Common

This article is about the American rapper and actor. For the British astronomer, see Andrew Ainslie Common ; to the English soccer player Alf Common .

Common (2011)

Common (born March 13, 1972 in Chicago , Illinois ; real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn ) is an American rapper , actor and Oscar winner .

Childhood and youth

Commons parents divorced when he was six, after which he grew up alone with his mother but continued to keep in touch with his father. In his youth, basketball played a bigger role for Common than music, and he was a ball boy on the Chicago Bulls basketball team . At school he was already a member of a rap group, but left it when he began studying business administration at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University .

Career

As a musician

The Source magazine discovered him through a tape from Common mailed in by a friend . After dropping out of college, he released his first album Can I Borrow a Dollar in 1992 under the pseudonym "Common Sense" . However, misogynistic statements could be heard on some of the songs .

"This is where the later posterboy for conscious hip-hop comes the closest to a negative role model [...]"

- RapReviews.com

In contrast, Resurrection made him an integral part of the underground scene in 1994 . He set himself apart from the gangsta image of many rappers, which you could hear especially on the single I Used To Love HER , which is widely considered a classic of the genre and is often even named the best hip-hop song of all time. In the song, Common raps about a friend of his who becomes more and more famous over time, but forgets where she actually comes from, which is a metaphor for the development of hip-hop at the time. Since Common mentions that this change has mainly to do with their "move" to the west coast , there was also a brief feud between him and the gangsta rapper Ice Cube , who is from there .

Shortly afterwards he had to shorten his stage name “Common Sense” to “Common”, as there was already a ska band of the same name . In 1997 he released the album One Day It'll All Make Sense , on which many well-known musicians such as De La Soul , Lauryn Hill , Erykah Badu and The Roots participated. He was also on Pete Rock's album Soul Survivor and Talib Kwelis and Mos Defs Black Star . Shortly before, he had become the father of Omoye Assata Lynn, who is named after the American civil and human rights activist Assata Shakur .

For his 2000 published, with number 16 in the Billboard charts for the first time commercially successful, album Like Water For Chocolate he separated from his current producer No ID and Ynot and worked instead with the Soulquarians (u. A. J Dilla , ? Uestlove and D'Angelo ) together with whom Commons Music moved from jazz to neo soul . Common was nominated for a Grammy for the first time in 2001 for the song The Light (number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 ) .

Two years later he published the very experimental Electric Circus . Some critics praised it for its courage to mix different musical styles, while others criticized it for the same reason. Two of the songs were produced by Neptunes , while Prince plays guitar and keyboard on another song . The album was made in the Electric Lady Studios, which once belonged to Jimi Hendrix . The song Jimi Was A Rockstar is dedicated to the late guitarist . On the eight and a half minute song, Common sings with Erykah Badu, with whom he was dating at the time.

With the help of his friend and producer Kanye West , he returned to his soulful, sample- heavy roots with the album Be 2005 , for which he was highly praised by the critics. With number 2 in the US charts , it was the most successful album Commons to date and was also nominated for four Grammys . The album was the second release on West's GOOD Music label that Common is under contract. In addition to West, J Dilla, who died in 2006, again produced two songs on the album.

After that, Common had guest appearances on the Fort Minor album The Rising Tied , Late Registration by Kanye West, the MTV Unplugged album by Alicia Keys , the posthumously released J Dilla album The Shining and on the album Introducing Joss Stone . Together with will.i.am he contributed the song A Dream as the title track to the soundtrack of the film Freedom Writers and wrote the piece Play Your Cards Right with Bilal for the film Smokin 'Aces .

Commons seventh album Finding Forever was released on July 31, 2007. The album was again largely produced by Kanye West, alongside individual tracks by will.i.am, Devo Springsteen, Karriem Riggins and J Dilla. It went to number 1 on the Billboard charts in the first week, for which Common thanked his fans.

"It's a testament to the fact that good music is alive. People do get into music that means something and that's creative [...] You feel like a lot of the work is payin 'off. "

Also in 2007 he founded the "Common Ground Foundation", which deals among other things with the education of the underprivileged and HIV / AIDS prevention. In the same year he was also nominated for three Grammy Awards. He won the coveted music award for his song Southside, recorded with Kanye West, in the category Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group . In 2003 he won his first Grammy together with Erykah Badu in the Best R&B Song category . The song Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop) , which was nominated twice, can also be found on the soundtrack of the film Brown Sugar , in which Common made his cinematic debut.

After several postponements, Common released his eighth solo album called Universal Mind Control (formerly Invincible Summer ) in December 2008 . The album was produced by The Neptunes and Mr. DJ, who worked with OutKast , among others ; Kanye West is an executive producer . It differs greatly from Commons previous albums in that it has less serious themes and musical electro influences . He himself described it as an “album to feel good” that sounds like “positive vibes, sun, cocktails” and “relaxed parties”. As Common's first album, Universal Mind Control received mostly devastating reviews; the e-zine PopMatters, for example, described the work as "artificial and banal".

In June 2009 Common was heard on the Jonas Brothers' Don't Charge Me for the Crime .

In February 2012 the album The Dreamer / The Believer was released , which contained the single Ghetto Dreams (feat. Nas ).

After the new single Kingdom was released in May 2014 , Common joined the Def-Jam- affiliated label ARTrium Recordings from producer No ID. Common's tenth studio album, Nobody's Smiling , was released on July 22, 2014 , with guest contributions from Big Sean and Malik Yusef. Like the previous album, it was produced by No ID.

For the eleventh album, Black America Again , Common worked again with Karriem Riggins, as he did from 1997 to 2007. Its productions at the factory are characterized by live instruments and numerous samples. The thematic focus of Commons Rap is racism. The title track, which was created together with Stevie Wonder , was released as a single. The piece is presented in a 20-minute video.

On the occasion of the Grammy Awards 2020 , a tribute concert for Prince took place on January 28, 2020 in the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles under the motto "Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince", during which Common the song Sign o 'the Times (1987) sang. The concert aired on U.S. television on April 21, 2020, the fourth anniversary of Prince's death.

Music genre

Due to his sometimes socially critical and often thoughtful lyrics, his retrospective music style with jazz and soul influences and his collaborations with musicians such as The Roots, Talib Kweli and Mos Def, Common is regarded as a conscious rapper . At the moment he is probably the most successful and best known in this category.

As a book author

Common has written two children's books called The Mirror and Me (2005) and I Like You but I Love Me (2006), which are designed to increase the reader's self-esteem by realizing that instead of conforming, one needs to love oneself, like one is. Only then can others do the same. I Like You But I Love Me was nominated for a 2007 NAACP Image Award .

In June 2008, Common founded The Corner Club to encourage teenagers to read more.

As an actor

Common made a cameo on the television series Scrubs . Since 2007 he can be seen regularly in movies. In March, Common had a role in the movie Smokin 'Aces , which also starred Ben Affleck and Alicia Keys , among others . At the end of the year he starred in the thriller American Gangster alongside Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington . In 2008 and 2009 he starred in the action films Street Kings with Keanu Reeves , Forest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie , Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman and in Terminator: The Redemption , the fourth installment in the Terminator series. In 2010 he had a role in the action comedy Date Night - Gangster For One Night, alongside Steve Carell and Tina Fey . From 2011 to 2014 he was seen in a leading role in the AMC series Hell on Wheels . In 2015 he played the role of the hit man Price in Run All Night .

In the civil rights drama Selma , he embodies the co-organizer of the marches James Bevel .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1994	Resurrection	-	-	-	-	US179 (... weeks) US	First published: October 25, 1994
1997	One Day It'll All Make Sense	-	-	-	-	US62 (5 weeks) US	First published: September 30, 1997
2000	Like water for chocolate	-	-	-	-	US16 gold (31 weeks)US	First published: March 28, 2000
2002	Electric Circus	-	-	-	-	US47 (13 weeks) US	First published: December 10, 2002
2005	Be	DE93 (1 week) DE	-	CH26 (8 weeks) CH	UK38 silver (3 weeks)UK	US2 gold (27 weeks)US	First published: May 24, 2005
2007	Finding Forever	DE92 (1 week) DE	-	CH23 (5 weeks) CH	UK35 (3 weeks) UK	US1 gold (23 weeks)US	First published: July 31, 2007
2008	Universal Mind Control	-	-	CH82 (1 week) CH	-	US12 (13 weeks) US	First published: December 9, 2008
2011	The Dreamer / The Believer	-	-	-	-	US18 (9 weeks) US	First published: December 20, 2011
2014	Nobody's smiling	-	-	-	-	US6 (5 weeks) US	First published: July 22, 2014
2016	Black America Again	-	-	-	-	US25 (2 weeks) US	First published: November 4, 2016
2019	Let love	-	-	CH86 (1 week) CH	-	US118 (1 week) US	First published: August 30, 2019

More albums

• 1992: Can I Borrow a Dollar?
• 2007: Thisisme Then: The Best of
• 2010: Go! - Common Classics

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1997	Reminding Me (Of Sef) One Day It'll All Make Sense	-	-	-	UK59 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 5th, 1997 feat. Chantay Savage
2000	The 6th Sense Like Water for Chocolate	-	-	-	UK56 (2 weeks) UK	-	First release: February 15, 2000 feat. Bilal
	The Light Like Water for Chocolate	-	-	-[UK: ↑]		US44 (19 weeks) US	First published: July 18, 2000
2001	Geto Heaven Like Water for Chocolate	-	-	-	UK48 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 16, 2001 feat. Macy Gray
2002	Come Close Electric Circus	-	-	-	-	US65 (15 weeks) US	First release: November 5th, 2002 feat. Mary J. Blige
2005	Go! Be	-	-	-	UK79 (1 week) UK	US79 (6 weeks) US	First published: June 14, 2005
2007	Drivin 'Me Wild Finding Forever	-	-	-	UK56 (2 weeks) UK	-	First release: August 31, 2007 feat. Lily Allen
2008	Universal Mind Control Universal Mind Control	-	-	-	-	US62 (6 weeks) US	First release: July 1st, 2008 feat. Pharrell Williams
2014	Glory Selma (OST)	-	AT47 (1 week) AT	CH38 (1 week) CH	UK62 (1 week) UK	US49 (3 weeks) US	First published: December 2014 with John Legend

As a guest musician

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2001	Dance for Me No More drama	DE82 (3 weeks) DE	-	CH50 (8 weeks) CH	UK13 (13 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 29, 2001 Mary J. Blige featuring Common
2002	Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop) Worldwide Underground	-	-	-	-	US9 (27 weeks) US	First published: August 20, 2002 Erykah Badu featuring Common
2007	Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now Introducing Joss Stone	DE96 (1 week) DE	-	CH66 (8 weeks) CH	UK84 (1 week) UK	-	First published: June 11, 2007 Joss Stone featuring Common
2009	Make Her Say Man on the Moon: The End of Day	DE85 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK67 (2 weeks) UK	US43 platinum (15 weeks)US	First published: June 9, 2009 Kid Cudi featuring Common & Kanye West
2010	Wake Up Everybody Wake Up!	-	-	CH62 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: August 2nd, 2010 John Legend & The Roots featuring Common & Melanie Fiona

Awards

• Grammy Awards
  • 2003: Best R&B Song - "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" ( Erykah Badu feat. Common) ^{Grammy Awards 2003 # Rhythm & Blues}
  • 2008: Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group - "Southside" (Common feat. Kanye West ) ^{Grammy Awards 2008 # Rap}
• BET Awards
  • 2003: Video of the Year - "Love of My Life (Ode to Hip-Hop)"
• BET Hip Hop Awards
  • 2006: Element Award: Lyricist of the Year
  • 2007: Lyricist of the Year
  • 2007: CD of the Year - Finding Forever
• Black Reel Awards
  • 2003: Best Film Song - "Love of My Life (Ode to Hip-Hop)"
• Academy Awards 2015 :
  • Best movie song: Glory from the movie Selma (together with John Legend )

Filmography (selection)

• 2002: Brown Sugar
• 2004: Scrubs ( Scrubs , TV series, episode 4x05 Her Story )
• 2005: Block Party
• 2006: Smokin 'Aces
• 2007: American Gangster
• 2008: Street Kings
• 2008: Wanted
• 2009: Terminator: The Redemption (Terminator Salvation)
• 2010: Date Night - Gangster for one night (Date Night)
• 2010: Just Wright - Every Hit Counts in This Game (Just Wright)
• 2011: Happy Feet 2 (voice)
• 2011: Happy New Year (New Year's Eve)
• 2011-2014: Hell on Wheels (TV series, 32 episodes)
• 2012: The Odd Life of Timothy Green
• 2012: windward
• 2013: Movie 43
• 2013: The Unbelievable - Now You See Me (Now You See Me)
• 2013: Pawn - Who Can You Trust? (Pawn)
• 2014: X / Y
• 2014: Selma
• 2015: Run All Night
• 2016: Barbershop: The Next Cut
• 2016: Suicide Squad
• 2017: John Wick: Chapter 2 (John Wick: Chapter 2)
• 2017: A Happening of Monumental Proportions
• 2017: Sergeant Rex - Not Without My Dog (Megan Leavey)
• 2017: Girls Trip
• 2017: Love Beats Rhymes
• 2017-2018: The Guard Lion ( The Lion Guard , TV series, four episodes)
• 2018: The Tale (The Tale)
• 2018: The Chi (TV series, 3 episodes)
• 2018: Here and Now - The best day of my life (Here and Now)
• 2018: All About Nina
• 2018: The Hate U Give
• 2018: Hunter Killer
• 2018: Smallfoot - An Icy Adventure ( Smallfoot , voice)
• 2019: The Kitchen - Queens of Crime (The Kitchen)
• 2019: The Informer

Web links

Commons : Common  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• official homepage
• Common at laut.de
• Common at Allmusic (English)
• Common in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ rapreviews.com: Review of Can I Borrow a Dollar?
2. ↑ about.com: "100 Greatest Rap Songs"
3. ↑ "100 Best Rap Singles", voted by The Source
4. ↑ rapreviews.com: Review of Resurrection
5. ↑ laut.de : Biography about Common
6. ↑ laut.de: Review of Electric Circus
7. ^ Rapreviews.com: Review of Electric Circus
8. ↑ allmusic.com : Review of Be
9. ↑ youtube.com : "Common # 1 on Billboard Charts," added August 10, 2007
10. ^ "Common - has now founded his foundation" , October 11, 2007
11. ↑ "Album Cover: Common - 'Universal Mind Control'" , October 9, 2008
12. ↑ ^{a b} Juice , September 2008 edition
13. ↑ “Common Readies Invincible Summer For July Release,” May 1, 2008
14. ↑ Metacritic : Collected Reviews of Universal Mind Control
15. ↑ PopMatters: Review of Universal Mind Control , December 16, 2008
16. ↑ Common signs to No ID's ARTrium Recordings . defjam.com. June 4, 2014. Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 30, 2014. 
17. ↑ Common - Nobody's Smiling [Stream ] . juice.de. July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
18. ^ Andy Kellman: Black America Again - Common. AllMusic Review. Allmusic , accessed on November 4, 2016 . 
19. ↑ Popshot: The record hodgepodge November 2016 (with, inter alia, Common and Cr7z) - Popshot . In: Popshot . ( Online [accessed December 21, 2016]).
20. ↑ Chuck Arnold: Grammy salute 'Let's Go Crazy' proves nothing compares 2 Prince. In: nypost.com. April 21, 2020, accessed April 24, 2020 . 
21. ↑ admin: The Best Moments From 'Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute To Prince' [Videos]. In: liveforlivemusic.com. April 21, 2020, accessed April 24, 2020 . 
22. ↑ arte.tv : "Backstage - Conscious Hiphop" ( Memento of the original from November 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , updated May 27, 2004 
23. ↑ "The 38th NAACP Image Awards" ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) 
24. ↑ viviano.de: "Common: Young people need to read more" , June 9, 2008
25. ↑ Episode "Her Story" / Season 4
26. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE CH UK US
27. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK US