True Hip Hop fans have been listening to Common since the 90's and for a while, many claimed him to be the best. Fast forward to today, he doesn't have the popularity that he used to, yet throughout the entirety of his career he maintained a positive image as a conscious rapper. Common never has and never will be a thug.
Common was flowin furreal! This is the kind of stuff that should be on everybody's playlist! You don't have to only listen to this from a religious stand-point. Common blends history and the realities of today in his music & it's amazing! He's such an under-rate artist. Forget all the crap on the radio now, this is the kind of stuff I want to hear & that I wish my generation would appreciate as well.
A blessing to see Common create something incredible while everyone around him attempts to criticize ... If we only used our time wisely and looked into the body of work that this good brotha has blessed us with since the beginning ... continue to throw stones - we will build houses with them ...
Rashid has always used the stage to drop real truth...he is truly a part of a fallen art in true hip-hop rap that educates and motivates!! Im honored for back in the day having played ball with him and Ski at Hendricks every Saturday..go Com you deserve to rep the Chi 1st!
i am sad this beautiful piece of poetry couldn't make the final cut on the whitehouse's video of that evening of poetry. bur at least we can still appreciate it everywhere. "Guiltiness [rest] on their conscious"
Let gave "THANKS AND PRAISE" to the "Sly Fox" for this one. Thanks for all the views, thanks for opening the eyes to all the young teens of a true artist. Thanks for putting their eyes back on the prize.The teens need this kind of music back on the radio wave to stimulate the minds of many artist. WORDS are more powerfull than any weapon. Tu-pac said, " Don't listen to the beat, listen to what the artist is saying, peep the game, and see that the person is real and hold them accountable.DAMN
@RJBEN83 Are you refering to these lyrics?? if so they are from his newest album. I cannot remember which track though. If im not mistaking it's from either his track "Gold" or his track "The Believer". i cant remember which one. all i know is it has a guy singing along with the song.
It's great how Common shrugged his critics by delivering a solid, classy performance with no ill will or retaliation to those looking to bring him down. Too bad the people leaving comments on this thread could not take from his impressive example.
Whatever you want to "lable" it, his message is the point. I think that this is one way he was able to "validate" his message, by stripping away all the complexities of rap music, and get to the core point : the struggle of our people, determined to be victorious when all the odds are stacked against us.
Common is a positive force creatively,,,,he is more afrocentric than gangsta....but he is from the Southside of Chicago...where Michelle Obama came from....this man attended college and only dropped out to start a Grammy nominated critically acclaimed rap career and now he is a actor...his lyrics are thought provoking and brilliant...never ignorant or redundent...he's one of the most prolific rappers to ever touch a mic.
@RonQE ired and uplifted, he pioneered Hip Hop in a positive way, and still maintains a positive image even today in the midst of bad music. Not just bad rap music, but bad music.
Yes. as the 2010 National Poetry Awards Spoken Word Artist of the year and nominated as the 2012 Most Influential Artist I think I know a thing or two about poetry and spoken word. -Max Parthas
Lynn was born on Chicago's South Side. He is the son of educator Dr. Mahila Ann Hines and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn.
@RonQE When Common associates himself with rappers of a lower calibur, he uses that rappers song to spread a better message via a more popular platform. In terms of grammar, a lot of poetry lies in the realm of discourse, a realm that often offers more of a persons depth than grammar. This makes it a perfect place for poetry to exist.
@cheloki420 "Never knew it would turn out like this For so long he tried to fight this Now there was no way for him to ignore it His parents found out and hated him for it How could I judge him? Had to accept him if I truly loved him No longer he said had he hated himself Through sexuality he liberated himself"
@sslusshy but was this really a change though? Judging from the content of his past few albums, I dont think the content he had here was much different. Usually when Common is talking about guns and things of that nature, he is not glorifying it. What song did you have in mind?
@RonQE As far as Commons language, its actually one of the beauties of his poetry. He has the ability to present higher levels of thought while using a mixture of jargon and a higher level mastery of the English language. In collegiate level writing, most professors perfer for there students to choose words that everyone will know and understand rather than the alternative. In works of literature, many famous American writers use "terrible English" when they see fit in order to show
I am a 48 year old white guy from rural northern America, and i can say Common is a very positive human being and rap artist. I have 4 cds of his and he is very positive spiritually and societally . God/I/ We, blesses every one who seeks truth over agenda. I pity the folks at Fox news.
I am really loving this arguement, and by the way, i am on your side mdossantos047. How could rap not be poetry? Try this. Take a poem, any poem and recite it while playing fitting music. I am most certain that the two will seem very similar if not the same when looked at and compared! (Rap and Poetry that is).
@RonQE a characters way of dialect or to appeal to a certain audience. One great example of this is William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, which at times uses "terrible English" to display a characters traits.
Common is a great guy to invite to this, he talks about things of value. He is one of the rappers that alot of his work is positive and uplifting. If the right wib=ng does not like him, that is fine. The president did nothing wrong here!
"The White House Wednesday condemned some of the lyrics and prose of hip hop star Common, whose invitation to a White House poetry event this evening has brought criticism from some conservatives and police officers." ~~ ?? He is so great thats why the white House condemned some of his lyrics
@luisdrum Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning (wikipedia). Categorize it anyway you want, it is what it is.
@cybertuffguy Could you please post where you found that quote? To be honest, that would suprise me if the White House (especially Barrack or Michele Obama since she invited him) actually released that. There's no reason to condemn any of his lyrics when looking in the whole context of his songs.
@RonQE My apologies for implying racist intentions. I tire of of people discounting art forms because of personal preference. Popular art cannot be expected to stack up to classical art but its appreciation is valid as a reflection of our times. Modern rap poets are an evolution of the beat poets of the 50's and 60's and have done a great favor to the popularity of poetry among today's youth. Common's recitation in this clip is valid art and he shouldn't be dismissed for not being Shakespeare.
This controversy (by the way I dont know how this came about in the first place but thanx anyway FOX) is goin to help his record sales when he drops his new album. He truely is my favorite rapper.
@blkgnuz2007 If you watch the whole clip, he's actually quoting someone else. They just showed you the part where he's quoting someone else, and cut out the part where he tells them NOT to do that.
@mdossantos047 You are totally right. Rap is poetry. Infact I wan't some one other than myself to try rapping a poem (I don't care which poem) While playing fitting music. I am most certain that the results will be quite interesting! I may try this my self dispite what I said earlier.
Fabulous that Common was at the WH. And a wonderful song poem. Frightened foxes are a sad sad lot. My son used to listen to so much of the early rap, so as a white woman of a certain age I'm not a huge fan but I loved this, and I'm not afraid of any of it...so get over yourselves, FOX TeeVee.
@RonQE h/watch?v=f9JTvL7wncg This song is called faithful, where he ponders if God is a woman and says that we should treat all women better. This song is called retrospect for life, /watch?v=pmDybzfNBG0&feature=related. In this one he speaks out against abortion. You have to understand that many people in the black community have been oppressed by some law enforcement officers and have an entirely different perspective
@Rotella211...I wouldn't say any one artist is the "most" anything but I know where you're coming from. As far as mainstream artist go Common is those things.
@NewOneBeatz That's true. Unfortuanately the face of hip-hop is what is played on the radio and bs like Lil Wayne, Drake, and Soulja Boy is played on the radio. The question is... how do we get the conscious and underground stuff onto the radio?
@RonQE People unfamiliar with art criticize Jackson Pollock saying "my kid could draw that" or its "just just a bunch of scribbles". Comparing adult artists with kindergartners is either ignorance or prejudice. Rap, at its best, is powerful, insightful, honest and expresses aspects of the human condition like no other medium. At its worse it is misogynistic, rude, profane and remarkably stupid, To categorize them all as children or intellectually inferior smacks of racism.
@RonQE You're right, long topic indeed, I will say that in my opinion Common is far from glorifying "thug life" or praising ghetto crime culture, not just in this performance but in his career in general. Urban Music in general can only be fully appreciated by somebody who has somehow got something in common with the matters approached. Somebody who has always lived a good financial life, problem free, from really good wealthy families, will not ever have anything in common with RAP or Hip Hop
@JonJury Well its pretty typical to hear about it once in awhile. ANd I know he isn't glorfying it hes trying to put a point across or tell the truth but it seems like he dulled down for this certain occasion. THis guy has amazing talent and its noticed here!
@luisdrum it's a form of spoken word.. to some it's poetry... whenever you speak what's in your heart and on you mind, whether it rhymes or not, whether there's a beat behind it or the beat is absent... it's poetry. Poetry isn't confined to ONE way or style of doing a performance. Common is an artist. Now is Lil Boosie did some ish like this... then we can very much consider it rap. lol.. my opinion.
@bardofoc- Book, "Roots of Obama's Rage" is an eye opener, looks at Obama from the perspective of his life, as he describes in "Dreams of my Father" and the impact it has made on his current views on life, politics, the world etc.
True Hip Hop fans have been listening to Common since the 90's and for a while, many claimed him to be the best. Fast forward to today, he doesn't have the popularity that he used to, yet throughout the entirety of his career he maintained a positive image as a conscious rapper. Common never has and never will be a thug.
Common was flowin furreal! This is the kind of stuff that should be on everybody's playlist! You don't have to only listen to this from a religious stand-point. Common blends history and the realities of today in his music & it's amazing! He's such an under-rate artist. Forget all the crap on the radio now, this is the kind of stuff I want to hear & that I wish my generation would appreciate as well.
A blessing to see Common create something incredible while everyone around him attempts to criticize ... If we only used our time wisely and looked into the body of work that this good brotha has blessed us with since the beginning ... continue to throw stones - we will build houses with them ...
That was beautiful. Did the critics ever even listen to this? What blindness we see before us...
"That's not the way that Langston Hughes wrote us!"
SO BEAUTIFUL.
Rashid has always used the stage to drop real truth...he is truly a part of a fallen art in true hip-hop rap that educates and motivates!! Im honored for back in the day having played ball with him and Ski at Hendricks every Saturday..go Com you deserve to rep the Chi 1st!
i am sad this beautiful piece of poetry couldn't make the final cut on the whitehouse's video of that evening of poetry. bur at least we can still appreciate it everywhere.
"Guiltiness [rest] on their conscious"
Let gave "THANKS AND PRAISE" to the "Sly Fox" for this one. Thanks for all the views, thanks for opening the eyes to all the young teens of a true artist. Thanks for putting their eyes back on the prize.The teens need this kind of music back on the radio wave to stimulate the minds of many artist. WORDS are more powerfull than any weapon. Tu-pac said, " Don't listen to the beat, listen to what the artist is saying, peep the game, and see that the person is real and hold them accountable.DAMN
I am teaching my year ten English class poetry and want them to know this, can anyone provide me with script/lyrics? Thanks for anyone who can.
I love this man! Beautiful inside and out!
@RJBEN83 Are you refering to these lyrics?? if so they are from his newest album. I cannot remember which track though. If im not mistaking it's from either his track "Gold" or his track "The Believer". i cant remember which one. all i know is it has a guy singing along with the song.
It's great how Common shrugged his critics by delivering a solid, classy performance with no ill will or retaliation to those looking to bring him down. Too bad the people leaving comments on this thread could not take from his impressive example.
Whatever you want to "lable" it, his message is the point. I think that this is one way he was able to "validate" his message, by stripping away all the complexities of rap music, and get to the core point : the struggle of our people, determined to be victorious when all the odds are stacked against us.
Common is a positive force creatively,,,,he is more afrocentric than gangsta....but he is from the Southside of Chicago...where Michelle Obama came from....this man attended college and only dropped out to start a Grammy nominated critically acclaimed rap career and now he is a actor...his lyrics are thought provoking and brilliant...never ignorant or redundent...he's one of the most prolific rappers to ever touch a mic.
this was beautiful. i love socially conscious artists like common.
Common reminds me of Gil Scott heron he's like a modern day version of him and they're both from Chicago!
Sometimes the issues at hand are bigger than a well crafted argument. You've just gotta flow
@regentry549 ..... I think that's some background sound effect. LOL
I highly recommend everyone listen to his song "I used to love H.E.R."
It's amazing.
It's the DJ scratching a sample. It provides punctuation and continuity to the narrative
@RonQE ired and uplifted, he pioneered Hip Hop in a positive way, and still maintains a positive image even today in the midst of bad music. Not just bad rap music, but bad music.
@macamilian24 What makes you say that?
@RonQE Have you ever listened to a Common album?
Yes. as the 2010 National Poetry Awards Spoken Word Artist of the year and nominated as the 2012 Most Influential Artist I think I know a thing or two about poetry and spoken word. -Max Parthas
Lynn was born on Chicago's South Side. He is the son of educator Dr. Mahila Ann Hines and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn.
@RonQE When Common associates himself with rappers of a lower calibur, he uses that rappers song to spread a better message via a more popular platform. In terms of grammar, a lot of poetry lies in the realm of discourse, a realm that often offers more of a persons depth than grammar. This makes it a perfect place for poetry to exist.
Common is my favorite rapper/hip-hop artist whatever he is hes the shit
what is the DJ mixing? lol
@cheloki420
"Never knew it would turn out like this
For so long he tried to fight this
Now there was no way for him to ignore it
His parents found out and hated him for it
How could I judge him? Had to accept him if I truly loved him
No longer he said had he hated himself
Through sexuality he liberated himself"
@sslusshy but was this really a change though? Judging from the content of his past few albums, I dont think the content he had here was much different. Usually when Common is talking about guns and things of that nature, he is not glorifying it. What song did you have in mind?
@mdossantos047 SAYING STUFF LIKE THAT IS A FORM OF MADNESS
@RonQE As far as Commons language, its actually one of the beauties of his poetry. He has the ability to present higher levels of thought while using a mixture of jargon and a higher level mastery of the English language. In collegiate level writing, most professors perfer for there students to choose words that everyone will know and understand rather than the alternative. In works of literature, many famous American writers use "terrible English" when they see fit in order to show
@justyogame which king?
everytime common opens his mouth poetry comes out
@regentry549 lol its a sample... look at the guy in the back.
@regentry549 Thats a damn recording they keep playin in the back
@kittenagogo28 What does lowering the White House mean?
How has common lowered the White House?
@luisdrum Rhythm And Poetry. He was certainly rapping.
I am a 48 year old white guy from rural northern America, and i can say Common is a very positive human being and rap artist. I have 4 cds of his and he is very positive spiritually and societally . God/I/ We, blesses every one who seeks truth over agenda. I pity the folks at Fox news.
@RonQE
Which popular hip hop artist would you rather have perform poetry at the White House?
Waka Flocka? Something tells me beat poetry is above him.
wish i was there.
Beautiful poetry.
I am really loving this arguement, and by the way, i am on your side mdossantos047. How could rap not be poetry? Try this. Take a poem, any poem and recite it while playing fitting music. I am most certain that the two will seem very similar if not the same when looked at and compared! (Rap and Poetry that is).
@RonQE a characters way of dialect or to appeal to a certain audience. One great example of this is William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, which at times uses "terrible English" to display a characters traits.
sick that was his verse from The Dreamer
it's the DJ
common is one of the most conscious and positive hip hop artists. wow, fox news, wow.
@RonQE a positive image and perspective, despite being critical on Black and America culture all together.
So Keep on! Peace...
Common is a great guy to invite to this, he talks about things of value. He is one of the rappers that alot of his work is positive and uplifting. If the right wib=ng does not like him, that is fine. The president did nothing wrong here!
"The White House Wednesday condemned some of the lyrics and prose of hip hop star Common, whose invitation to a White House poetry event this evening has brought criticism from some conservatives and police officers." ~~ ?? He is so great thats why the white House condemned some of his lyrics
@luisdrum
but do u love hip hop ?
@luisdrum
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning (wikipedia). Categorize it anyway you want, it is what it is.
@Dochument amen. hip hop is a way of expression.
@Fergs897 that was the dj
@cybertuffguy Could you please post where you found that quote? To be honest, that would suprise me if the White House (especially Barrack or Michele Obama since she invited him) actually released that. There's no reason to condemn any of his lyrics when looking in the whole context of his songs.
@Dochument, well said; well said indeed.
@RonQE
My apologies for implying racist intentions. I tire of of people discounting art forms because of personal preference. Popular art cannot be expected to stack up to classical art but its appreciation is valid as a reflection of our times. Modern rap poets are an evolution of the beat poets of the 50's and 60's and have done a great favor to the popularity of poetry among today's youth. Common's recitation in this clip is valid art and he shouldn't be dismissed for not being Shakespeare.
Common is the truth. Real artist in deed...
-G
This controversy (by the way I dont know how this came about in the first place but thanx anyway FOX) is goin to help his record sales when he drops his new album. He truely is my favorite rapper.
@CamiloSanchez1979 tell the critics to listen to "The Light" "The People" "Drivin Me Wild" and say the same thing
@blkgnuz2007 If you watch the whole clip, he's actually quoting someone else. They just showed you the part where he's quoting someone else, and cut out the part where he tells them NOT to do that.
Common is one of the poet tht is hip hop today
@luisdrum It IS spoken word.
@TurnersTwoCents i agree, 100
@BubbaCoop
funny... but he didnt quit golf. he started playing again 2 months after the time he said he quit & mere HOURS after he made the statement.
Barack means "blessing" in Arabic. I'm surprised that Common knew that. No wonder my lil sister has a poster of him in her room.
...from one king's dream he was able to barack us, one king's dream he was able to barack us, one king's dream he was able to barack us...
@AbunaiLee Right on!
oh my goodness..Murked this
@ic0n29 His raps are poetry.
that girl yelling YEAA is screwing up my sample..
@mdossantos047 You are totally right. Rap is poetry. Infact I wan't some one other than myself to try rapping a poem (I don't care which poem) While playing fitting music. I am most certain that the results will be quite interesting! I may try this my self dispite what I said earlier.
@sslusshy Well I commend his sense of propriety.
Fabulous that Common was at the WH. And a wonderful song poem. Frightened foxes are a sad sad lot. My son used to listen to so much of the early rap, so as a white woman of a certain age I'm not a huge fan but I loved this, and I'm not afraid of any of it...so get over yourselves, FOX TeeVee.
This is a beautiful performance. Criticism from the extreme right reveals its racist underpinnings.
Classical!
@galan98 great comment
Well said, Serial 520
@RonQE h/watch?v=f9JTvL7wncg This song is called faithful, where he ponders if God is a woman and says that we should treat all women better. This song is called retrospect for life, /watch?v=pmDybzfNBG0&feature=related. In this one he speaks out against abortion. You have to understand that many people in the black community have been oppressed by some law enforcement officers and have an entirely different perspective
Common was flowing
@Rotella211...I wouldn't say any one artist is the "most" anything but I know where you're coming from. As far as mainstream artist go Common is those things.
@dlrice in your world, maybe
@NewOneBeatz That's true. Unfortuanately the face of hip-hop is what is played on the radio and bs like Lil Wayne, Drake, and Soulja Boy is played on the radio. The question is... how do we get the conscious and underground stuff onto the radio?
@Socoolscienceshow LMAO YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!
beautiful poetry.
common is the realest!!!
dj was scratching...
just shows rappers are some of the most talented people in music
@RonQE
People unfamiliar with art criticize Jackson Pollock saying "my kid could draw that" or its "just just a bunch of scribbles". Comparing adult artists with kindergartners is either ignorance or prejudice. Rap, at its best, is powerful, insightful, honest and expresses aspects of the human condition like no other medium. At its worse it is misogynistic, rude, profane and remarkably stupid, To categorize them all as children or intellectually inferior smacks of racism.
@RonQE You're right, long topic indeed, I will say that in my opinion Common is far from glorifying "thug life" or praising ghetto crime culture, not just in this performance but in his career in general. Urban Music in general can only be fully appreciated by somebody who has somehow got something in common with the matters approached. Somebody who has always lived a good financial life, problem free, from really good wealthy families, will not ever have anything in common with RAP or Hip Hop
@JonJury Well its pretty typical to hear about it once in awhile. ANd I know he isn't glorfying it hes trying to put a point across or tell the truth but it seems like he dulled down for this certain occasion. THis guy has amazing talent and its noticed here!
ALL I GOT TO SAY IS "POWER TO THE PEOPLE"
@realchrisjones He has three gold albums
That was cool. Bury the hate people. Our diversity is our strength. 本当にだよ！
omg i hate when rappers recycle lyrics...this was used in his new album, in the song 'the believer'
Love Common !!!!
@frwgt350net haha, your kids got the beiber fever? This is real music right here. I feel bad for your kids.
@luisdrum it's a form of spoken word.. to some it's poetry... whenever you speak what's in your heart and on you mind, whether it rhymes or not, whether there's a beat behind it or the beat is absent... it's poetry. Poetry isn't confined to ONE way or style of doing a performance. Common is an artist. Now is Lil Boosie did some ish like this... then we can very much consider it rap. lol.. my opinion.
@bardofoc- Book, "Roots of Obama's Rage" is an eye opener, looks at Obama from the perspective of his life, as he describes in "Dreams of my Father" and the impact it has made on his current views on life, politics, the world etc.