Common
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Common was born Lonnie Rashied Lynn on the South Side of Chicago, an area not exactly noted for its fertile hip-hop scene. Nonetheless, he honed his skills to the point where -- performing as Common Sense -- he was able to catch his first break, winning ~The Source magazines Unsigned Hype contest. He debuted in 1992 with the single Take It EZ, which appeared on his Combat-released debut album, Can I Borrow a Dollar?; further singles Breaker 1/9 and Soul by the Pound helped establish his reputation in the hip-hop underground, although some critics complained about the records occasional misogynistic undertones. Common Sense subsequently wound up on Ruthless Records for his 1994 follow-up, Resurrection, which crystallized his reputation as one of the undergrounds best (and wordiest) lyricists. The track I Used to Love H.E.R. attracted substantial notice for its clever allegory about aps descent into commercially exploitative sex-and-violence subject matter, and even provoked a short-lived feud with Ice Cube. Subsequently, Common Sense was sued by a ska band of the same name, and was forced to shorten his own moniker to Common; he also relocated from Chicago to Brooklyn.
Bumped up to parent label Relativity, Common issued the first album under his new name in 1997. One Day Itll All Make Sense capitalized on the fledgling resurgence of intelligent hip-hop with several prominent guests, including Lauryn Hill, Q-Tip, De La Soul, Erykah Badu, Cee-Lo, and the Roots Black Thought. The album was well received in the press, and Common raised his profile with several notable guest spots over the next couple of years; he appeared on Pete Rocks Soul Survivor, plus two watermark albums of the new progressive hip-hop movement, Mos Def and Talib Kwelis Black Star and the Roots Things Fall Apart. Common also hooked up with indie- ap kingpins Rawkus for a one-off collaboration with Sadat X, 1-9-9-9, which appeared on the labels seminal Soundbombing, Vol. 2 compilation.
With his name popping up in all the right places, Common landed a major-label deal with MCA, and brought on Roots drummer ?uestlove as producer for his next project. Like Water for Chocolate was released in early 2000 and turned into something of a breakthrough success, attracting more attention than any Common album to date (partly because of MCAs greater promotional resources). Guests this time around included Macy Gray, MC Lyte, Cee-Lo, Mos Def, DAngelo, jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and Afro-beat star Femi Kuti (on a tribute to his legendary father Fela). Plus, the singles The Sixth Sense and The Light (the latter of which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance) earned considerable airplay. Following that success, Common set the stage for his next record with an appearance on Mary J. Bliges No More Drama in early 2002. He issued his most personal work to date with Electric Circus in December of that year. Be, a much tighter album, followed in May 2005.
