photo by steed media service

Story by Todd Williams
Images by Michael Melendy for Steed Media Service

Hip-hop heads, (or at least the late twenty-to-thirtysomethings) can remember in the early 1990s, a little-noticed album by a clever young rhyme-sayer from Chicago. The album was Can I Borrow A Dollar?, and the MC was 20-year-old Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. aka Common Sense (as he was known at the time). Possessed of an unorthodox flow and a better-than-the-average-rapper wit and focus, Common's debut, though it was a quality album, wasn't that much of an anomaly in 1992. Dropping during the mini alternative-rap boom of 1991-1993, (which saw the debuts of Pharcyde, Arrested Development, Digable Planets, Souls of Mischief and several more high-profile contributors to the genre), Common's first release just got lost in the shuffle. Each subsequent release saw his stature grow in hip-hop's fabled underground scene, but commercial success was scant: only 2000s Like Water for Chocolate and 2005s Be have gone gold, despite eight Grammy nominations and one win - for "Love of My Life (Ode to Hip- Hop)," his 2003 duet with his then-girlfriend, soul singer Erykah Badu. After 2003s Electric Circus, where Common tried on electro and alt-rock sounds with limited success, he joined forces with that other Chicago emcee, Kanye West, who, if you didn't know, also happens to be one of the hottest producers on the planet.

"Kanye and I - our synergy stems from our love [of] music," Common says about his friend and collaborator. "[From] what we wanna do as people in this world."

Common also found a musical soulmate in J Dilla; a fellow Midwestern hip-hop head who was one of the MC's closest friends until his 2006 death from lupus nephritis. With West, Common has forged a similar bond. Chi-Town's dynamic duo has strong musical roots and their artistic ambition is noble and sincere. "It's a spiritual thing, too," Common adds. "We want to make changes and help people. [We want to] put out music that means something and will be here throughout time."

And sharing the same area code gives the two a bond that the veteran MC relishes. When Common is paired with a producer that he truly connects with, (like Pete Rock or the late, great J Dilla), he truly soars as an MC and as an artist. "We get in there and we both have a drive - we got that Chicago connection, [so] we challenge each other. That's one of my good friends, it's all love. He can take me to the highest level and I can take him to the highest level."

That 'highest level' means different things for Common than it may for the average rapper. Despite his somewhat limited chart success, Common has parlayed those two gold records and infinite pop culture respect and panache into an endorsement deal with GAP stores and, in 2007, two very high profile movie roles; one in the shoot-'em-up action flick Smokin' Aces and, later in the year, the hard-boiled crime drama American Gangster opposite Oscar® winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Common stars as Turner Lucas, brother to drug lord Frank Lucas as portrayed by Denzel Washington.

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