Common Inspired By Controversy

Common revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone that his new album, The Dreamer/The Believer was partially inspired by the White House controversy that centered on the rapper back in May.

FOX News took exception to Common being invited to a White House event back in the spring, and Common says that it reinvigorated his desire to stay true to himself.

“Did the FOX News hoopla change anything that I was doing? I can’t say that it did,” he explained. “When it first happened, I was really kind of wondering what was going on, because I was working on this independent film called Luv, and my friend texted me and said, ‘Yo, don’t worry about what they’re saying about you.’ I was thinking it was a rumor like I was dating this girl or that."

“I found out what FOX was saying and it didn’t hit me personally,” he continued. “It was just that I was caught up in this political crossfire, and I looked at it from that perspective.”

“The irony is, I went even more in tune to what I’m about and thought even more with me knowing that I was blessed to go to the White House and blessed to do my poetry at the White House and I still got invited throughout all the hoopla. I realize that I’m a Hip Hop artist who has to express my freedom to speak and my style and who I am. I didn’t censor my lyrics to say, ‘Man, if I say this, I’m not going to be invited to the White House again. I won’t be accepted by these people.’ I just really tried my best to stay true to who I was, and it really came out on this album.”