Words that come to mind when I think of Common: Sexy, Intelligent, Eloquent, Successful, Hip Hop, Black, Sexy…okay, okay maybe that “Sexy” one comes to mind a little more than the others. However, none of those words are good enough. None of them quite capture the raw talent behind the man. Ain't too much common about him. Quite the extraordinary actually.
I caught Common (formerly known as Common Sense) a few weeks ago at Chicago’s Field Museum during his tour from city to city for AT&T’s 28 Days Speaker Series in honor of Black History Month. Common spoke with Kevin Powell, writer, public speaker and activist.
Common, product of the Chi, stands for so much in our community and I was very humbled to be in his presence. His love for Chi City and hip hop is as deep as mine. And as he shared that love, I worked hard to share that moment, with you…
Common first hit the scenes with his debut album “Can I Borrow a Dollar?” in ’92. And when we loaned him that dollar, he gave us some common sense in return. He then released his second album, Like Water for Chocolate, his first major album. Then in 2003, he and Erykah Badu made us fall back in love with hip hop in their ode to hip hop with the track “Love of My Life”, featured in the motion picture Brown Sugar. Both the song and movie are in my personal top ten. Then Common showed his Chi city ass again only a few years later when he dropped his Grammy nominated album Be. And just when he taught us to “just be”, he hit us with another album, his latest released in 2007 titled Finding Forever.
Common to me is a face of hip hop. The beats, the lyrics, the struggles, the pride. He is hip hop then, now and later on, too. Straight from the streets of Chi City, I breathe his dream when I walk down the broken boulevards and assed out avenues.
And he made it out...without selling out.
“You all know my quest as an artist, you all know my mission,” said Common. “But I must admit there are a lot of artist out there that may not be saying things that are uplifting. They may not present things that have any positive energy throughout the whole project.”
I couldn’t help but think of the many rap lyrics that I would spit to that, in reality, disrespected my royalty as a black woman. Or recite some of the lines in a hip hop song that hurts the souls and beings of the men I'm supposed to stand strongly behind. And as those thoughts checked me, Common presented a challenge.
“I challenge the listeners to not support what you don’t want to hear."
Tough challenge, however, Common is no stranger to challenges. Once he conquered the mic, he challenged himself on the big screen with films including American Gangster, Smokin’ Aces and his latest with Queen Latifah, Just Wright.
Common’s outlook on hip hop and our love or hate for it remains positive. His heart beats for hip hop like the lil drummer boy who beats on his white bucket on the side of the 290. And his love for hip hop spreads from heart to heart, and it forever lives in mine.
I love you Common, for what you mean to hip hop and my city and what you’ve taught me about both. Chi City.
Love,
Vee
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