Front
Page
US
Music News
UK
Music News
UK
Interviews
Nightclubs
Events
+ Concerts
Album
Reviews
Games
Feature
Articles
Music
Videos
Chat
Room
One of the most revered rappers of his generation, Common has been praised by everyone from Jay-Z to Mos Def. The Chi-town rapper talks to The Situation about everything from his new album through to his own range of hats.
It’s
lunchtime in London. In a hotel suite, Common
lays back like he’s in his own living room being questioned on everything
from religion to his hectic press schedule. People start getting edgy
as Common has to be at Choice FM in half an hour to do a recorded interview.
Phone calls are made between floors and it is decided that our interview
can be done in the car. In the lobby we wait as people who needn’t
come are taken out of the equation, as soon as that’s decided a
smartly dressed and relaxed looking Common steps out of the carpeted lift
to be escorted to the people carrier waiting outside with its engine running.
“I wanna be there now,” says Common in his smooth Chi-town accent, which is still as distinctive today as when he used to tell us how he used to love H.E.R. “When I look back I think I was like, ‘did I really wanna be there [famous]?’ But now I want that. I went through that journey to build my character.”
His latest album, ‘Be’, is a return to his hip hop roots and boasts Kanye West on the production credits. With this project, the prospect of breaking through to a whole new level of fame is very real when magazines such as XXL call it a ‘flawless album’. “‘Be’ was inspired by my desire to create raw, soulful hip hop.” As he looked out to a bright and busy London, he continued, “It was inspired by being hungry; it was inspired by people talking about ‘Electric Circus’, the Erykah situation [his recent publicised break-up with soul singer Erykah Badu]; it was inspired by the hunger to create some beautiful music and some hip hop. I love hip hop man!”
It’s this love of hip hop which keeps the artist formerly known as Common Sense creating new and exciting music. Some would be bitter about the lack of love shown to an album that should have been acclaimed for being groundbreaking and challenging, but not Common. His last album ‘Electric Circus’ baffled a few fans as voiced by NME when they described the album as ‘the weirdest hip-hop album in recent memory’. “I really was not inspired by hip hop, I was inspired by other music such as jazz and soul and rock music, and I was really like at a point where I was disappointed with hip hop, but I wasn’t gonna go complain.” In full reflective mode, he said: “I felt like I wanted to make some music to show the hip hop audience that we could go beyond what we think hip hop is supposed to sound like, and we don’t have to fit in this format that we kept producing at that time. It was about breaking free and not limiting myself. Hopefully people will go back and be like, ‘Hey, this album was good, we just weren’t ready at the time.’ I definitely wanted more love from the people for that album, but I realise everything that I do is not gonna be meeting the people at the same time.”
In the lobby
of the radio station we grab the nearest seats we can find and leave everyone
else to get the interview ready. The name Common has become a byword for
conscious hip hop thanks to journalists and their need to box in music.
“I appreciate the label of being called conscious because it just
means aware… and look at the people that they call conscious artists,
from Stevie Wonder to Bob
Marley; from Marvin Gaye
to KRS One or Public
Enemy. The only drawback I do see is that people think
because you’re labelled a conscious artist then you don’t
have human qualities, that you’re just a preacher, that you are
just perfect. That’s not ever what I try to project to people. I
really try to show the human qualities that we have; somedays that’s
anger, somedays that’s laughing somedays crying and some times it’s
love and sometimes its sexual freaky lust, y’know? I can experience
all those things in one day! Sometimes when you meet people they expect
you not to joke, that’s why we’re here to break those expectations.”
Another artist who comes under the conscious heading would be Kanye West,
one of the two producers Common worked with on ‘Be’. “I’ve
known Kanye for nine years, but this is the first time we got together,”
he explained as he kept one eye open for the signal to leave for his next
interview. “I think Kanye issued in a new era in hip hop and he
also just allowed people to see that you don’t have to be gangster,
you don’t have to be super eccentric to be creative and be good.
He allowed people to really appreciate the raw, soulful hip hop artist
and he really opened a lot of doors for us.”
‘Be’ will be Common’s sixth album to date, and is neither a replica of his style on ‘Resurrection’ nor is as out there as ‘Electric Circus’ was; this is the product of all his albums put together. Unlike previous albums, Common has opted for less collaborations and less producers. “I wanted to do that because I wanted to focus on me and wanted people to know who I am as an artist. I knew I could make a great album if I had incredible producers and I got Jay Dilla and Kanye; those are two of the best dudes ever to get on a beat machine. It was a great experience; I learned and had fun, I feel like confident and successful already just from the response I’m getting from the album.”
Heading back to the car, a guy walks past us and a sudden flash of familiarity crosses his face and the two touch fists as though they were in the ends. It’s his down to earth personality which wins him extra points, and people around him gush about how cool he is.
Aside from the music, Common has announced plans to release a range of hats called ‘Soji’, named after a next-door neighbour. “I really love hats; it’s kinda an extension of me,” he explained as we headed back to his hotel. “I thought it was a great way to promote the tings that I do and a good business move; I really wanna step my business to a new level.” His cameo in Kanye West’s video ‘All Falls Down’ gave him an extra taste for acting. “I definitely wanna act. The two times I got picked for a role in a TV sitcom I really enjoyed it and I love acting classes; to me, it’s another way to be creative.”
We reach the hotel a few hours after we left and the sun is a bit lower in the sky and pizza has been laid out for a quick snack as Common plus entourage are about to make the dash to Heathrow to head home. How he has the energy is beyond me, and he’s not about to kick back and chill. “I’m working on a new album and getting some label stuff together so I can put out some artists. I’m writing children’s books and also want into get into writing films. I got a foundation which you’ll hear about; me opening some schools in Chicago and some sort of facilities that the youth can come to and spread their wings.”
I left the hotel with a smile on my face and headed back into my real world. Common’s world could change dramatically with the release of ‘Be’, or he could remain the revered artist he is now. How else can I close but with his own words: “I just feel like God is good. He’s given some of his children a light right now… My plan is to continue to make music that I feel is good, and God wiling, it keeps progressing, and to be a good business man after the music is made.”
Common’s new album, ‘Be’, is out now at all good record
stores. For more information on him, please visit his official website:
http://www.common-music.com.
