By Megann Horstead
Social Media Editor
Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist, Common, talked about “greatness” as part of North Central College’s MLK week keynote address.
“Well, my mother gave me a book that said, “From Good to Great.” “From good to great” … and that resonated with me and this word of “Greatness” has been resonating with me for some years now. At a certain point in my life, I decided that I wanted to be great. I wanted to be a great human being. When I made that decision I started thinking about what that entailed. Being great? What is “Greatness?” You hear so many as I say of the Great Martin Luther King. You hear about the Great LeBron James, the Great Michael Jordan, the Great President Barack Obama, the Great Abraham Lincoln… What is “Greatness?”
Common remembered one summer night, when as a young man, he went to visit his cousin in Cincinnati. He, his cousin, and their friends were watching TV when they thought about writing some raps. It was on that night that they started writing. This was the first rap Common wrote.
“Little did I know that because of my love for rap, I would find my voice and find my path,” Common said.
The struggle for him to find his path, believe in it, and live it was just as real then as it is for adolescents today.
With the power that he expresses through using words, Common proposed a subscription for the audience.
He expanded on his subscription to “greatness” and said, ‘finding your path’ is to discover what your life’s passion is for, ‘believing in your path’ is to know that the path you follow fits who you are, and ‘living it’ means to live life through your path though obstacles may pop up.
Some of the messages in Common’s music have dealt with life as he sees it now or saw it while growing up in Chicago. In speaking at North Central’s MLK Week, he plans to use his message to communicate to the people of Naperville versus the inner city of Chicago.
“You don’t have to be poor to want to strive for greatness. You don’t have to be a certain color. You don’t have to be certain religion. “Greatness” is a universal theme and it is a universal dream in many ways.”
The idea that Common proposed was found to be true in several of the life examples he used in illustrating “greatness” and its importance.
Common noted how dimming one’s own light. In the face of a sudden breakup from R&B singer Eryka Badu, Common revealed how he dealt with the loss and used it to propel himself forward.
“I realized that I was afraid to wear my greatness,” Common said.
“Belief is contagious,” he said. Common commented on how what you feel or what you project outward has the power and ability to impact not only you but others too.
Once Common found his path as a hip-hop artist, he talked about how the journey to “greatness” does not stop there. It continues as you cycle through obstacles.
He talked about how he attended the 2006 Grammy-Awards show. He had been nominated five times. He went into the event confident that he was going to win awards. When the night didn’t turn out as planned, he was shocked to walk away empty handed.
Common returned to the studio and released another album soon after. Upon returning to the 2008 Grammy Awards, he found that his work paid off. He won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the song “Southside” featuring Kanye West. It’s this persistence that Common was advocating for in his keynote address.
The College’s MLK week theme was “Power of Words.” Common said that he’s the type that has always been attracted to the power of words. Even more so, he devotes his professional career to using words in this way.
Speaking about what he’s learned throughout his career, he added, “And also, I am learning a lot about silence too. Sometimes you have to know when to be quiet and be at peace with silence. I think that’s important as well as using words.”
The idea of “greatness” can depend on the individual and how they define “Greatness.” Common illustrated “greatness” on a wide-arching level as a journey or something to aspire to.
“Anything that you want to be great at, you have to train,” Common said. “But when you love it and you are passionate about it and it is your purpose, it’s like breathing. You do it because it is you. You become it.”
