Common talk success, reception for ‘The Auditorium Vol. 1’ following Grammy nominations

Common‘s stance has changed since rapping, “Whether Grammy or Oscar, I keep the same posture” on “This Man,” a song off his collab album with Pete Rock, The Auditorium Vol. 1.

After receiving a Grammy nod for the album and “When The Sun Shines Again” featuring Posdnuos of De La Soul, Common tells Variety, “This is an incredible feeling. I’m overwhelmed.”

“I feel like it’s one of those things where you’re like, man, we really are Grammy-nominated for this album in categories with Kendrick Lamar and Eminem and J. Cole,” he adds. “My posture is even stronger now.”

After decades in rap, Rock says he had a goal “set in mind to mix into today’s society with what I used to do in the ’90s,” noting “it kind of worked out” despite their age and the maturity heard on the project.

“I’m not trying to rap and say everything that a 25-year-old should say, and there’s nothing the matter with what they’re saying, but why at my age try to be that?” says Common. “I think you get the love letter to hip-hop in the truth and evolution of who we are as people and artists, and our love for this.”

“It makes me feel wonderful that we’re still out here doing what we’re doing, and it just fills my passion for music and things I like to do when I’m home making music,” adds Rock. “To see younger people loving this music and singing Common’s lyrics and we’re watching the fans sing our songs in the audience while we’re performing on stage — that to me is mind-blowing.” 

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