Lonnie Rashid Lynn [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] born March 13, , known professionally as Common formerly known as Common Sense , is an American rapper and actor. At the age of 20, he signed with the independent label Relativity Records to release his debut studio album Can I Borrow a Dollar? He maintained an underground following into the late s, and achieved mainstream success through his work with the Black music collective, Soulquarians.
After attaining a major label record deal, he released his fourth and fifth albums, Like Water for Chocolate and Electric Circus , to continued acclaim and modest commercial response. Common's own label imprint, Think Common Entertainment, was founded in and entered a joint venture with Warner Bros. Both received critical praise and further discussed social issues in Black America ; his eleventh album, Black America Again saw widespread critical acclaim and served as his final release on a major label.
Lynn was raised in the Calumet Heights neighborhood. Lynn's parents divorced when he was six years old, resulting in his father moving to Denver , Colorado. This left Lynn to be raised by his mother; however, his father remained active in his life, and was able to get him a job with the Chicago Bulls as a teenager.
Lynn began rapping in the late s, while a student at Luther High School South in Chicago, when he, along with two of his friends, formed C. A and Big Daddy Kane. R dissolved by , Lynn began a solo career under the stage name of Common Sense. With the release of Resurrection , Common Sense achieved a much larger degree of critical acclaim which extended beyond the Chicago music scene. The album sold relatively well and received a strong positive reaction among alternative and underground hip hop fans at the time.
Resurrection was Common Sense's last album produced almost entirely by his long-time production partner, No I. The song " I Used to Love H. The lyrics of the song criticized the path hip hop music was taking, utilizing a metaphor of a woman to convey hip hop [ 25 ] and were interpreted by some as directing blame towards the popularity of West Coast gangsta rap. Westside Connection first responded with the song "Westside Slaughterhouse," with the lyrics "Used to love H. Common Sense and Westside Connection continued to insult each other back and forth before finally meeting with Louis Farrakhan and setting aside their dispute.
