Photo: Steven Pisano - Feast of Music from New York City, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Common
Common came up out of Chicago in the early nineties with a thoughtful, conversational style of hip-hop that stood apart from the gangsta rap dominating the charts. His 1994 track "I Used to Love H.E.R." — a hip-hop love letter disguised as a breakup song — made his name, and he's spent the decades since balancing soulful, reflective records with a parallel career as an actor. Few rappers have managed to stay this consistent, or this warm, for this long.
Start here
Be (2005). Produced almost entirely by Kanye West, it's his tightest and most soulful record, built on warm samples and clear-eyed writing about Chicago life. "The Corner," "Go!" and "Testify" are all here, and the whole thing runs under 45 minutes without a wasted track.
Biography
Lonnie Rashid Lynn (born March 13, 1972), known professionally as Common (formerly known as Common Sense), is an American rapper and actor. Common has achieved three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He has also acted on Broadway.
Common signed with the independent label Relativity Records at the age of 20. The label released his first three studio albums: Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992), Resurrection (1994) and One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997). He maintained an underground hip-hop following into the late 1990s, and achieved mainstream success through his work with the Black music collective Soulquarians.
After attaining a major label record deal, he released his fourth and fifth albums, Like Water for Chocolate (2000) and Electric Circus (2002).
Common guest performed on fellow Soulquarian Erykah Badu's 2003 single, "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", which became his highest entry — at number nine — on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best R&B Song at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA. Read the full article.
Studio albums
Can I Borrow a Dollar? 1992
Resurrection 1994
One Day It’ll All Make Sense 1997
Like Water for Chocolate 2000
Electric Circus 2002
Be 2005
Finding Forever 2007
Universal Mind Control 2008
The Dreamer / The Believer 2011
Nobody’s Smiling 2014
Black America Again 2016
Let Love 2019
A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 1 2020
A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 2 2021
A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1 & 2 2021
The Auditorium, Vol. 1 2024Discography
Official studio albums and EPs.
- 2024The Auditorium, Vol. 1Album
- 2021A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1 & 2Album
- 2021A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 2Album
- 2020A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 1Album
- 2019Let LoveAlbum
- 2016Black America AgainAlbum
- 2014Nobody’s SmilingAlbum
- 2011The Dreamer / The BelieverAlbum
- 2008Universal Mind ControlAlbum
- 2008Announcement - EPEP
- 2007Finding ForeverAlbum
- 2005BeAlbum
- 2003Come Close Remix (Closer)EP
- 2002Electric CircusAlbum
- 2000Like Water for ChocolateAlbum
- 1997One Day It’ll All Make SenseAlbum
- 1994ResurrectionAlbum
- 1992Can I Borrow a Dollar?Album
Latest news
No news stories yet.