Page 131 - The Book For Men Spring/Summer 2023

at a table for eight hours a day, which he realised he likely had not done since his last menial job at 18. But he acknowledges the hardest part for him is just showing up. “To do the work every night, that’s the biggest choice. To actually go out on that stage every night even when you’re thinking, ‘How am I gonna do this?’ You’re tired, maybe you’re concerned about something going on with your family, but you still have to go out and do the work.”
The demands of the schedule took a toll on his health. In the course of the rehearsal period and three month run at the Helen Hayes Theatre on West 44th, the actor suffered everything from COVID to an upper respiratory infection to laryngitis to a stomach virus. As Lee Strasberg may well have said at one point in his career, theatre is no joke.
And yet Common’s enthusiasm was hardly dampened. “It’s something where I think, I want to do this for the rest of my life, and I’m already looking forward to doing it again.” Common recognizes how lucky he was to be working with such accomplished collaborators in his first foray on the stage, and also admits he may well have been spoiled by the experience. “I was working with Stephen McKinley Henderson, one of the greatest actors of all time. Not everybody knows his name yet, but when they came to that theatre they got to see a true master. And I was able to learn from him and bounce scenes off of him and absorb his wisdom.” Henderson reprises his role from the original off-Broadway production as Walter ‘Pops’ Washington, a retired New York City policeman who is in the process of suing the department after being accidentally shot by a fellow officer. Common stars as his recently paroled son Junior, who moves back into his father’s home with girlfriend Lulu and sober buddy Oswaldo in tow (played by original cast members Rosal Colón and Victor Almanzar). The play deals with the domestic struggles faced by this makeshift family while they attempt to hold on to one of the last rent-stabilised apartments on Riverside Drive in Manhattan.
This experience has only deepened his respect for those who dedicate their lives to the stage. “I want to acknowledge everybody that participates in theatre, whether it be regional or across the board, Broadway, off-Broadway, West End. It’s a real collaborative team of passionate people that do theatre,” Common says. “From the people dressing us, doing costumes, to the people that did the lighting, they’re just there for the art. Obviously you have to make a living, but they care about this art form. It’s a beautiful thing to behold, and it comes through in the passion they bring to the work.” He also has nothing but the highest praise for Stephen Adly Guirgis, who he calls one of the great playwrights of several generations. When he first read the play he was not only blown away by how funny and raw it was, but by how the material had only become more plangent over the years. “That’s what it’s like to experience something that’s timeless. The immediacy of great art can speak to now and forever.”
When asked if his view of the role of the artist in society has changed over the years, Common doesn’t hesitate. Looking back on who he was as a person when he recorded his first album, he realises he had no idea there was so much power in having a microphone, and that he could actually impact the course of other peoples’ lives with his music. Honestly, he just wanted his friends to think he was dope, and for KRS-One and De La Soul to know who he was. Not a bad place to start, he admits. But the more time that he spent in the industry, he began to realise that he felt a higher calling as an artist, and that he had a duty and a responsibility to his audience. “Not just a duty to make music, but also to always be evolving as an artist, and speak truth to where I am.” This impulse to be true to himself has led to records that have sometimes challenged fans’ perceptions, like Electric Circus or Universal Mind Control. Common sees it as a responsibility of the artist to continually challenge themself. “I owe it to
the people to try and give them things that can be life-changing and inspiring, because I feel like if I’ve had the exposure to these things, then it’s for a reason. It’s not for me just to hold onto. It’s like if you have some information or you’ve experienced something, do you want to just hold onto it for yourself? If so, it’s not serving its greatest purpose in life, and maybe you’re not fulfilling yours.”
It’s a duty and a responsibility that he feels blessed to have. He’s also in the enviable position of being able to make music when he is inspired to do so, and not in order to pay the bills. Not only that, but when he is creating new material he doesn’t have to bow to commercial considerations. “It’s not in the back of my mind all the time like, ‘I need to be on the radio station.’ And that in itself is so amazing because it’s being done with the love in it. I don’t even know where it’s going to go, I don’t know if 10 people are going to hear it. I just want to put music out there and have it resonate with people who are open to it.” His newest albums, A Beautiful Revolution Pts. 1+2, were created amidst the pandemic, and he credits the creative sessions with helping to keep him balanced during that difficult time. “It brought so much light to me, and I think that comes through. Even if it’s a song dealing with something heavy, our passion and the love that we bring creates its own joy.”
Common seems to be a man that people go to in times of trouble, a port in the storm, and he’s more than happy to share his light. During the pandemic, he had a lot of friends calling him to check in and to ask him for any wellness tips that he could share. “I’m just learning, I’m not an expert,” he admits, “but I was letting people know what I was doing, whether it was taking turmeric, or working out, making sure I was saying my prayers, or just watching something that was funny.” He realised that spreading health and wellness was something he could do to give back to his community in a very trying time.
This led him to start the health and wellness series Com + Well on You- Tube, where he stated his intent to meet his viewers wherever they are in life and provide them with tools and resources that they can use to take care and love themselves in new ways. He knew that not everyone was as privileged as he was to be able to thrive during the pandemic, so he wanted to do his small part to share the happiness he felt lucky to have. “I know we’ve all experienced that feeling that when things are good, you know, I feel like I got things locked down. Then two days later, I feel like I’ve been knocked off my freakin’ horse, and I gotta get back up.” That’s part of what helps keep him humble. “This is a true experience that everyone goes through on the path of life. Because of that, I’ve never felt like, ‘man, I made it’, and that’s it, you know?”
When asked what else he would like to accomplish as an artist as well as a man, his response was refreshingly straightforward. “As a man I think I’m always looking to grow my relationship with the Creator, I’m looking to have fun, I’m looking to build in life partnership, to build my relationships, and to become a better listener. And also become more fruitful to the planet in all aspects. As an artist I’m like, let me use my talent, these gifts and the passion that I have to continue to multiply and add on, to my life, to other peoples’ lives, and to the world in the best way possible. To the day I leave the planet, I want to be creating art; acting, making music, and doing activism work. That’s how I feel.”
For Common, it’s all about appreciating the here and now. “One thing I have learned in this life is to be present in the moment when something is going really great. Like if I’m at an award ceremony, or if I’m in a session with Stevie Wonder, I always think, ‘Dang, how did I get here?’ I’m working with Stevie Wonder, he’s one of the first records I ever owned, you know? So I am definitely happy and grateful to be in those moments. You don’t lose the admiration and the joy of being there with people that you’ve admired for your whole life. I don’t lose that. I always have that.”
“I owe it to the people to try and give them things that can be life-changing and inspiring, because I feel like if I’ve had the exposure to these things, then it’s for a reason. It’s not for me just to hold onto.”
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