Common

Common (born March 13, 1972, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) American hip-hop artist, actor, and activist who became a mainstream success in the early 21st century, known for intelligent and positive lyrics that were performed in a spoken-word style. He was the first rapper to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and an Emmy Award.

Common’s father was a professional basketball player and youth counselor, and his mother was a teacher and principal. While in high school, he formed a rap trio, C.D.R., which eventually opened for such groups as N.W.A. He left C.D.R. when he went to study business at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. After two years, however, Common quit college to devote his time to music. He originally performed under the name Common Sense, but a band with the same name sued, and in the mid-1990s he shortened his stage name to Common.

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Common released his first two albums, Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992) and Resurrection (1994), on independent labels. His first release on a major label, Like Water for Chocolate (2000), was both commercially and critically successful. He continued to perform and record albums, including Be (2005), Universal Mind Control (2008), Nobody’s Smiling (2014), and Let Love (2019). Both Black America Again (2016) and A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 1 (2020) were released shortly before presidential elections and feature songs that centre on topical issues, notably racism and injustice. Common addressed similar themes in A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 2 (2021). During this time he also cofounded the jazz group August Greene, which released a self-titled album in 2018.

In the 2000s Common began to land bit parts in television shows and movies. His early films included the crime drama American Gangster (2007), the sci-fi adventure Terminator Salvation (2009), and the comedy Date Night (2010). From 2011 to 2014 Common had a starring role as a formerly enslaved person working on the transcontinental railroad in the TV series Hell on Wheels. He subsequently appeared in such movies as Ava DuVernay’s biographical drama Selma (2014), the action adventure Suicide Squad (2016), the comedy Girls Trip (2017), and the crime drama Ava (2020). Common later was cast in Alice (2022), a revenge film about an enslaved woman who escapes from an isolated Southern plantation and discovers the year is 1973. In 2018–19 he had a part in and was an executive producer of the cable TV drama series The Chi. During this time he also had a recurring role on the series Never Have I Ever.

Common earned numerous awards during his career, including Grammys for his collaborations with Erykah Badu and Kanye West on “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” (2002) and “Southside” (2007), respectively. For “Glory,” a song he performed with John Legend for the movie Selma, the two artists earned a Grammy and an Oscar. In 2017 Common won an Emmy for “Letter to the Free,” which was featured in DuVernay’s documentary 13th (2016).

Common founded a record label, Think Common Entertainment, and a film production company, Freedom Road Productions. He also wrote the children’s books The Mirror and Me (2004) and I Like You but I Love Me (2006), which deal with self-esteem. They were published through his Hip Hop Schoolhouse publishing company. One Day It’ll All Make Sense (2011) and Let Love Have the Last Word (2019) are memoirs. Common was also active in the Common Ground Foundation, which he established in 2002 to mentor and support students from underserved areas of Chicago.