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"The HBCU Experience with Common" · The Baller Alert Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hold up, hold up, what's bobbing? Is the kid Ferrari
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Simmons and I am your favorite idio bean so solos Lanny,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: y'all planning with me today? Okay, it's all good. It's
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: O c T right here. Activity to be more exactly,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and we are joined by the one and only award
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: winning rapper, songwriter, actor, author Active is the incomparable comment.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ball Alert show man and Peace's y'all.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you for that intro. Yo, that's that's dope, that's
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that felt that felt good, and what you said, I
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: appreciate that. Okay, So comment, first of all, thank you
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: for coming through the Ball Alert Show Podcast. Obviously it's
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: homecoming season and we will be at homecoming if it
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: wasn't for COVID. So we are here chilling on zoom
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: with you, and we definitely have to talk to you
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: about your HBCU experience. UM. I went to Fami you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: um and and I stayed there for like almost two years. Uh.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I got first. It was one of the greatest experiences
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in my life. Like I got to meet just black
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: people from all around the country, which I didn't have
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: that experience before because I was just you know, grew
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: up in Chicago and just didn't get to travel that much.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So just to be in college and meet all these
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: people that's from from Detroit, from Alabama, from from Miami,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: like it just was Jacksonville, just Atlanta. There was just
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: so many people. And this we always inspired and probably
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: inspired by school days and and you know what a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: different world was. And you know the black college experience
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: that we saw, you know, being portrayed by by people
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: who had been there but became big people. We just man,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: it's just hit home. It changed my life. I had
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: a self pride that that they heightened, and I would
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I would endorse it and encourage it to anybody. My
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: daughter just graduated from a from a from an HBCU.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: She graduated from House. Yeah to talk about that, but
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I don't want to know, being that you came from Chicago.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Was college a big conversation for you as a kid?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Did you know you wanted to go to an hbc U. Yeah? Well,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: you see the thing is my mother was a teacher.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: She she retired now she was a principal and a
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and an English teacher. So academics were strong for me,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: no matter what, no matter what else I was pursuing.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I love basketball, you know, I loved hip hop culture
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and rap, but I still had to do good in school.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Even when I left school, I was like, I basically
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: it just got straight a's the semester before. So I
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: was really focused and I had no choice, to be honest,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I had to go to a black college. My mother
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: went to Central State and my father went to wilble Force.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: They met in Zeni, Ohio, to two black colleges. So
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it was like it was written for me to go there.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: I could have thought it, but it was naturally what
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I felt was the right place for me. UM, and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you know, the professor's overall just treated me, treated us black.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Was like they were empowering us, and they were like
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: encouraging us and was like giving us a heightened level
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  Speaker 1: of of what what abilities we had and was teaching
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: us about ourselves. You know. So it was you know,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: it was for me. There's certain moments in my life
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that I look at and be like real pivotal and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: be and some of the greatest moments and not definitely
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: being at FAM was was for surely it And Hey,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I went back and UM got to speak at the graduation.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: UM in twenty nineteen, which was amazing, and they also
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: made you a UM awarded you with the honorary doctorate
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: as well. Right, yeah, I was look, I ain't on front.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I was like, oh, it hit me. It hit me
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: because when I left school, I was only leaving because
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I was giving a kind of record contract. I was
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: able to pursue my dream. So I left that was
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: my dream, so I had to go for But you know,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: it was a conflict there because I felt like I
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: was disappointed my mother and like you know that I
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: didn't know if this was gonna work out. But I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: had to walk out on faith and to be able
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: to come back twenty years later, uh and say, man,
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  Speaker 1: I'm I'm getting an honorary doctorate. And to be able
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to speak at the graduation, and I was really celebrating,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Like to see black families all like Uncle's Hunt's cousins
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  Speaker 1: are just so happy to see that, you know, their
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  Speaker 1: family member graduating, marking across that stage. It's just, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it all brought everything full circle for me. Public that
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: like May graduating with my mother and my mother said
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: het on even she was like, hey, you know, like look,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you know I got a real doctor. But basically when
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: my mother was you know, she hit me real quick,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: but a little you know, see my mother she didn't type.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: She she definitely supported me, like a hundred and tempercent.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a son, I'm a I'm a mother's boy. I
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  Speaker 1: ain't I ain't gonna fun on that. But she still
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: don't want the challenges me too, Like she ain't like,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: you know, just letting things go by. She's like, you
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: gotta really be good at it. Or she gonna tell
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: me that that speech was good, but that wasn't it
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't great, or now your performance was I but you
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: should have You know, she got up takes on things
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  Speaker 1: and I respected because when I do excellently, she like,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: now that was great, that was incredible. So you know,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I love it that she hit me with a little shot,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: but that you know, she was really happy overall. Well,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I was gonna ask a really quick, um, your name
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: common sense? Would you say education played a part in that?
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: In your rap style? And because I read that you
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: started off this common sense but then with the band
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: or something that had it and you had to do
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  Speaker 1: with well, I definitely feel that common Sense was the
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  Speaker 1: name I chose because I was thinking about being thoughtful,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: like thinking about what common sense is. Like. I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to represent thinking. I wanted to represent something that was, like, really,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: common sense is something we all should naturally have. But
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  Speaker 1: my mother even used to say to me, look, boy,
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  Speaker 1: use your common sense. Use common sense. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: I was just looking for a name at the time
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  Speaker 1: when I chose the name common Sense was I was
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: looking for something that was unique, something that was different.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: But I still felt good that when I came up
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  Speaker 1: with common Sense that it felt every day because people
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: were you use that phrase and every day talk. And
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: when that band end up ended up having the same name,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I was pissed off. I was salty because I was like, man,
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  Speaker 1: how y'all will take my name? I was I was
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: just establishing myself. It's like, you know, the names you choose,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: you choose for yourself if you started building it, and
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: then it was like they basically found a cease and
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: desist order so I couldn't have my records on the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: shelves for a second. It's just and you know when
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: you earlier, I was early in my career, so I'm
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: really trying to establish myself. And it was at a
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: time when my second record was actually getting out there,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: so you know, it affected me emotionally and mentally. But
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: then and I had to change the name just to comment.
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  Speaker 1: But it's amazing how the divine order works because Common
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: like became even more something I can embrace it. At
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: first I was mad, like man, I'm coming, but and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: now like, okay, I just feel like every day people
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: feel like it's a it's a nickname that they can say, yo, Common, calm,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: what up? You know, it just feel closer to actually
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  Speaker 1: who I am. Like, I feel like I represent the
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  Speaker 1: everyday person to everyday people, Like do you even think
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: that you would have kept the entire name that that
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: you would have kept since you know, ten fifteen years
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: down the line, I doubt it. You know how people
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: dropped a little. I think you're right. I think you're right.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I would have been like, uh, but but it's what
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: I what's amazing is how that you know, sometimes things
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: you look at that you think is so terrible because
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: at the time I thought it was the worst thing. Ever,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: you know, it can turn out to be a blessing.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: So I kind of eventually got that lesson out of
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Once I got out of being mad, I was ready
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  Speaker 1: to whoop with them. There was a band. There was
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: a band out in California. I was like, man, I was, yeah,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: are ready to take a trip? Man? Because it was
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: it was you know, it was just the beginning of me.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Like my first album didn't I wasn't getting that recognition.
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  Speaker 1: So this is like the first time people started like
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Notorious Big. It was like yo, common senses you I
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: like this and blah blah. You know, different people were
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: starting to notice me. So I'm like, man, I can't
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  Speaker 1: change my name now the HBCU hallways as this phenomenal artist.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Like did people know about your talent while you're in school?
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  Speaker 1: You know, some people didn't know that that I wrapped
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: um because they were always like we'd have barbecues, we'll
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: be kicking it and they'd be like, yo, Raschi freestyle
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  Speaker 1: do that right? Then do this? You know so and
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: even like my roommates they told me. I didn't even
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: remember this, but they told me I would lock myself
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: in the room for like two hours a day and
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: just work on wraps. They couldn't bother me, no matter
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: what girls is over there, nothing, I'll just be like
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I'm working on wraps. It was that type of focus.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: So people didn't know that I was rhyming. Even in
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: high school. I was, I was. I was writing rhymes
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and rapping in gentlemen things like that, but I wasn't like,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: you know, you could be locally known and performing at
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  Speaker 1: a lot of places in your in your city and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: people know you and you got a little joint on
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the radio. I didn't get that type of recognition. But
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: you know, but I still, you know, people at college
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: definitely knew that I was rhyming. So the real quick
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: like the HBCU experience, did you get some did you party?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Did you care to party? Wait? Wait wait wait which
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: a which HBCU did you go through? I didn't. Okay, okay, okay, uh,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: but I do want that. I'm gonna see if if
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: one will let me just come hang out for like
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: a week. I want to be in the dorm. I
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: want to eat in the cafeteria, want to do the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: whole thing. The reason the reason why I asked was because, uh,
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  Speaker 1: and you shouldn't do that. I hope you do that.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: But the reason why I asked was because if you're
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: at the hbc you you're gonna party. You're gonna kick it.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: You're gonna go to the set that was our place
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: where we hung out, like every day you hang it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: It's it's a place like you know, we're down here
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: in Atlanta right now. You know Clark Atlanta, the AU Center,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta Center. You know, they got places where people
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: just kick it. So I was. I was kicking it.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I was going to hoop. I was going to music.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: You know, different artists is coming down, their performing national artists.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I was going to the you know, to the sorority
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and and fraternity parties. Then my roommates start throwing, throwing
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Barb mcques, we act man. We was having Yeah, I
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: had the best time in my life. And then and
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: then still got busy on the on the work too.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: So that was the balance. Did you ever want to
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: be a part of the fraternity? You know, I considered
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: it for a second, but because my father was a capital,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: but I really in my heart didn't think I was
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: gonna ever be a part of fraternity. Um. You know,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: when when people approach you, sometimes you kind of like,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: let me think about it. But after you know, it
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: was like it was at a time too where I
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: was I was listening to so much conscious hip hop Care,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: arust One and Public Enemy and Eric being rock him.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I used to I believe that philosophy, like I ain't Greek,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I'm Black, So I kind of just took that and
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: went with it. Plus, I never felt that I wanted
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: to go through the process to be down with something,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: you know, like to be to be down with the crew,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I needed to go through that process at least. Definitely,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel like I want to do that to
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: be down with a fraternity or sorority. But I definitely
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: now understand why they do it and those that are
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: passionate about it, and I respect it because ultimately some
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: of the street organizations I was down where we went
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: through a process anyway, so in Chicago, so it's like,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: regardless of anything, you still may go through a certain process.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: But for me, I just had didn't have the heartfelt
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: desire to be a part of a fraternity. We can
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: talk about HBCUs for a hundred years, but we know
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: that your time is limited. So I just want to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: ask you, if there's anything that you can say to
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: someone to encourage them to choose an hd C U,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: what would that be. I would say it would be
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: probably one of the the greatest and most enriching experiences
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you would ever have. It's a way to to give
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: back to to your community of black colleges. But also
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: you're gaining, You're gaining like a lot of things that
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't experience, um going to a predominantly white cor
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: and outside with with students who are part of my
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Coming Ground foundation and and some who have attended h
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: b c US and some who attended predominant white colleges
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: and talked about the difference and just being recognized on
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: campus as far as like bio by the staff, by
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the faculty, and the way the teachers approach you, professors
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: approach you. It's just a different approach on the h
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: b c U. And and I think it's something to
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: be said about celebrating black culture UM and and lifting
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: that up and being able to take that into the world.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: It's like we can, we should be able to do that,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and and nobody should be offended, nobody should feel like
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: they lest in or whatever. But HBCU will build that
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and nurture that in youth, and um, you know they're
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: gonna look out for you overall, you know. So I
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: think it's it's it's well worth it to attend the
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: colleges and all you great Still these people athletes think
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: about HBCUs. Yes, yes, that we can't let you go
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: without talking about your upcoming project. Please just give us
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: a quick whatever you want to say about it, and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: then we will let you go. Okay. So Beautiful Revolution
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Part one is the name of the project. I made
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: this music to be something for these times, like movement music,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you know Alabab Marley and and Kendrick and and you
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: know Nina Simone. Um, it's it's so for it's spiritual,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: is uplifting, is speaking to the times, but it's really
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: there to inspire. UM. I have song a song say Piece,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: which is coming out tomorrow featuring Black Thought. UM, this
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: artist p J Incredible artists did a lot of the
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: chorus as we collaborated on a lot of Stevie Wonders
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: plays harmonica on a joint. Um, Lenny Kravis and I
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: got a song together called the Riot in My Mind.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: But most of all this music is it's for these times.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: It's it's it's something that is timeless, just for these times.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: And then the uplifting spirit. If you're going out there
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the vote, play this music. If you're thinking about what
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: what's the next mission that we own to change the world,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Play this music you think about taking care of your children,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to take care of your family, Play this music. If
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: you've been feeling tired of whatever's going on in this world,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: with the nonsense, with some of the political propaganda, play
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: this music. It's a beautiful revolution. Part one. Tommy, We
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. Comment. We appreciate you,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: We appreciate everything that you are to the culture. We
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: love you for what you're doing with go TV man.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: We just send your blessings and we thank you again
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: for joining the ball Alert show. Yeah, thank you all.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Queen's y'all, y'all super dope and lovely, and thank you
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: all for having me on here. Tell Ferrari, it's all good.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Computers mess up sometimes, but it's I love taking enough
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: of baller Alert. Follow us on all social media platforms
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: at baller alert, going to baller alert dot com.