Keepingitreal: MUSIC VIDEOS

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Lonnie Rashid Lynn is one of the finest lyricists worldwide, a champion MC of Black Power, wrestling for the best and the worst, but also a ‘bankable’ artist who turned out an actor- why shouldn’t he? –touched by the grace of the cream beatmakers in the rap-game. Better known by his stage name Common, our Chicago-native can be seen as typifying the evolution of a second generation Hip Hop which adjusted itself to the times and trends and asserted itself as the new soul pulsation in an America in search of a model.Between the backpack and bombastic styles of his past and a present in which he is gaining mainstream success through his (significant?) roles starring alongside such actors as Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker, etc., Common is one of these ambiguous figureheads of the Afro-American success which is based upon both Louis Farrakhan’s and Barak Obama’s vision of United States. We, The People. 20 years of action mainly in front of a microphone The son kills the father at the end of each album, importing the jazz, soul, spoken word and Native Tongue attitude into Illinois sphere. There used to be no rap in Chi town, the city of the Blues. So dramatic issue for a non-rap city in a late drum-machine era, when there was no strong positive reaction to his music among Chicago natives. The MC-to-be decided to drop out of university to give all his time over to the mic, after the disbanding of his crew (C.D.R). Beginning of the story. In the blooming 90s of a hippie alter-rap, epitomized by De La’s first droppin’ out, Common was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the Source Magazine in 1992 and then burst out onto the Hip Hop scene with the release of his first album ‘Can I borrow a dollar?’. He was first seen as one of those ticked off with a deconstructed flow, droppin’ rhymes, loopin’ jazz classics, with blazers and baseball caps, ridiculous fast rappin’ for direct response to the socio-sexual attacks made in the West, G strikes straight from Compton, Easy-E, Dre and Ice Cube, as the wicked angelnos raiders. It was the time of an East coast / West coast rivalry and Common played a strong part in it. Like a part of hip-hop nervosis. Watch Common's concert video @ Only The Brave Block Party: www.grandcrew.com/videos/136