There was a time when Lonnie Rashid Lynn, better known to the hip-hop world as Common Sense (eventually shortened to Common) seemed to be in a career slump. The Chicago-born rapper was well-respected as an artist, but wasn’t selling records like his hometown peers Kanye West and R. Kelly. While dating Erykah Badu, he was clowned good-naturedly for his mismatched outfits and considered more of a backpack rapper than a hip-hop star.
Flash forward a few years later, and Common is now a multimedia sensation with what looks to be two hit movies this year. “Date Night” has already been released and “Just Wright” his romantic comedy with Queen Latifah and Paula Patton comes out May 14. With his rap career still going strong, Common has become one of it’s most popular acts and all without having to compromise the positivity we love him for. We thought we’d run by a few things you might not now about this rapper-slash-actor.
SCHOOL DAZE
In the midst of trying to find an avenue to get in the rap game, Common attended an HBCU. He attended Florida A&M University (FAMU) for two years as a business major. In 1991, with the help of producers Tone and No I.D. and a demo tape under his new moniker Common Sense, he made The Source magazine’s Unsigned Hype column. Soon after, he was leaving Florida to sign a record deal with Relativity Records. As he describes it: “Three propeller planes and eight hours later (in what should have been one flight and two hours, I was meeting with an Asian A&R named Peter Kang and signing my record deal. On my way back to the airport, in the hatchback of Peter’s car, I was thinking that this was the beginning of the ride of my life…”
FAMILY VALUES
Common’s mother is Dr. Mahila Ann Hines, a Chicago educator. His father, Lonnie Lynn, was a former ABA basketball player, which may have come in handy as Common prepared for his first lead role as an NBA player in “Just Wright.” Although his parents divorced while he was still young, his father remained in Common’s life, helping him get a job with the Chicago Bulls as a teenager. His father appears on his 2005 “comeback” album “Be.”
BEHIND THE BOARDS
Common has been fortunate to work with two of hip-hop’s greatest producers from outside the New York area. A member of the Soulquarians, a loose collective of artists that included D’Angelo, The Roots’ Questlove, keyboardist/producer James Poyser, Erykah Badu, and Detroit’s J Dilla (also known as Slum Village’s Jay Dee, Dilla succumbed to lupus in 2006) also worked with Kanye West. Common’s songwriting ability and his MC skills make a lot of artists interested in working with him. The Soulquarians were involved in the commercially unsuccessful “Electric Circus” (2002) CD, widely seen as a turning point for Common’s career. Although he’s said he wanted to make a different kind of hip-hop CD, his fans couldn’t follow. After his breakup with Badu, Common’s next CD, “Be” was mostly produced by Kanye West, and it became Common’s second gold CD.
THE WRIGHT STUFF
During the 2008 election, Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ came under fire for the alleged beliefs of its main pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. As the pastor who married the Obamas and christened their children, it was alleged that the Obamas shared his beliefs. Once comments Rev. Wright made at a public speech hit the media, the Obamas distanced themselves from him and the church. Common has long ties to Trinity as he and his …..
