Words by: Preach Jacobs
There hasn’t been an emcee that has grown in the eyes of the public as much as Common. Since his debut in 1992, Common (formally Common Sense) has transformed into an icon, becoming a poster-child for authentic hip-hop. Now with his eighth album, Common maintains a calm demeanor about his music and other career paths. Acting is his next undertaking. The Chicago emcee has starred in blockbusters like ‘Smoking Aces,’ ‘American Gangster’ and will appear in this summer’s ‘Wanted.” It’s apparent that Common’s focus is shifting but he assures us that music is still in play.
“Right now, I want to do movies more than music. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning on retiring or anything from music; I just feel as an artist I want to challenge myself. Movies are just more exciting to me right now, and I’m having fun doing them.”
Even though film is taking the front seat in his career, he is confident that his new album will offer a side the public hasn’t seen with him before. After Common’s “Like Water For Chocolate” album, featuring the Grammy-Winning “The Light” produced by Jay Dee, I wondered if there was going to be more Dilla production on this new project or any other Dilla related efforts in the making.
“There’s not any Dilla joints on this new album, but God bless him. He’s the best that did it. There’s been ideas going around to have the artists that worked with Dilla put something out, but we’re waiting for the right idea to move forward and help out the family as best we can. We want to find the best thing to introduce him to people who aren’t familiar with him.”
Instead production duties are handled by The Neptunes, will.i.am and Mr. DJ; with his first two singles, the album entitled “Universal Mind Control” is a step away from the crochet-hat wearing wordsmith that the public may know him as. Having associations with groups like The Roots and a highly publicized relationship and break-up with Erykah Badu can make the stigma of a conscious-incense-burning-rapper hard to get away from. Common is aware but pays little attention to the rumors.
“Right after ‘Like Water For Chocolate,’ I told myself I never wanted to repeat the same album. I just do what I feel. If I don’t feel it, I don’t like it. I don’t even use the term neo-soul that everyone puts out there; I just want to make my music. This new album is a real light-hearted album. It’s simple and to the point; I just wanted to have fun with it. I wanted to re-create the feeling of being in a club. It’s crazy because people think that just because you may be considered conscious, that you can’t put out a party record or have fun. It’s like, just because you’re conscious, a brother can’t have a drink? You can still be a human being, do the right thing and still party. That’s something I didn’t really realize until I hung out with people like Assata Shakur. We were hanging out, and I got a chance to freestyle with her. I freestyled with Assata Shakur! You feel me? It was something to see your heroes be human.”
In these days and times, it maybe a good idea to use music to get their minds away from the perils of the financial crisis. Things couldn’t be more surreal. The stock market crashed, the banks and big three car companies are looking for bailouts and there’s a black president. From the beginning, Common supported the fellow Illinois-native Barack Obama and he couldn’t be happier with the outcome. He comments about November 4th 2008. “I was at Grant Park on the 4th. I was in the car listening to his speech on my way to host my own election party. It was amazing to finally see a day like this can come.”
If the country proved that they can put aside racial tension enough to elect a black president, does that type of optimism trickle down into the music? Now, that we have a Commander-in-Chief that speaks about love, discipline and family, can a rapper have the same success with similar content? Family is a concept that is dear to Common. Since his second album his father, better known as Pops, has been featured giving his spoken word lessons to his son throughout the record. This time his father’s presence is absent, something that hasn’t occurred in some time.
“It’s weird that my Pops ain’t on this new album. He’s been on just about every one of them. He’s been such a supporting factor in everything I do. At first he thought I was going to be a ball player until he discovered my gift in music. Ever since then, he’s always been supportive of my art and my dream. His support is something I want to pass on as a parent.”
Somewhere between the 40-guzzling 18-year old we heard on ‘Can I Borrow A Dollar’ til now, an adult has emerged. From underground rapper to the main character in middle-aged black women’s wet dream, Common has balanced acting, music and parenthood with grace, cool and style. This proves that while he was entertaining us for all of these years, he represented the best in our young culture. He proved that in fact, hip-hop is all grown up.
