Common

Released: July 10, 2005

Songwriter: Common Kanye West Caeser Frazier

Producer: Kanye West

[Intro]
Ah, where my real people at?
Yeah, ah, let me see my real people with their hands in the air
Wherever you from, real people, let's do it, baby

[Verse 1]
Yo, real People walk in the streets, the streets is talkin'
Often it's beef this city never does
People walk and talk in they sleep
Cold sweats and wet dreams
On how to get green, our faith is all in a jeep
Black souls, raw and they deep
Hypes tryna talk with no teeth
Shorties sayin' ball or retreat
A lesson we all speak at one point or another
What you expect from one who smoke a joint with his mother?
Anointed hustlers in a fatherless region
Through the pain, wish they know that God was just teachin'
We want decent homes
So dreams we say out loud like speakerphones just to keep 'em on
It's like a colored song that keep keepin' on
I guess knowin' I'm weak is when I'm really bein' strong
Somehow through the dust I could see the dawn
Like the Bishop Magic Juan, I write freedom songs
For the real people

[Chorus]
Real people in the house, real people, real people check it out
Real people know what I'm talking about, it's real people

[Verse 2]
I wonder is the spirits of Bob Marley and Haile Selassie
Watch me as the cops be tryna and pop and lock me
They cocky, plus they mentality is Nazi
The way they treat Blacks I wanna snap like paparazzi
We're the children of a better God searchin' for better jobs
We could cop ghetto cars tryin' not to catch a charge
They say the dope game is sour
Now they doin' homework that's when they follow you for hours
Come to your crib and devour all that you work for
Must be more than paper these brothas hurt for
Through the purple haze I circle days I rhyme that work for pays
Tryna reverse the slave's mind and insert the brave mentality
Heard that it's drama at home
Can a dude break free and still get honored at home?
I was told by a chief it's the games nature
When you're glowin' some will love and some will hate ya
Yo, it's real people

[Chorus]
Uh, real people in the house, real people know what I'm talking about
It's real people, real people in the house, it's real people, it's real people, uh

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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Real People (Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 2005)Common

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Live at the Jazz Room