Poetry & Music Video:

Hip-Hop Bio:

Common was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. on March 13, 1972 in Chicago's South Side. He was one of those kids whose parents got divorced while they were young His educator father left the family when he was six years old, leaving his counselor mother to take care of him. However, his father was still very much a big part of his life.

His mother would later remarry and teenage Common showed talents in both basketball and rap. His father found him a job as ball boy for the Chicago Bulls. His rap career, meanwhile, started in his cousin's home in Cincinnati and continued in high school when he formed a trio called C.D.R. The act indeed scored gigs as the opener of N.W.A. and Big Daddy Kane among others.

Common pursued higher education at Florida A&M University for two years under a scholarship and majored in business administration. But his study came to a full halt when Relativity Records offered him a contract in 1991. He went under the moniker Common Sense at first, releasing a single called "Take It EZ" the next year.

His first album was titled "Can I Borrow A Dollar?" and received positive feedback from underground hip-hop. Since the album sold relatively well, Relativity kept him for two more albums "Resurrection" and "One Day It'll All Make Sense" in 1994 and 1997 respectively. During this time, Common became friends with other prominent hip-hop artists such as Fat Joe and Wu-Tang Clan. Also, he was forced to change his stage name when he started becoming more popular and a reggae band with the same name sued him.

The release of his third album propelled his name in the industry and led him to a major label contract with MCA Records. In the same year the album was released, his first child, a girl named Omoye Assata Lynn was born from girlfriend Kim Jones. The album was actually largely inspired by his learning that he was about to be a father. He addresses family values several times in the album and decorated the album with old family photos.

Under the new flag, Common moved from Chicago to New York City in 1999 and began recording his fourth studio album. "Like Water for Chocolate" was released a year later to mass critical acclaim. The album was gold certified and the single from the album "The Light" was even nominated for a Grammy for best rap solo performance.

Common later found himself in the crowd of The Roots which also included Erykah Badu, the singer he would later date. There was one more album released under MCA, titled "Electric Circus", but it did not perform as well as its predecessor. It debuted at #47 on the Billboard 200 chart mainly because MCA did not do a good promotion out of it.

Common started appearing on screen for movie and TV roles in 2003. He played a character in sitcom "Girlfriends" that year and acting jobs kept coming since then. He made guest appearances on "One on One" as well as "Scrubs" in addition to appearing as himself in several TV shows.

Common's contract was brought to Geffen Records when MCA was absorbed by the label. Featuring Kanye West in the production panel, Common's sixth album "Be" opened to number 2 on Billboard Hot 200 after selling more than 500,000 copies in the first week of sale. "Be" was consequently nominated for four Grammys including Best Rap Album.

Seventh album "Finding Forever" was also featuring Kanye as producer in most of the tracks. It sold over 500,000 copies and was later certified gold. It also received three Grammy nominations in 2007, losing Best Rap Album to Kanye's "Graduation".

His first foray into big screen happened in 2007 with the release of "Smokin' Aces". In the same year, Common also appeared in highly-acclaimed film "American Gangster" along with Denzel Washington. He would later popped up in "Wanted", "Terminator Salvation" and "Just Wright" among others.

There was a plan to form a group with Q-Tip and call it The Standard but Common was eventually occupied with the work of his eighth studio album. "Universal Mind Control" received several push-back dates in 2008 and came out in December that year. Although Kanye was not a part of the album, the The Neptunes-produced album was still nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album in 2010.

Kanye also did not make a return to Common's ninth studio album. Instead, his longtime collaborator, No I.D., handled production and co-wrote the entire album. "The Dreamer/The Believer" was released on December 20, 2011 with "Ghetto Dreams" as the first single. In consequence of the album, he released a memoir titled after his third studio album in September 2011.

After a quiet 2012, Common announced he will release an EP in January 2013 and his first mixtape in April. In February 2013, Common announced his tenth solo studio album would be released in September 2013 and will feature Kanye West and production from Kanye and No I.D. Later on September 8, 2013, he gave an update to his projects saying the previously announced EP would be released soon, and feature a song with new Def Jam signee Vince Staples. He also told HipHopDX his tenth solo studio album would be released in early 2014.

On January 6, 2014, Common announced his tenth studio album to be titled Nobody's Smiling and would be produced entirely by longtime collaborator No I.D.. The album, which Common revealed was originally going to be an EP, is set to feature Vince Staples, James Fauntleroy and "some new artists from Chicago." The concept of the album was inspired by his troubled hometown of Chicago: "We came up with this concept 'nobody's smiling.' It was really a thought that came about because of all the violence in Chicago," he says. "It happens in Chicago, but it's happening around the world in many ways." He continues, "We was talking about the conditions of what's happening, when I say 'nobody's smiling.' But it's really a call to action." On June 4, 2014, it was announced Common signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings and No I.D.'s Artium Records. It was also announced Nobody's Smiling would be released July 22, 2014. Lonnie "Pops" Lynn was to be featured on this album as well but the recording fell through as Lonnie's health declined. A recording was indeed made and is in process of being released on Dirty Laboratory Productions featuring production by AwareNess.

In 2018, Common also announced he would be forming a jazz group called August Greene.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Common among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Acting Career

In 2003, Common appeared on Girlfriends. In the episode "Take This Poem and Call Me in the Morning", he appeared as Omar, a slam poet who competes with fellow poet Sivad for the affection of Lynn Searcy. He also had a cameo appearance on an episode of One on One, where he played a drama class instructor named Darius. He also made an appearance on Scrubs. In 2007, Common appeared in the crime film Smokin' Aces, making his big screen debut as villainous Mob enforcer Sir Ivy. He appeared alongside T.I. in the 2007 crime thriller American Gangster. On January 20, 2007, one week before the opening of Smokin Aces, he appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch as himself. The show's host was Piven, his Aces co-star.

In 2007, Common played the role of Alicia Keys's boyfriend in the music video "Like You'll Never See Me Again".

In 2008, he had a supporting role in the film adaptation of the comic book Wanted. Common also appeared in the movie Street Kings. Common also starred in the 2010 movie Just Wright as a basketball player who falls in love with his physical therapist Queen Latifah. He appeared in the 2009 film Terminator Salvation as John Connor's lieutenant Barnes.

In 2009, Common was cast as John Stewart/Green Lantern in the unproduced film Justice League: Mortal.

Common starred as a corrupt cop in the 2010 comedy Date Night. He was also featured in the role of deployed soldier Chino in 2011's New Year's Eve, the husband of Halle Berry's character, Nurse Aimee.

He was part of the ensemble cast of AMC's Hell on Wheels, as one of the lead characters, Elam Ferguson.

In 2013, Common played the role of Agent Evans, an FBI agent in Now You See Me. In the 2014 film Selma, for which he also co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "Glory", Common co-starred as 1960s civil rights leader James Bevel. In 2015, he played a hitman in Run All Night.

In December 2015, Common appeared in the The Wiz Live!, as the Bouncer guarding the Emerald City.

In 2016, he co-starred in the film Barbershop: The Next Cut, alongside former rival Ice Cube. Common appeared as a gangster in the 2016 film Suicide Squad.

In February 2017, he appeared as professional hitman/bodyguard Cassian in John Wick: Chapter 2. In August 2017, Common began voicing Kiburi the crocodile in Disney Junior's The Lion Guard.

Common also appeared in All About Nina, which was a major breakout role for which he has received much critical acclaim.

In 2018, Common starred in the film adaptation of The Hate U Give, playing Starr's uncle Carlos, a black police officer that is forced to defend his colleage that is involved in the shooting of a black teen.

(sources: aceshowbiz.com; wikipedia.org; examiner.com)