Common

Released: July 10, 2005

Songwriter: Common Kanye West James Poyser

Producer: Kanye West

[Intro]
Yeah, put your hands in the air, North Sea
Yeah yeah, it's like this y’all, yeah
Let me hear ya say 'Yeah'
Say ’Oh yeah'
Say 'The real hip-hop'
At North Sea
Check it

[Verse]
I want to be as free as the spirits of those who left
I'm talking Malcolm, Coltrane, my man Yusef
Through death grew conception, new breath and resurrection
For moms, new steps in a direction
In the right way, told her, "Inside is where the fight lay
Everything a nigga do may not be what he might say"
Chicago nights they, stay on the mind
I write many lives, they, lay on these lines
Wavin' signs of the times, many say the grind's on the mind
Shorties blunted-eyed and everyone wanna rhyme
Bush pushing lies, killers immortalized
We got arms but won't reach for the skies
Waiting for the Lord to rise, I looked into my daughter’s eyes
Realize I’ma learn through her
The Messiah, might even return through her
If I'ma do it, I gotta change the world through her
Furs and a Benz, Gramps wantin ’em
Demons and old friends, Pops, they hauntin' him
The chosen one from the land of the frozen sun
Where drunk nights get remembered more than sober ones
Walk like warriors, we were never told to run
Explored the world to return to where my soul begun
Never looking back, or too far in front of me
The present is a gift, and I just want to be...

And you say North Sea
Make some noise
Where my peoples at here from Amsterdam?
What about Rotterdam?
Den Haag?
What about the US?

Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (born March 13, 1972), better known by his stage name Common (previously Common Sense), is a Grammy and Oscar-winning rapper and actor from Chicago, Illinois. Common’s inspired mix of poetic flow and hip-hop soul has helped him earn his status as one of the most respected rappers in the game.

After being a ball boy for his hometown Chicago Bulls as a teen and attending Florida A&M University for business administration, Common Sense kicked in and he left school to become a rapper. He gained national attention after being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine in 1991. He released his debut album Can I Borrow a Dollar? through Relativity Records in 1992, followed by his breakthrough second album Resurrection in 1994, which features his hip-hop classic single “I Used To Love H.E.R.”

As his career began to take off, he was sued by the music group Common Sense over the name, leading Common to drop the “Sense” and allude to the change in the title of his third album, One Day It’ll All Make Sense (1997). He has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Like Water For Chocolate (2000), which features his J Dilla-produced hit single “The Light”, and Be (2005), which was released under fellow Chicago musician Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint. He also joined musicians Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper to form the group August Greene, and the trio released their self-titled album in 2018.

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