Common Sense

Common Sense (1) (an American reggae / alternative rock band) Common Sense is an American reggae and alternative rock band from Orange County, California. They are known for playing in the Mercury Mariner commercial. Since their formation in 1987, they have released five albums under their own label, Common Sense Records. They perform periodically at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California and have, in the past, been members of the summer music and sports festival, Warped Tour.[1] They are more well known for making the Chicago rapper formerly known as Common Sense, change his name to Common over legal issues. They helped invent a sound that would later influence bands like Slightly Stoopid and Pepper. For the Rapper: Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (born March 13, 1972), better known by his stage name Common (and previously known as Common Sense), is an American hip hop artist and actor. Common debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar? and maintained a significant underground following into the late 90s, after which he gained notable mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians. His first major label album, Like Water for Chocolate, received widespread critical acclaim and moderate commercial success. Its popularity was matched by 2005's Be, which was nominated in the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. Common was awarded his second Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "Southside" (featuring Kanye West) (from Finding Forever), his first Grammy was awarded in 2003 for Best R&B Song for "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" with Erykah Badu.[His best-of album Thisisme Then was released on November 27, 2007. Common has also intiated a burgeoning acting career, starring significant roles in such films as Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, and Wanted. Early life Common was born in Chicago, where he was raised, the son of educator Ann Hines and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn. Common's parents divorced when he was six years old, resulting in his father moving to Denver, Colorado. This left Common to be raised by his mother, but his father remained active in his life and even landed Common a job with the Chicago Bulls during his teen years. While a student at Luther High School South in Chicago, Common also formed C.D.R., a rap trio that opened for acts such as N.W.A. and Big Daddy Kane. Common later left this group when he attended Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL to study business administration. Early career Common dropped out of Florida A&M University and was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine after a friend sent in a tape of Common rapping. Under the stage name Common Sense, he debuted in 1992 with the single "Take It EZ" followed by the album, Can I Borrow a Dollar?. With the 1994 release of Resurrection, Common achieved a much larger degree of critical acclaim, which extended beyond Chicago natives. The album sold relatively well and received a strong positive reaction among alternative and underground hip-hop fans at the time. Resurrection was Common's last album produced almost entirely by his long-time production partner, No I.D., who was also the then-mentor of a young Kanye West. Feud with Westside Connection The song "I Used to Love H.E.R." from Resurrection ignited a feud with West Coast rap group Westside Connection. The lyrics of the song criticized the path hip-hop music was taking and was interpreted by some as directing blame towards the popularity of West Coast Gangsta rap. Westside Connection first responded with the 1995 song Westside Slaughterhouse, with the lyrics "Used to love H.E.R. mad cause I fucked her". Westside Connection recorded tracks venting their issues with rival East Coast rappers (see East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry). Westside Slaughterhouse also mentioned Common by name, prompting the rapper to respond with the scathing Pete Rock-produced attack song "The Bitch in Yoo". Common and Westside Connection continued to insult each other back and forth before finally meeting with Louis Farrakhan and setting aside their dispute. Following the popularity of Resurrection, Common Sense was sued by a Los Angeles-based reggae band with the same name, and was forced to shorten his moniker to simply Common. Personal life Common has a daughter, Omoye Assata Lynn (born 1997).[10] Since childhood, he was a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago led by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Following the controversy over one of Wright's sermons, Common criticized the American news media's coverage of the incident as having "an agenda".[11] He dated Erykah Badu from 2000 - around 2003. Dating rumors have always swirled around Common- from Alicia Keys to actress Taraji P. Henson who played alongside Common and Alicia Keys in Smokin' Aces. Common played the role of Alicia Keys's boyfriend in the music video "Like You'll Never See Me Again" and his own music video "I Want You", making speculations even stronger. With both artists hailing from the Great Lakes region of the United States (Chicago and Detroit, respectively), Common and J Dilla established their chemistry early on. Both became members of the Soulquarians collective, and collaborated on numerous projects together, even placing one song, "Thelonius", on both the Slum Village album Fantastic, Vol. 2, and Common's Like Water for Chocolate. As Dilla's health began to decline from the effects of Lupus Nephritis, he relocated to Los Angeles for treatment, and asked Common to make the move with him as a roommate.[12] Dilla would lose his battle with the rare disease, but his asking of Common to move in with him during his darkest hour is testament of a friendship between the two that transcended rap music, or the music industry. As a result, Common is a friend of the Yancey Family, particularly with J Dilla's mother, Maureen Yancey. He is currently dating Serena Williams.[13] Advertising In 2006, Common was a model for photos of The Gap's fall season collection, appearing on posters in stores. Later that year, he performed in The Gap's "Holiday In Your Hood" themed Peace Love Gap. In February 2007, Common signed a deal with New Era to promote their new line of Layers fitted caps. Common also stars in a television commercial for the 2008 Lincoln Navigator. He appears in NBA 2k7 in Streetball mode. Business As of the 29th of September 2008 Common was instrumental in bridging the trans-Atlantic gap by signing UK's Mr Wong and J2K to Kanye West's Getting Out Our Dreams recording outfit. Common met the pair during his tour in the UK earlier on in the year. It is speculated that the deal is not only to bring the UK and US hip hop genres together but that to rival Syco Music's cross-Atlantic success with Leona Lewis. Activism Common previously maintained a vegan diet[14] and is a supporter of animal rights and PETA. He recently appeared in a print advertisement for PETA titled "Think Before You Eat".[15] Common is also part of the "Knowing Is Beautiful" movement which supports HIV/AIDS awareness.[16] He is featured in the video for "Yes We Can," a song in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama, which made its debut on the internet on February 2nd, 2008. Common stopped using "'nigger'" and he has pledged to stop using anti-gay lyrics in his music.[17][18] Controversy Following the release of Be in 2005, several mixed-race artists from the UK hip-hop scene took exception to Common's comments about interracial relationships on the song "Real People", and in an interview. The situation started out with an article from UK's Touch magazine, in which he stated "When you see dreadlocked dudes with white girls that’s like they going against what the dreadlock’s purpose was."[19] Yungun, Doc Brown and Rising Son recorded a track over an instrumental version of "The Corner" named "Dear Common (The Corner Dub)". Common states that he has heard of the track but never actually taken the time to listen to it, and has not retaliated in song.[20] Acting career In 2003, Common appeared on the popular American UPN sitcom 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 (played by Saul Williams) for the affection of Lynn Searcy (played by Persia White). He also had a cameo appearance on an episode of UPN's One on One, where he played a drama class instructor named Darius. He also made an appearance on the NBC show "Scrubs". In 2007, Common appeared with Ben Affleck, Jeremy Piven, and Alicia Keys in the crime film Smokin' Aces. He made his big screen debut as villainous Mob enforcer Sir Ivy. He appeared alongside Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, The RZA and T.I. in the 2007 crime thriller American Gangster. On 20 January 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 2008, he starred in the film adaptation of the comic book Wanted alongside Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie; and was cast as the Green Lantern/John Stewart in the live adaptaton of The Justice League. Common also appeared in the movie Street Kings alongside Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, The Game, and Forest Whitaker. He will also appear in Terminator Salvation, scheduled for release in 2009. Common Sense (2) (a Greek alternative / acoustic / new wave band) Common Sense were formed in September 1989. In December 1993 they release the single Grotesque and in December 1995 the LP Sun Comes Up. Both these releases were very well-received by critics and by fans of the independent Greek scene. In January 2000 Sun Comes Up was included in the Pop & Rock magazine list of the best Greek rock albums of the 1970-2000 period. In 1993-1996 the band played in several festivals and they opened concerts for Dodgy (6/9/1995 RODON Club), Giant Sand (10/2/1996 RODON Club) and Tindersticks (8/6/1996 Lycabetus Theatre). In May 2006 the band recorded the demo song "Time stood still" with almost the same make-up. The demo song was released on Dimitris Papaspyropoulos’ compilation "One Dream Closer" (EMI/Sony BMG). In March 2007 they played with Marc Almond and participated in the SoundWave contest. The band was voted as Critics Choice 1 in the International Charts of the contest. In October 2007 they played at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, with Echo & The Bunnymen and Indigos. In November 2007, three Common Sense songs were included in Angelos Spartalis’ movie "The Apple in your Head", which was presented at the 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Angelos Spartalis’ next movie, “The Snow-white Syndrome”, which was awarded two prizes at the 49th Thessaloniki International Film festival in November 2008, also featured three Common Sense songs and one by Silent Sorrows, the side-project of Nikos and Tatiana. Common Sense (EU) finished recording material for their E.P. "Time Stood Still" in December 2008. http://urbanaspirines.blogspot.com/2009/03/common-sense-grotesque-childs-play-7.html