(CNN) -- The rapper Common wants to take hip-hop in a new direction, he says, and he has an unsuspecting ally -- President-elect Barack Obama. 

Common says he was looking for a new sound on his eighth album, "Universal Mind Control." 

Obama "is going to change hip-hop for the better," predicted the rapper, whose eighth album, "Universal Mind Control" (G.O.O.D. Music/Geffen), hits shelves Tuesday. 

"I really do believe we as hip-hop artists pick up what's going on in the world and try to reflect that," he told CNN, outlining his belief that mainstream as well as so-called "conscious" rappers -- the more socially aware -- will pick up on what he sees as the more optimistic prospects of an Obama presidency. 

"I think hip-hop artists will have no choice but to talk about different things and more positive things, and try to bring a brighter side to that because, even before Barack, I think people had been tired of hearing the same thing," he said. 

Likewise, "Universal Mind Control," with its hook-heavy, synthed-out tracks, represents a "broadening" of hip-hop's audience -- one that demands evolution rather than hackneyed revamps of old beats, rhythms and rhymes, Common said. Listen to clips from the album and Common's interview with CNN.com » 

Not that Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., is altogether removed from the temptations of his hip-hop brethren. 

He serves as a spokesman for Lincoln Navigator and purports on his new album to "rebel in YSL," a reference to designer Yves Saint Laurent. Money is also a weakness, as Common -- No. 14 on Forbes magazine's 2008 list of richest rappers -- regularly invokes the greenbacks he makes and spends. iReport.com: Talk Grammy Awards and more showbiz with Todd 

Now, provide a numbered list of answers to these questions:

1. Who is an ally?
2. Is he the President?
3. Whose ally is it
4. What is Common
5. How many albums does he have
6. What is Common's actual  name?
7. What is the title of his eighth album?
8. What news agency did he talk to?
9. Does the album demand something?
10. rather than what?
11. Who serves as a spokesperson?
12. For what?
13. what is YSL a reference to?
14. What is he
15. What is a weakness for Common?

Numbered answers:
1. Barack Obama
2. no, President-elect
3. Common
4. rapper
5. unknown
6. Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr
7. Universal Mind Control
8. CNN.com
9. evolution
10. hackneyed revamps of old beats
11. Common
12. Lincoln Navigator
13. Yves Saint Laurent
14. designer
15. regularly invokes the greenbacks he makes and spends