• Common: His real name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn.
• He was born march 13th 1972.
• His stage name is ‘Common’ which is the name that everyone knows him by.
• He is an American artist who is well known for his hip hop/rap songs.
• He is also a writer, philanthropist, and activist.
• His first major label was released in 2000, it was called .Like Water For Chocolate

• The music video was in black and white
• It was a slow style with some transitions but not many. A lot of the same settings were used multiple times.
• All people in the video were African-American.
• The message was about how African-Americans are treated differently however everyone should be treated the same.
• There was a theme of sadness and hope in the video
• The video was released in 2016

• Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn
• is an American rapper, actor, writer, philanthropist, and activist
• he was born March 13, 1972
•  he won the Grammy award for best R&B song
• For the latter film, he and vocalist/musician John Legend have won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for the song “Glory.” 
• The rapper/actor has also landed major parts for big-screen projects, among them American Gangster (2006) and  Terminator Salvation (2009).
• His first album was can i borrow a dollar.
• net worth of $45 million

The video– is black and white, genre- hip-hop/rap, released- 2016. Common is a Black American cultural icon who has maintained a political and social concern in his music.

The video Letter to the Free is presented as his contribution to the divisive political and social issues of contemporary America, a sense that he is attempting to draw attention to initiating a new wave of ‘protest music”

Common – The Artist.

• His real name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn.
• He is an American rapper, actor, writer, philanthropist, and activist.
• He was born on March 13, 1972.
• He is 47 years old.
• His from Chicago Illinois.
• He began rapping in the late 1980s.
• His first album was ‘Can I Borrow a Dollar?’ 
• Net Worth = $45 mill

The Music Video.

• There’s no colour – it’s all in black & white.
• Makes a comment on black lives.
• They are in what looks like an abandoned building.
• Rap / hip hop genre.
• There are 4 people in the video – 2 men & 2 women.

His name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn but his artist name is Common.

Born: March 13, 1972 (age 47 years), South Side, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

 In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for best R&B song for the Erykah Badu single “Love of my life”.

Music video – letter to the free

About slavery of black people and unfair treatment

Trying to make us think about all the people who got killed as a result of slavery.

He references the bible when he says ‘forgive them father’ because Jesus said ‘ father, forgive them.’

Facts about Common:

• Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn is known as Common, but he was formerly known as Common Sense.
• He is an American rap artist, actor, writer, philanthropist and activist.
• His parents divorced when he was 6 years old, leaving his mum to raise Lonnie by herself, but his dad was still active within his life.
• He has been in films such as; Happy feet two, John Wick: Chapter Two and Terminator salvation.
• He is a supporter of animal rights group PETA.

The music video is playing on top of the song, Letter to the free. The theme of the music video is about freedom, this is clear with the title of the song, but also the setting of the video being shot in a prison, a place associated with freedom, well lack of. The genre of the song is Hip-Hop/Rap. The song and chorus especially is inspired by the slavery of black people, with the chorus repeating ‘freedom’ and repeating things such as ‘hold on’ and ‘Won’t be long’ is a hidden message which were used by black slaves to send hidden messages, much like ‘Wade in the water’.

A black square hovering in the air appears throughout the clip, which, in a final shot, is framed as empty space in a field this gives the representation of an empty space like the freedom has been taken away.

1. Commons name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn
2. He is 47 years old
3. he won a Grammy for best r&b song in 2003.
4. his net worth is 45 million
5. he won a golden globe for best original song in 2015

1. released in 2016.
2. received a nomination for the NAACP image award for outstanding song.
3. from the album ‘black america again’
4. the music video is in black and white
5. from the documentary ’13th’

• released in 2016
• nominated for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song – Contemporary
• the song/video is centered around the mass incarceration of African-Americans as a form of modern-day slavery, and is named after the 13th Amendment, which made slavery illegal except as “punishment of crime.”
• the video is in black and white which indicates it is about race and equality
• letter to the free was directed by Bradford Young

• Released in 2016
• Genre Hip-Hop/rap
• nominations; NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SONG CONTEMPORARY
• video in black and white indicates its about race and creates sad atmosphere
• lyrics about racism.

• He’s an American rapper, actor, writer, philanthropist and activist
• His full name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn
• His title is DR which shows he is an educator
• He’s got a net worth of $45 million
•  The son of educator Mahalia Ann Hines and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn Jr
• When C.D.R dissolved by 1991, Lynn began a solo career under the stage name of Common Sense
• In 1999 he signed a major label record deal with MCA records and relocated from Chicago to NYC
• Music Video:
• Was in black and white which could have been done to make it appear more intense
• In a prison which could suggest he feels trapped and what he’s rapping about is serious
• Long intro and outro in order to create suspense
• Civil Rights Movement – eg black lives matter campaign
• Slavery, Civil war between North and South USA
• Prisoners were used for slave labour in private prisons

• common does hip hop
• former studio name called Common Sense
• 47 years old
• he grew up in chicago
• his real name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn

music video cool facts 🙂 (style, genre, narrative, characters, theme, message, ideology etc)

• its in black and white
• rap?
• a group of black people are playing music in a prison, behind bars
• the group of people
• racism and unjust imprisonment based on racism
• awareness of racism in the modern day. Common states in the music video that racism still occurs today