COMMON

Common was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. on March 13, 1972 in Chicago's South Side. He was one of those kids whose parents got divorced while they were young His educator father left the family when he was six years old, leaving his counselor mother to take care of him. However, his father was still very much a big part of his life. His mother would later remarry and teenage Common showed talents in both basketball and rap. His father found him a job as ball boy for the Chicago Bulls. His rap career, meanwhile, started in his cousin's home in Cincinnati and continued in high school when he formed a trio called C.D.R. The act indeed scored gigs as the opener of N.W.A. and Big Daddy Kane among others. Common pursued higher education at Florida A&M University for two years under a scholarship and majored in business administration. But his study came to a full halt when Relativity Records offered him a contract in 1991. He went under the moniker Common Sense at first, releasing a single called "Take It EZ" the next year. His first album was titled "Can I Borrow A Dollar?" and received positive feedbacks from ...