Released: October 25, 1994

Featuring: Lonnie “Pops” Lynn

Songwriter: Lonnie “Pops” Lynn Common No I.D.

Producer: No I.D.

[Intro: Lonnie Lynn]

[Outro]
I just dropped by the studio, see what my son does
My main man, my son, Common Sense
They used to call me No Sense
Now they say I got plenty sense—about 6,000 years of it
You know, I’m just checking him out
See what’s going on, cause I’m always sitting around telling him about
What we used to do back in our hood, you know
We used to be down and run this town
And it was all at PC Pub
You know, and I’m shaking
And they working on it, and they bringing it back
I see harmony, understanding
And they working on that love thing too
Cause they be down with it, you know?
Now I hear them saying things like, whoa whoa, I get a good feeling
I be saying “keep it up
Keep on moving with your groove, you’re going the right way"
Cause it’s got to be in your heart
And I can tell by your beat, you got it
See there, I can do a little piece, put them together there
Yeah, we used to be running this whole town, here
We used to be basketball playing brothers, you know
Now everybody’s playing basketball
I wonder where they come from? What they claiming?
Gonna make an old man get his shoes out
And throw one down to slam dunk on them
Every time the leaves start turning brown getting through the fall of the year
I can say yea it’s time to play some
What these youngsters talking about, they running out of breath?
What you say?
Well I tell what, we’re gonna try something brand new here
Cause everybody like new things
We’re gonna work on something new, and I’m gonna call it ‘peace’
We’re gonna pretend like its 6 years old
And we gonna build it and mould it
And nurture it and culture it
And grow right into our society for all of us to have
Do you believe in the peace?
Not that piece, but do you believe in the peace?
Alright, I see you raising your hand - you believe in the peace
OK, bring it
See if I can’t talk common sense into them
Let’s cruise on down to 47 St. where dad used to hang out at, you know?
Eh remember in a few years when we moved from 47 to 87
47 was my hood, 87 was his
Touchdown
What’s the name of the bangers in this town now?
Has everybody calmed down?
Back in my day, they was showing up, now they finally woke up
I hear they leaving it alone
Using words like 'truce', I love to hear that

Common

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.