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Common Biography |
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 Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, Common (nee Lonnie Lynn, Jr.) is considered to be one of the more romantic hip-hop artists in today’s music environment. His music is considered to be “conscious hip-hop,” which is a form of hip-hop that sings especially about important social issues such as racism, sexual violence and the difficulties of life in black society.
Common’s first two albums, 1992’s Can I Borrow a Dollar? And 1994’s Resurrection, did not receive much popular recognition outside of the Chicago area, but he became popular off of a song on Resurrection, “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” which criticized the path that hip-hop and rap music was heading into at the time. This created a feud with popular rap musician Ice Cube, but the feud was eventually resolved.
Common’s 1997 album One Day It’ll All Make Sense featured guest appearances from several other conscious hip-hop and rap musicians, including Erykah Badu, Cee-Lo and Q-Tip. This helped to lead him to sign with MCA Records.
However, fans were mostly turned off by the experimental nature of Common’s music, most notably how he had begun to incorporate rock music into some of his work. He soon left MCA and signed with G.O.O.D. Records, and in 2005 released his most successful album, Be. The album reached second on the Billboard U.S. chart and featured production from popular hip-hop musician Kayne West. West, who also appeared on this album, but it also featured appearances by soul musician John Legend, comedian Dave Chappelle and rock musician John Mayer.
Today Common is working on his next album, which is tentatively named Finding Forever. He also continues to work in the community, most notably as a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Knowing Is Beautiful campaign for HIV/AIDS awareness. He also continues to tour, and recently performed at the 2006 edition of the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. |
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Vital Stats |
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| Name |
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. |
| DOB: |
March 13, 1972 |
| Location: |
Chicago, Illinois |
| Label: |
Relativity, MCA, G.O.O.D. Music, Geffen |
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