Further to Flo Rida as space-filler, I think this is probably the first rap song I heard purely as a sample-delivery machine, the MC as padding...

For the longest time that sublime Bobby Caldwell hook was what I waited for, the only reason I stuck around....


And yet without Common, it doesn't quite work.

Judge for yourself --  the instrumental version of "The Light" (almost Common-free - the love-poesy is stripped right out but there's a few scraps of MC-ish blather left in) 

Here's the original Caldwell song "Open Your Eyes', from the album Cat in the Hat - lovely if a little goo-ey.  That is one wide tie he's wearing  on the cover.

Love those guitar fills in the outro - played by Caldwell himself?