Page 2
May 3, 2000
Music
Focus
A
S U P P L E M E N T
-t
OF
^ o rtla n h
(©bserUer
Editor in Chief,
Publisher
C harles H . W ashington
Editor
L arry J . Ja ck so n , Sr.
Copy Editor
J o y R am os
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G ary A n n T aylor
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Focus > -
Common makes sense of hip-hop
u p co m in g artist by an y m eans
necessary enjoyed the benefits o f
Com
m ons rise to success.
m F elicia L, S u pe r
T he 2000 release o f Like W ater F or
Chocolate w as Executive Produced
by A hm ir "?uestlove " T hom pson;
Even if you d o n ’t a hum m er for the
know n as the prodigy drum m er for
sum m er, or a beep to jeep in, no
m a tte r w h at rid e y o u r sp in n in ’ hip-hop’s “T he Roots” . It’s already
ro ta tin g a irw a v e s and
around tow n, y o u ’ll w ant
ready for you to rock,
to m ake sure that you pick
shake, roll & bounce to.
up the hot to def, new
n
le w
N ot only has C om m on
project from M CA hip-
______
bounced
to a new label
hop artist C om m on, Like
(M
CA
),
as
w ell as inked
W ater F or Chocolate.
an
im
print
deal
(M
adam
e X enobia
W hy? B ecause this C hi-T ow n
M
usic)
w
ith
his
business
partner/
n ativ e’s latest project has more
m
a
n
a
g
e
r
D
e
re
k
D
u
d
le
y, but
tracks than a Toni Braxton weave.
C
om
m
on
co-executive
produced
T his M C A project has sw eet beats,
w ith his m anager as well.
tasty tunes, and tracks layered with
lyrics to lounge to. M aybe this is Com m on is in current production
for the shooting o f this video to be
w hy Rashid Lynn, better known as
Com m on calls his latest project Like released. F o rth eth em eo fth ev id eo ,
I’m thinking som ething in betw een
W ater f o r Chocolate.
W ill S m ith & J a z z y J e f f ’s
Formerly known as Com mon Sense,
"Sum m ertim e ” or Erykah B adu’s
th e k n o w n p e n n e d s o le ly as
"N ext L ifetim e". O r he ju st m ight
C om m on, is delivering the sam e
bring
it back to the basics o f fem ale/
hip in hop and rip p in ’ up rap as he
m
ale
relationships
as he did w hen
first did w hen he introduced him self
he
&
L
au
ry
n
“
L
-B
o o g ie ” H ill
in 1992. It w as during 1992 w hen
e
x
c
h
a
n
g
e
d
v
e
rse
s
in
1997 on
he asked on his first project "Can I
C
om
m
on’sv
id
eo
track
"Retrospect
B orrow a D o lla r" (Relativity).
A lso know n for his infam ous track f o r L ife". But w hatever the video
c o n c e p t, r e s t a s s u r e d th a t
"I U sed To Love H .E .R ", this tim e
sen se
w ill
around C om m on titles this, his C o m m o n ’s
fo u rth alb u m L ik e W ater F o r continue to verbally politic
Chocolate under the sam e nam e o f his thoughts on his com m unity
as well as love and respect for
Laura E squivel’s best-selling novel
teaching b lack ren aissan ce
and aw ard-w inning film. And with
through rap.
s im ila r r e f e r e n c e s , C o m m o n
N ot only has the C hicago-
parallels m any o f his tracks on this
native, and new N ew Y ork
m ost recent CD project in the nam e
transplant C om m on released
o f the novels sam e adversity.
C om m ons th ree p rev io u s C D ’s his latest project ju st in tim e
"R esurrectio n ." "O ne D ay It Wilt for the sum m er, but he has
A ll M a ke S e n s e " , a n d "C an I released it during a m uch
needed tim e w hen people are
Borrow a D ollar " w ere o ff the hook
But because C om m on is not your th irsty fo r so m eth in g else
re c o rd la b e ls a n d a r tis t
average o r m ainstream rapper with
all the glitz, glam our and extra­ drowning heads with platinum
w ant to be w earing w annabe’s
hype (think Puff). . .a lot o f radio
and Bentley d riv in ’ B-boys.
m arkets did not rotate C om m on on
A nd w ith this in m ind to stay
the regular, as w ell as som e video
fo c u s e d on th e b a s ic
channels.
necessities
o f life, the MC
T hus, A pple pie, USA slept on
a
lo
n
g
w
ith
h is p a r tn e r
C om m on. But no w orry m on’; the
(D
udley)
have
founded the
real heads w ho really enjoy hip-hop
Common
G
round
F oundation
concept o f k eep in ’ an ear to the
in
C
hicago
to
raise
capital for
street (underground) and peepin’
All cre ate d display ads
becom e th e sole p ro p erty of
th e new spaper a n d c a n n o t be
used in o th e r p u b lic atio n s or
p erso n al usage w ith o u t the
w ritten co n sen t o f th e general
m anager, unless th e clien t has
p u rch ased th e co m position o f
th e ad.
I*M TS« Pm lllil Otecmr
^Elji Curtiani» (©baetwr
Come visit us on the
web at
www.portlandobserver.com
com m unity centers, sum m er cam ps
a n d s c h o la r s h ip s as w e ll as
inform ation and aw areness o f the
plight o f political prisoners all over
th e world.
B ut even as a h ip -h o p em cee,
C om m on is definitely not w orried
about image. Putting him in the
sam e artistry as T he Roots; w hich
b o th a r tis t s h a re p u b lic ity at
okayplayer.com , C om m on is all
about substance.
C om m on continuously brings it to
the m asses discussing his thoughts
o f grow ing up in the inner city; it’s
people and its m usic.
Enjoy live m usic
in one o f P ortland s finest
acoustic show room s
H earty Pub Fare
H an d craited Ales & W
itte s
8203 N Ivanhoe Street • Portland • 283-8520
w w w .m cincnam ins.coni
Food, ales mid wines iirnilnhle to go.