Common
Common is a South Side Chicago rapper, actor and activist who rose as Common Sense with No I.D. in the early 1990s and later won Grammy, Emmy and Academy Awards.
Calumet Heights and C.D.R.
Lonnie Rashid Lynn was born in Chicago on March 13, 1972, and raised in Calumet Heights on the South Side, the son of educator Mahalia Ann Hines and former ABA player Lonnie Lynn. At Luther High School South he formed the trio C.D.R., which opened for N.W.A and Big Daddy Kane, and he later spent two years at Florida A&M before turning to music full time as Common Sense after a nod in The Source’s Unsigned Hype column.
Relativity years with No I.D.
His debut album “Can I Borrow a Dollar?” arrived on Relativity Records on October 6, 1992, produced mainly by No I.D. (credited as Immenslope) and the Twilite Tone; its singles “Take It EZ,” “Soul by the Pound” and “Breaker 1/9” all reached the Hot Rap Singles top ten. “Resurrection,” released October 4, 1994, and again largely produced by No I.D., included “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” an extended metaphor about hip hop’s direction that Complex has ranked the greatest Chicago rap song. A legal dispute with a band of the same name led him to shorten his name to Common, and “One Day It’ll All Make Sense” followed in 1997.
Soulquarians and GOOD Music
Moving to MCA, he worked with the Soulquarians on “Like Water for Chocolate” (2000), his first gold album, and “Electric Circus” (2002). “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” with Erykah Badu won him a Grammy. On Kanye West’s GOOD Music, “Be” (2005) reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and “Finding Forever” (2007) debuted at No. 1, with “Southside” earning another Grammy.
Screen and awards
He built a parallel acting career in films including “American Gangster,” “Selma” and “John Wick: Chapter 2” and series such as “Hell on Wheels” and “Silo.” “Glory,” written with John Legend for “Selma,” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and “Letter to the Free” from “13th” won an Emmy. He has continued recording, including “Black America Again” (2016), “Let Love” (2019) and a 2024 album with Pete Rock.
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