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• Common's official site
• Q & A with Common
• Smokin' Aces

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Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome Common back to this program. The Grammy-winning artist is expanding beyond his acclaimed status in the hip-hop world to movies and books. He is the author of three books for kids. His most recent, 'I Like You, But I Love Me' - sounds like something I would have written. (Laugh)

Common: Yeah. (Laugh) Yeah, that's me.

Tavis: (Laugh) The book was just nominated for an NAACP image award. And on the movie front, you can catch Common in the upcoming film, 'Smokin' Aces.' It opens next Friday, the twenty-sixth. Here now, a scene from 'Smokin' Aces.'

Tavis: I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be very honest with you, Common, I am not always down with hip-hop artists who think they could just ease into the acting thing. I'm not always down with that.

Common: I understand. I understand.

Tavis: But when I heard that you were doing this, my first thought was, if this brother comes across as honest on screen as he does in any other setting, he can actually make this thing work.

Common: Well, thank you.

Tavis: Because it's getting people to believe that you are who you want them to believe you are in that scene. And you're such a believable and honest person. So you didn't do bad. (Laugh)

Common: Thank you, sir, thank you, sir. (Laugh) Yeah. Well, I agree with you, though, Tavis.

Tavis: Not that my opinion matters, but go ahead.

Common: No, it does matter, you're a creditable brother. Intelligent, too. But making the transition to something that, for me, I had to be passionate about acting for me to do it. Anything that I do, I gotta really feel like I can do well at it, and I gotta really love it. And acting is something I started taking classes doing, and I was, like, hey, I really enjoy this.

It was a good way for me to express myself. I feel that as a artist, when you discover things that you really do love, it's okay to do it. But you gotta do it to death, as James Brown said it. And that's how I approach acting, so, I'm definitely there. And I understand what you're saying about a lot of rappers and just musicians making the transitions. Getting jobs just because their name as a artist. I ain't with that. I'm a new actor, and I'm working hard to get good roles.

Tavis: Tell me where the interest came from. When, where, how the bug bit you to even be interested in wanting to see if you could pull this off.

Common: Yeah. I guess in all truth, part of it was, like, okay, I love doing music, but how long am I gonna do it? What else would I enjoy doing that I'm passionate about? And I tried different things. I'm not such an industry, business guy so much. Of course I take care of business, but I wasn't looking at trying to be a record company mogul or anything, and it had to be something artistic.

And I found acting to be natural for me. It was something that when I took the classes, it felt natural, and it felt organic and divine. Like, I love it just as much as I do music.

Tavis: Tell me about 'Smokin' Aces,' and about your part in it.

Common: Oh yeah, 'Smokin' Aces' is, it's a dark action comedy, really. It's this film with all this stuff going on. Basically the whole premise is Buddy Israel, who's played by Jeremy Piven, is this entertainer who is mob-affiliated. And he goes and turns on the mob. So all these people are after him. You catch us in the movie where all these assassins are after him, from the mob to, like, some of the people he turned on as far as government people. It's, like, all these different people. Alicia Keyes plays one of the assassins (unintelligible).

Tavis: Everybody's in this movie.

Common: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So that's the premise of it. And I play his right-hand man, Sir Ivy. I'm like this quiet killer. I'm noble, but I am a killer, so. (Laugh) So that was good.

Tavis: (Laugh) Now, I'm trying to figure out whether or not that's an oxymoron. A noble killer.

Common: Yeah, it is, in a way. What's funny is I'm starting to see that a lot in different characters that I'm peeping out, is, like, they show the balance of being a human. 'Cause we just also worked on a film, I worked on a film called 'American Gangster,' which is starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. And Denzel played this character who was a hustler - it was based on a true story.

A hustler in the seventies, but he was going to church with his family on the weekends. He was a family guy. And it just, you can be noble and still be a killer. That's a reality.

Tavis: Yeah, well, only Common could pull that off. I'm cracking up, 'cause you moved right on past this, you said it with such ease. Let me pick up those two big names you dropped. (Laugh) Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. You got your first big project with Jeremy Piven, and you follow that up with a piece with Russell and Denzel?

Common: Yeah, man, I can say (unintelligible)...

Tavis: Who do you know in this town? (Laugh)

Common: Yeah, (laugh) I can say it with ease, but I must say I was fighting for that role, and praying every day, man, I wanna be in this in any capacity. 'Cause Denzel is one of, probably he is my favorite, really, and a master at what he does. And then Russell Crowe is great, and it was directed by Ridley Scott. So, I was, like, man, I need to be in that company, chief.

Tavis: It's the right place to be. (Laugh) It's just the right place to be. How does the process feel for you? That is to say, going into your point now, and having to audition, begging to have an opportunity to show your stuff in a film like this, where in the hip-hop world, you walk in the room and everybody kind of does this. You walk in hip-hop, everybody kind of bows down. But now you going into an audition, begging for an opportunity.

Common: Well, I like it, 'cause it's a new challenge. It's humbling, too, 'cause I'm signing the list like all these other actors. And there's no, like you say, there's no type of Common plusses. It's like hey, you just another actor coming in here. You gotta do your job. And I think it's a good, humbling thing for me to experience that. And it makes you work harder; you become more comfortable at being a underdog, in certain ways.

But when you think about it, my music career has been coming from an underdog perspective, too, or underground, like this guy who has been doing conscious music that had never really got to the masses till recently.

Tavis: You have such a loyal following, though.

Common: Yeah, it is.

Tavis: Such a loyal following.

Common: That's the beauty of, like, I always thank God and say it's just a blessing to be able to have this career be a journey. Like I always say this quote that I see when I ride past this school in New York. It says, 'Success is a journey, not a destination.' And, like, my career has been a journey, and without this journey, I wouldn't be able to sit and talk to Tavis, you dig what I'm saying? So I'm very grateful for that.

Tavis: Tell me, I have not seen the credits to this film yet, and I'm curious. How are you billed on this? Is it billed as Common?

Common: Yeah, I'm billed as Common, and I had a big discussion with my team.

Tavis: That's what I wanted to ask this. Take me inside the room.

Common: Yeah, I was there; we was in the van. Oh, you should go with Lonn should go with Lonnie Lynn or Rashid Lynn, 'cause my middle name is Rashid. And so anyway, I said, 'Common,' and cats was arguing me down. But I figure if I come in as a actor and just do well and people know me as a actor under Common, too, and I can use the brand also to go out and do other things, then I need that brand to be known. I need...

Tavis: All right, but the flipside, I'm sure somebody in the van said this. I wasn't in the van, but if I had been in the van, just to play Devil's advocate, I would have said, 'Okay, I buy that. On the other hand, though, if you wanna be taken seriously as an actor...'

Common: But tell me this.

Tavis: ...then why go with Common as opposed to using the name your mama gave you? (Laugh) Mama named you Clay? I'm gonna call him Clay. 'Coming to America.' Anyway, sorry about that. Go ahead. Speaking of Clay, today is Muhammad Ali's sixty-fifth birthday. That was a great line from 'Coming to America.' Mama called him Clay, I'm gonna call him Clay. Today is Cassius Clay's, better known as Muhammad Ali's, sixty-fifth birthday, so happy birthday, Champ.

Common: That's one of my heroes. Happy birthday.

Tavis: Isn't he amazing?

Common: Yeah, that's one of...

Tavis: Sixty-five today.

Common: That's one of them inspirations. Him, like Malcolm X, Marvin Gaye. Them cats is - that's the inspiration.

Tavis: Back to the van, though, to our argument inside the van.

Common: But in the van, so, this is what I'll tell you, since you in the van now. I'm saying that because I come in taking acting serious, even with the name Common, the movie industry will take me as a serious actor, long as I go in and do what I'm supposed to do. It don't matter, like, if I call myself whatever the name is.

It's, like, are you good? Are you serious about it? Can you take on many different roles? 'Cause I actually feel one of the great actors out there is Mos Def. And he didn't have to change his name. Or Queen Latifah, for that matter, is a very good actor. And, like, I think if you just go in there and be good at it, that's what it is.

Tavis: All right, you win.

Common: All right, thank you.

Tavis: I was just playing Devil's advocate. I always believe in the branding thing. What you brand with, you stick with. That's your brand, stick with it. So I would have just played Devil's advocate, but I think you're right about that. Now, back to the music, though, since we're talking about the film. Let's go back to the music for just a quick second. You're working another project?

Common: Oh yeah, yes, sir.

Tavis: We waiting on it.

Common: Yes, sir. Well, actually, as soon as I leave here, we going straight to the studio. Kanye is waiting in the studio, or he's working in the studio right now. The new album is coming out in the spring, like around May.

Tavis: You got a title yet?

Common: It's called 'Finding Forever.'

Tavis: 'Finding Forever.

Common: Yeah.

Tavis: See, you always come up with these deep titles. What does that mean, 'Finding Forever?' How do you find forever?

Common: (Laugh) I guess what I really do believe 'Finding Forever' is about is, like, when you come on this Earth and leave a mark through the things that you do, like the spiritual things, the good things, like it could be either through music, it could be through activism, it could be through just being a good father or mother to your child. It's, like, you find forever through spreading that love to the future. And that's really what that whole album is about. Like for me, it's about existing forever through music, timeless.

Tavis: Well, your conscious artwork and art form is powerful and empowering to all of us. So, Common ain't so common no more. (Laugh)

Common: That's right, that's right.

Tavis: He's hanging out with Jeremy Piven, and Denzel and Russell Crowe. And a new record being produced by Kanye West. I ain't mad at you, I'm proud of you, I love you.

Common: Thank you, love you, too.

Tavis: Tell your mama I said hello.

Common: Yes, I will.

Tavis: 'Smokin' Aces.' The first time you will see Common on screen, but not the last.

Common: Not the last.

Tavis: Go check it out. That's our show for tonight. Catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Our radio podcast available now at TavisTalks.com. We'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A., thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.