hip-hop purists out there. This was an opportunity for the emcee to showcase his raw Chicago flow, using complex metaphors and clever word-play to discuss the current state of affairs in the rap game.

The show came to a traditional close with “The Light,” followed by an exceptional encore featuring “I Want You,” produced by Will.I.Am. The majority of material performed that night came from his latest album “Finding Forever” and from 2005’s “Be.”

The unforgettable moment of the night was when Common took us way back with a lesson in hip-hop that got the whole crowd singing along to his take on old-school tracks from legends such as Biz Markie, Eric B. and Rakim, N.W.A., and the Pharcyde. The night wrapped up with a radiant performance paying homage to the classics. Common and Q-Tip delivered an unmatched night of hip-hop brilliance that those in attendance won’t soon forget.

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