Common is almost always listening to music.
“Morning, daytime and night, I’m listening to music,” the actor and rapper tells The Hollywood Reporter in the first episode of The Playlist.
The Grammy Award-winning musician uses a different type of music for his different moods. When he’s heading into a meeting, he plays music that will give him the confidence he needs. But, mostly, Common uses music to bring light into his day.
“A lot of the music [I listen to], especially starting at the beginning of my day, is music that will lift me up and make me feel like everything is going to be all right, the immortal words of Bob Marley,” he says. “I love the type of music that just gives me that brightness.”
Common crafted a five-track playlist for THR, which he’s dubbed “The Light Will Last Forever.” His music taste is varied, and this playlist is evidence. “I thank God so much for music because it has given me a way to understand and express myself more and connect with human beings,” he says.
“As a musician, I’m able to explore. I’m able to be free,” he continues. He’s tried many other things over his long career, but the only that he’s felt has come close to his love of music is his love of acting.
Ironically, Common previously felt that being a musician almost put him into a box when it came to acting. “There was a point where was difficult for me to get into the rooms and work with the actual directors and actors that I wanted to work with because they classify me just as a musician,” he says.
“I’m grateful for the fact that music gave me that pathway to discover new artistic things that are gifts and blessings,” he says.
Common breaks down his uplifting playlist “The Light Will Last Forever” below.
This is a song I discovered that within the past few years. I love the energy of it. It has this reggae type vibe to it. Chronixx is this amazing voice and the soul of it. Music that I love, it has to have a feel to it. It has to make me feel something. Anytime I hear this song, I feel good. I feel uplifted. I feel like even the title itself, “Eternal Light,” it’s a reminder of purpose in a way. A reminder of what I have to give. Sometimes I use that music before I’m about to go out to perform, before I’m going to go meet with someone. I use music that inspires me and “Eternal Light” by the Free Nationals… It got that umph for me. I love this song. And, Chronixx, he’s a bad brother.
“My Umi says shine your light on the world.” As I said, light is kind of the theme for some of the songs I’ve been choosing. “Umi Says” is a song created by the incomparable Mos Def, also known as Yasiin Bey. This is one of my comrades, this is one of my friends and fellow musicians. We have come up together in music, and that’s my brother. When I heard this song, I was like, “This song was like no other song I’d heard before.” Just because you thought of Mos as this rapper, and I knew he could sing some, but just his style of singing was very unique and it’s like no other.
Last night, I got to see Yasiin perform this song and one of the musicians on it, Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas was in the house too. I just thought about how they created this song together because Mos is also playing, I think, drums on the song. The feel of that song, it takes me to a place of gratitude and thinking about all the things that I can do. Him chanting, “I want my people to be free, to be free, to be free. I want my people to be free.” It just tops off the song.
I’m a kid that grew up on the south side of Chicago, a little Black kid who loves music, who loves art. Man, we had some wonderful times in our neighborhood, block parties, barbecues, parties at the park. Frankie Beverly and Maze is a theme throughout all these events of celebration, and who we are and joy. “Golden Time of Day” is a song about that beautiful time of day, where the sun is about to set and it’s like no other. We all have seen that sun, looked and said, “Wow, look at that. That’s amazing. Look at the color of the sky.”
Frankie Beverly and Maze described that in the music. He sang about it. The music feels like that. It definitely is feel good, and it definitely has something to do with the light and the sun, which I love. I love going out on the water, getting on the boat, being on the water. I’m a Pisces. I love water, so I play it when we’re out with my friends. I just recently played it for my birthday celebration. We out on the water on the boat, and it’s just the perfect music for that, but it’s the perfect music for if you’re driving; if you’re actually at home cooking. It’s going to bring that good feeling and that joy. Even if you can’t see that sunset, it’ll bring that to your mind, to your imagination. I love this song. It reminds me of Chicago and being that kid and barbecues. But now, in the present, it reminds me of being out on the water, on the boat, enjoying the golden time.
This song is not a song of light, so I’m kind of breaking up my theme a little bit. It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. As I said, I listen to music to get me in different modes too. I think the mode that “Shook Ones, Pt. II” gives to me is like it reminds me of coming from the streets of Chicago and just going out and having to… You got to kick ass sometimes. You got to go conquer things, and you got to have a mentality [that] can’t nothing stop you. It’s one of those things that grounds me into who I am. You might be going in a meeting with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, and you just got to remember who you are and not put on for them, for that person. … Man, rest in peace to Prodigy and shout out to Havoc for creating one of the greatest hip hop songs ever. I say one of the greatest songs. I remember it coming out and being like, “What song is going to come out at that level and top this during this time?” It was ’95 and it was a special time in that music. “Shook Ones” is still to this day, I hear producers naming it as one of their favorite beats of all time. Classic producers have said “Shook Ones” is one of the beats [they] wish [they] made.
I love jazz and John Coltrane is one of the greatest musicians, artists to ever live. I play his music to get my mind off of stress, to get my mind off of heavy things. I play his music to let my imagination run free and fly. I play his music to drift off and feel like the world is better. I know there’s a lot going on, but the world could be better. I usually would have chose “A Love Supreme,” but “My Favorite Things,” hearing that when I put that on, I feel nothing but joy and light and inspiration. I’m going to have to be honest, I hadn’t really listened to the original version of “My Favorite Things.” I hadn’t listened to it a lot. Eventually, when I saw The Sound of Music, I was like, “Oh, this is dope. This is dope.” But hearing a jazz musician interpret it, and someone of his caliber and his quality take on “My Favorite Things, it’s to me what jazz is.
“Vision,” which is a song that 9th Wonder and I created for the 30 For 30 based on Stuart Scott‘s life. Stuart Scott, who was one of the greatest broadcaster, sports journalists, individuals to ever do it. I always wanted to do a film about him. I still believe it should be a scripted film about Stuart Scott because he was that innovative and that groundbreaking. He brought a lot of culture to broadcasting at a time where it wasn’t really accepted. He bridged the gap in many ways because he was so great at what he does and professional, but at the same time, he was referencing Jay-Z or Nas or Jill Scott or Run DMC or Doug E. Fresh. He was letting the Black culture know like, “Hey, I’m here for you too, and we are represented. You will be seen because I’m going to express who we are, and I am a bridge. I’m not shutting off anybody. This is about everybody enjoying it, but you are acknowledged and you mean something.” That’s what I felt when I saw Stuart Scott, and I looked forward to watching him all the time. In fact, he’s actually in a movie that I did with Queen Latifah. I was playing an athlete, and one of the interviews needed to be with a journalist, I wanted Stuart Scott.
When I knew they were doing a documentary, I was like, “Man, I got to be a part of this.” We were blessed enough that ESPN and the filmmaker wanted myself and 9th Wonder [to do it] because Stuart Scott was born in Chicago, and he grew up in North Carolina, where 9th Wonder is from. As soon as we had the opportunity, we had our meeting with the team. We let them know how passionate we are about Stuart Scott, and how much we love him. I would love to tell his story in song.
