He never feared experiments and gladly cooperated with musicians from the genres hardly associated with hip-hop before. With the two LPs released on MCA, Like Water for Chocolate (2000), and Electric Circus (2002), Common reached the new level of commercial success and became a leading performer of the new generation rap. After signing the contract, the rapper moved from his native Chicago to New York. The release ranked twelfth in the hip-hop charts and earned Common an offer from MCA he could not refuse. The album included such acclaimed hits as Reminding Me (of Sef), and Retrospect for Life. The session involved Lauryn Hill, Q-Tip, Black Thought and some other celebrities. It got the name One Day It'll All Make Sense and hit the stores in 1997. It took Common three years to prepare his third studio work. Rashid did not hesitate long to simply reduce his pseudonym to Common. It became necessary after the same called ska band had threatened him with a claim for copycat. As soon as Common Sense had got himself a big name he was forced to change it. This came to hurt the prominent ‘gangster’ Ice Cube which led to a conflict between the two performers, yet never hindered the charts run of the album itself. It was heavily promoted by the track I Used to Love H.E.R., in some way criticizing the gangsta trend of hip-hop. In two years, Common Sense released the second album, Resurrection. The composition Take It EZ made a great contribution to the album’s popularity among the supporters of the so called intelligent hip-hop widely represented by A Tribe Called Quest, and Gang Starr. In 1992 Rashid produced his first solo album, Can I Borrow a Dollar? He picked up the Common Sense stage name. However, he found he was more into rap rather than into education and came back to music. He left it shortly after, with an intention to study business. As soon as in his high school years, Rashid formed his first band to be called C.D.R. on Main a family of a teacher and ex-basketball player who used to be an average NBA professional. Common is a celebrated rapper from Chicago who got famous for producing a new wave of hip-hop adding elements of new-age, jazz and funk.
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