Photo: Steven Pisano - Feast of Music from New York City, United States / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Common occupies a rare lane in hip-hop: he proved you could stay thoughtful without going soft. From Chicago's open-mic circuit to a shelf of Grammys and an Academy Award for an original song, his career reads like a slow, deliberate climb rather than a flash of hype. What I admire is the discipline, the way he treats rap as literature, acting as craft, and activism as obligation, never letting one dilute the others. Plenty of rappers simply age out; Common aged into something closer to a public intellectual with an impeccable flow. When I want proof that hip-hop can carry moral weight gracefully, his catalog is where I point people.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Common
- Name (Japanese)
- コモン
- Reading
- こもん
- Born
- March 13, 1972 (age 54)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Rat
- Origin
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Occupation
- rapper / writer / record producer / model / singer
2. Background
- High school
- Luther High School South
- University
- Florida A&M University
Awards & achievements
- 2002 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
- 2003 BET Award for Video of the Year
- 2007 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
- 2012 BET Her Award
- 2003 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
- 2015 Soul Train Music Award for The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter's Award
- 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song
- 2003 BET Award for Viewer's Choice
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Smallfoot | — | |
| Notable work | The Odd Life of Timothy Green | — | |
| Notable work | LUV | — | |
| Notable work | Hell on Wheels | — |
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://thinkcommon.com
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/common/
- Xhttps://x.com/common
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B3%E3%83%A2%E3%83%B3
Frequently asked questions
When was Common born?
Born March 13, 1972 (age 54).
Where is Common from?
Common is from Chicago, Illinois, United States.
What does Common do?
Common works as rapper, writer, record producer, model, singer.
What is Common known for?
Notable works include Smallfoot, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, LUV.
Rapper — see all → · Writer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.