PSYCHO_M.a.a.T.
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| Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:23 pm |
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Blanquito wrote: Common
Common (formerly Common Sense, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. on March 13, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Chicago-based hip hop artist known for lyrics that focus on love and spirituality. Though he has maintained a significant underground following, in recent years he has gained notable mainstream success. His major-label debut Like Water for Chocolate received critical acclaim and some commercial success, and his latest album Be, which features nine tracks produced by Kanye West, has sold 800,000 copies [1] and was nominated in the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. Common is the son of former ABA basketball player Lonnie Lynn.
After dropping out of Florida A&M University and being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine, Common debuted in 1992 with the single "Take It EZ" and the LP Can I Borrow a Dollar? under the name Common Sense. Though popular success was virtually nonexistent, he established a solid fanbase among underground rap fans who considered him a socially conscious rapper.
The song "I Used to Love H.E.R.", off the album Resurrection, sparked a feud with West Coast rapper Ice Cube. The lyrics of the song criticized the path hip-hop music was taking, including the popularity of West Coast G-Funk rap. Ice Cube and Common dissed each other back and forth, finally meeting with Louis Farrakhan and setting aside their dispute. Following the popularity of this album, Common Sense was sued by a Los Angeles-based ska band with the same name, and was forced to change his moniker to simply "Common".
With the 1994 release of Resurrection, Common achieved a much larger degree of critical acclaim, especially among Chicago natives. The album sold well and received a strong positive reaction among alternative and underground hip-hop fans at the time. Resurrection was Common's last album produced entirely by his long-time production partner, No I.D..
In 1997, Common released One Day It'll All Make Sense, which included collaborations with artists like Lauryn Hill, Q-Tip, Canibus, and Black Thought. The album, which made a point of eschewing any gangsterism in response to questions about his musical integrity, was critically acclaimed and led to a major label contract with MCA Records.
In 2000, his fourth effort saw ?uestlove executive producing and J Dilla producing all tracks but one, the DJ Premier-produced track "The Sixth Sense", one of the most popular songs on the album; Like Water for Chocolate was something of a breakthrough success, greatly expanding his fanbase among critics and listeners alike and earning Common his first gold record. The most popular single from the album, "The Light", was nominated for a Grammy Award.
His next album, Electric Circus (2002 in music), featured a break from the norm, and had Common rapping over electric rock music and electronica-influenced tracks. The album received mixed reviews and did not sell as well as the previous record had, as most fans were turned off by the album's experimentation.
Common won his first Grammy (with Erykah Badu) in 2003 for "Love of My life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", a song he performed with then-girlfriend Badu for the soundtrack to the movie Brown Sugar. (Ironically, his relationship with Badu ended that same year.) Currently, it is believed that Common is dating actress Taraji P. Henson.
His latest album, Be, was released in May 2005 on the G.O.O.D. Music label, with most of the production handled by Kanye West, a fellow native of Chicago and longtime fan. Two of the tracks were produced by J Dilla, but it was Kanye's newly iconic status that greatly boosted the album's popularity, silenced critics claiming that Common's career was over, and earned him the second gold record of his career, with sales topping out at around 800,000.
Hip-hop magazines hailed Be as one of the best albums to come out in a long time. The Source magazine gave it a near perfect 4.5 mic rating, XXL magazine gave it their highest rating of "XXL", and AllHipHop [2] gave the album 5 stars. The album was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2006, including:
* Best Rap Album, "Be"
* Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, "The Corner" (featuring The Last Poets)
* Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, "They Say" (featuring Kanye West & John Legend)
* Best Rap Song, "Testify"
Common is scheduled to perform at the 2006 Bonnaroo music and arts festival in Manchester, Tennessee. He performed at Spring Weekend at Brown University as well as 40 Acres Fest at University of Texas, the University of Maryland, the University of Wisconsin for their "All Campus Party", the George Washington University for FallFest 2006, and at RutgersFest at Rutgers University in Spring 2006, putting on shows displaying his many skills in hip-hop culture, from rapping to drumming to break-dancing. Moreover, his shows often involve serenading a pretty lady on stage. He has already planned out and begun working on his 7th LP, which will be titled Finding Forever. He has stated plans to continue work with Kanye West and a desire to work with Dr. Dre for the album. Numerous comments from West indicate that the album will be released in late September (though no official date has been set as of yet), and that the first single will be called "The Glory." West has also predicted that Finding Forever will win the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. [3] [4]
Common also performed in Chicago at Lollapalooza on August 5.
Discography
Can I Borrow a Dollar?
Resurrection
One Day It'll All Make Sense
Like Water for Chocolate
Electric Circus
Be
Finding Forever |
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