La Musica Coolica #45 (CS)

Common Sense is one of those few rappers from the midwest, who was able to make it big. He hails from Chi-town, and was born “Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.” He got his start in the early 90’s known mostly by the underground hip-hop crowd. He has done quite a bit of experimentation with his sound, over the years. He has put out several studio albums and worked with a lot of the other big names in hip-hop.

Recently, he has teamed up with Diesel, promoting their fragrance, “Only the Brave.” I shot the red carpet for one of his promo events.

I really like his sound. He incorporates a lot of classic jazz and blues style into his beats. His flow is kind of unique too.  I love the way that he opens the album “Be.” The intro is just a stand up bass, for like the first 30 or 40 seconds of the song, before organ, keyboard drums and strings drop in. He does a lot of that kind of stuff, which is really refreshing, given the tendency of hip-hop trends to inbreed. The song that I’m sharing today is from Common’s first album “Can I borrow a dollar?” (1992). It is called “Soul by the Pound.” WARNING: This song has some swears. So if you are averse, don’t press play.