Talent is common, its how you use it that makes it uncommon.
For those of you who havent seen the video, I recommend checking it out on launch, this song and video is a trip... I think Common is one of the last great poets, I realize thats giving him a lot of credit, but his words actually say something and theyre just set to music, separate the two and they work just as well, and he always has some message to his audience, which he trys to make universal. Its really some interesting stuff. I like rap and hip-hop, and the occasional club banger, but I dont like them because I want to be a thug or I feel more 'gansta' when I listen, I find it endlessly fascinating that they can make rhymes and coherent thoughts and condense their flow of thoughts into a flow of words that is intelligible and impacting. Think of it, what it took Shakespeare and many an artist/poet today even years to do and complete, they can do in seconds while freestyling, make their thoughts rhyme and flow in sync with a beat, its an awe inspiring talent to me, this ability... I recommend downloading this song and a few more of Commons songs, including "The Corner", it reminds me of something by Langston Hughes.
She walk into the court her knees buckle
Saying for a man to survive he needn't hustle
Seen and been through struggle her whole life
Made a transition from being his ho to his wife
Stifling, the night upend the ATF bust in
Her daddy was a hustla so she love them
Looked at the jury how can they judge him, she screamed
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Please let me testify
Fear in her chest her face in tears, had her mans back he was facing years
In her name though the place was his
They trying to take everything except the kids
But years she been through stumbling fights
While he trying to hustle that white
Up all night wondering if hes alive
Seeing him tried she bubbled inside and screamed
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Please let me testify
The judge called for order the court reporter makin her words shorter
His lawyer sat next to him, she could see how the trial was affecting him
It hurt for her eyes to connect with him, using her lies for protecting him
They arrested him for murder, and gun possession
As they read back her confession she screamed
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Please let me testify
The court awaited as the foreman got the verdict from the bailiff
Emotional outbursts tears and smeared makeup
He stated, he was guilty on all charges
She's shaking like she took it the hardest
A spin artist, she brought her face up laughing
That's when the prosecutor realized what happened
All that speaking her mind testifying and crying
When this bitch did the crime- the queenpin...
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Before you lock my love away, before you lock my love away
Please let me testify
You accuse me of a, you accuse me of a, you accuse
Please let me testify, please let me testify
You accuse me of a, you accuse me of a, you accuse
Please let me testify, please let me testify
They ask me where hip hop is goin', a Chicagoan
Poetry's in motion like a picture now showin'
It's the city, the city y'all, the city, the city y'all
C'mon