Disclaimer: I say all of this as a fan of Common from day one, I still got my “Can I Borrow a Dollar” CD in rotation.
I didn’t listen to his freestyle on the Sway show, or whatever. I ain’t really been checking for the “boney homie from Stony” in a while TBH.
Common is coming off as an opportunist nowadays. I think his position among the Negrogentsia (Affluent Blacks with riches and influence) is more important than the actual empowerment and liberation of African people across the globe.
The Negrogentsia are the rich New Negros, especially in academia and the arts.
Common, like other New Negros takes safe positions on safe issues but will not do anything to truly attack or condemn the Status Quo; and this wasn’t always the case, check out ‘One Day It Will All Make Sense, Like Water for Chocolate, and Resurrection,’ Common was on point in that mid to late 90s era; but he literally went Hollywood on us in the 2000s. SMH.
So, Common will go from BLM to “extent a hand to Whites,” to anti-Trump rhetoric. His positions are inconsistent and superficial at best.
Common is a true talent, on the Mic moreso than anything else, but that’s it. There are many artistically and lyrically talented Brothers and Sisters who are also true scholars, true revolutionaries and Class Allies with the masses of Blacks, Common ain’t among them.
I like to think that Common is still evolving though, that he’s still struggling internally and will eventually actually be what he sometimes pretends to be: a champion of the People and an enemy of our oppressors.
