Common

Released: July 10, 2005

Songwriter: Common J Dilla Marvin Gaye Anna Gordy Gaye Elgie Stover James Nyx Jr.

Producer: J Dilla

[Intro]
And love is such a great thing, it's a beautiful thing
And I want y'all to share that with me
Put your L's up in the air if you're in the basement and you love love, yeah
Yo, how beautiful love can be
Yeah, yeah, I want y'all to get with me on it
Put your L's up, yeah, yo, how beautiful, yo, yo, yo...

[Chorus]
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
It's a place I got to be
Yeah, loving you is loving me
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
Gotta reach that frequency
Yeah, loving you is loving me

[Verse 1]
Yeah, you know what love is
Even found it on the ground where the thugs live
My man had to dig deep to find his
Couldn't sleep, on the real, he had five kids
Live nig's, real niggas express and taste it
At crap games, black dames and big faces
Cases in court, fam' showing love and support
You and your baby's mom thought that love was a sport
As men we were taught to hold it in
That's why we don't know how 'til we're older men
If love is a place I'ma go again
At least now, now I know to go within
At times it can take ya for a spin
Heartbreak hotel then you're home again
I've seen love make a nigga soul pretend
Like a story that he don't want to end
Yo

[Chorus]
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
It's a place I got to be
Yeah, loving you is loving me
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
Gotta reach that frequency
Yeah, loving you is loving me
Put them L's up, yo
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
It's a place I got to be
Yeah, loving you is loving me
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
Ha, gotta reach that frequency
Loving you is loving me

[Verse 2]
It's all love where we come from
In the hood love we was told to run from
That same hood where the guns sung
We holla love, hoping it'd become one
Crack got so many lives undone
From lack of love many hide some run
I knew this girl with a son who dreamt of acting in plays
Demonstration with her man had her trapped in a maze
Trying to find herself again, much of that she'd have gave
Love can free us, to it some of us react as a slave
Funny, we love 'em more when they're relaxed in a grave
Wonder if a thug is raw, is he actin' afraid?
Everybody loves sun, why do I attract shade?
Heard of the love of money, compassion it pays
Talk about it with my youth so she'd understand
What it is to be loved by a man
And

[Chorus]
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
It's a place I got to be
Loving you is loving me
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
Gotta reach that frequency
Loving you is loving me
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
It's a place I got to be
Loving you is loving me
How beautiful love can be
On the streets, love is hard to see
Gotta reach that frequency
Loving you is loving me

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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