The Tanning Interview with Common

There was a time in Common’s life when he was known simply as a rapper. Well, that young man from Chicago has come a long way since the release of his breakthrough album, Resurrection, in 1994, expanding his visibility from the Rap City countdown to the silver screen, appearing in films alongside Hollywood’s brightest stars, such as Just Wright with fellow rapper turned thespian Queen Latifah, and Date Night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. He even landed himself a role in the new AMC television drama, Hell On Wheels, playing a post-Civil War freed slave, which has welcomed in a whole new audience for him as well. To boot, his memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense, was just released to stellar reviews, creating different opportunities for press and public appearances. Quite impressively, Common has successfully managed to maintain a reputable presence in the hip-hop community throughout his transformation from rapper to rapper/actor/author. In fact, his new LP, The Dreamer, The Believer, is one of the most anticipated albums dropping in the fourth quarter, largely due to his reunion with producer No I.D. We spoke to Common about the various “tanning” moments he’s had in his professional career as a rapper, actor, and now an author. We also got his take on the recent backlash he received for his poetry reading appearance at The White House, typecasting in Hollywood for black actors, and his friend and collaborator Kanye West’s VMA incident with country music star Taylor Swift.

Interview by Daniel Isenberg

I wanted to start off by talking to you about your Chicago roots. Tell me about the racial makeup of your hometown.
In the South Side area of Chicago that I grew up in, it was predominantly black. I was raised around black people, which provided me with a good sense of self, and [allowed me to] know my culture and where I come from to a great extent. Not far from my neighborhood was an area of Latinos. Most of the other nationalities were far away downtown. That’s the way we viewed it. Most of the white people stayed in downtown Chicago or in other areas.

Did you have any white friends growing up?
I didn’t have any white friends while I was growing up.

Can you remember any personal experiences with racism from when you were younger?
With it being so segregated, Chicago definitely had racial tension. It had stemmed from the ’60s, and probably before that. There was a time that I was with my mother and my godbrother, and we were going into a grocery store, and this little white kid was spelling B-L-A-C-K over and over when he saw us.  He was kind of saying it in a derogatory way. His mother caught him, but didn’t really stop him. I couldn’t believe it. Like, “Man, why is he downing me for being black?” It felt bad, and I was hurt, but at the same token, I was like, “Man, forget him.”

You were still in high school when you started performing, opening up shows with your first rap group for N.W.A and Big Daddy Kane. That must’ve been thrilling. What were the crowds like for rap shows back then? Were they all-black?
For sure. When I opened up for Big Daddy Kane and N.W.A, there were all-black audiences. The shows weren’t far from where I lived, on the South Side at The Regal Theater. The hood was there to see those shows.

When you got signed to your first deal, did you have a hard time dealing with the white employees and executives at your record label?
Nah, because by the time I came into the industry, the business [of hip-hop] was starting to become lucrative. It was definitely growing, and most of the corporate people working there that were not black had been dealing with black artists, so they knew [how to interact with me]. But don’t get me wrong, I definitely felt the dynamic of, “You work for me.” They really felt, in many ways, more intelligent. You had to prove your intelligence.

Did they have a stereotype about you as a rapper? Like, maybe you didn’t understand certain things?
They had a stereotype about young black men, because of the language we used, the style that we spoke with, and the way we carried ourselves. Until you proved it to them, they didn’t know if intelligence was within that.

Your first album was dope, but didn’t sell many units. But the success of Resurrection certainly gave you more national exposure. Did you notice your fan base start to look different after the popularity of that album?
Yes. I definitely noticed that at my shows it was becoming multi-cultural. I started seeing different nationalities [in the crowd], like white and Latino. It wasn’t funny to me, but it made me smile. I kind of would chuckle at it.

What do you think the appeal was?
I think the truth in hip-hop. There’s something about hip-hop that is really heartfelt and true. There’s people sharing their experiences that don’t filter and don’t try to be politically correct because that’s not the environment we come from. With hip-hop, it’s like you’re having conversations with your friends, with your people. So you don’t change the way you think and talk. And I think other nationalities are able to respect that truth. Truth is the universal language. You could be speaking in another language, but if it’s true, it still resonates with people.

What would you say was your first major “tanning” moment in your career?
I would say it was after the Resurrection album [was released]. I went on tour with The Beatnuts, Organized Konfusion, and The Artifacts, and at our shows there were blacks, Latinos, whites, and Asians. And I would go back and tell my friends [at home] that there would be a lot of white people and Latino people. It felt overwhelming, but in a good way though. At a certain point, you realized that the music was what we were all embracing. It basically broke down some walls.

That’s a crazy tour line-up.
Yeah, that was a fun tour. It was really my first tour.

You tried out some new sounds on Electric Circus. That album has some gems on it, but it was criticized for not being accessible. Did people back home in Chicago or in the black community think it was a bit weird that you were fusing rock and electronica with your music?
In certain parts of the black community, but I wouldn’t say the whole black community. I would even say it was more of the hip-hop community, because it wasn’t only black people. [Laughs.] They were like, “We think this is too far left.”

They were used to a more traditional, boom-bap sound from you.
Yeah. I have people come to me now that music has opened up a little more and say, “Man, Electric Circus had some shit on it.” It definitely felt like [more of a backlash from the hip-hop community in general] than anything else. I remember having white journalists saying, “Man, you really changed it up on us.”

Did the change in your appearance and the way you started dressing around that time play a part in that?
My appearance definitely played a part. My friends were like, “Why are you dressing like that?” And they reflected some of the black community. The way I was dressing and presenting myself was really what made my community be like, “I don’t know about this, man.” The music just put icing on the cake. It left a bad taste in their mouth.

Did you notice other races gravitating towards you more after you switched up your style?
I don’t think any of it made any other nationalities warmer towards me. I look at acts like Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep, and there were white and Asian people that loved them, and the way they presented themselves was street. I don’t think those nationalities were so keen on saying, “Well, you’re dressing a little more eccentric so we feel you’re more accessible.”

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