A Candid Conversation With The Rapper Common On: Self-Worth, Fitness, Trauma, And The Evolution Of Vulnerability In Hip-Hop
Common, an Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winning artist, discusses his journey to wellness, overcoming resistance to concepts like therapy and meditation. He shares insights from his book "And Then We Rise," focusing on four pillars: food, body, mind, and soul, and the evolution of vulnerability in hip-hop.
Deep Dive Analysis
10 Topic Outline
Evolution of Vulnerability in Hip-Hop
Common's Personal Wellness Journey and Resistance
Challenges to Self-Esteem and Self-Worth as an Artist
Coping with Rejection and the Practice of Mudita
The 'Food' Pillar: Common's Veganism and Dietary Awareness
The 'Body' Pillar: Importance of Exercise and Self-Love
The 'Mind' Pillar: Benefits of Therapy and Meditation
Continued Evolution of Vulnerability in Hip-Hop and Personal Life
The 'Soul' Pillar: Spirituality and Divine Purpose
Common's Experience with Childhood Molestation and Healing
5 Key Concepts
Wellness
For Common, wellness is a lifelong journey of self-care, encompassing diet, spirituality, therapy, and meditation, driven by a quest to love oneself. It's a lifestyle that he believes is crucial for achieving one's best and happiest self, especially for those from backgrounds where such concepts weren't traditionally discussed.
Self-Love
Common describes self-love as a practice he wasn't initially presented with, but learned to embrace as an adult. It involves recognizing one's inherent value beyond external validation like awards or popularity, and building inner strength to overcome personal traumas and fears that can dim one's light in relationships and life.
Mudita
Mudita is a Buddhist practice involving a type of meditation where one imagines others experiencing success and happiness, and then sends them wishes for continued well-being. It is considered a difficult mental skill to develop because it counters natural human tendencies toward envy, jealousy, and comparison.
Higher Self
Common believes that everyone is on a journey to reach their 'higher self,' which involves understanding oneself more, growing through difficulties, and developing qualities like self-love, consideration for others, awareness, and social responsibility. This path is seen as a personal story where one overcomes challenges to become a 'hero' in their own life.
Soul's Purpose
Common defines the soul as being connected to spirituality, tapping into one's spirit, and recognizing a divine purpose. It involves opening up to experiences, dealing with difficulties, evolving, and sharing one's unique gifts through art, acting, music, and speaking, ultimately inspiring and giving to others.
9 Questions Answered
Palo Santo is a wood from South American trees, often from Chile, that Common lights to bring in good energy, remove bad energy, and enjoy its smell. He uses it as a centering practice.
Common's wellness journey began around age 19 with diet changes, moderating alcohol intake due to family alcoholism, and later incorporating spirituality, therapy, and meditation as part of his quest to love and care for himself.
Common initially resisted dietary changes despite friends' suggestions, but his spirit, heart, and mind desired to be better. He started by removing pork, then beef, and observed positive changes in his physical and vocal clarity, which motivated him to continue the lifestyle.
No, Common emphasizes that being vegan is not for everybody, and individuals should choose what's right for their own body and life. His main recommendation is to be aware of what you eat, put good things into your body, and eat clean, suggesting that even small steps like drinking more water or removing white sugar are beneficial.
Common recommends some form of exercise because he found it reduced stress, increased happiness, and provided a different perspective on daily challenges. He also emphasizes that 'body' wellness includes loving one's body, and exercise can be as simple as walking, which he learned can help with brain fog.
Therapy has been super beneficial for Common by helping him identify and break cycles of fear, lack of commitment, and unfulfilled relationships caused by unaddressed traumas and fears. It enabled him to dig deeper into past issues, deal with them, and achieve a more empowered and happier life, rather than blaming others or running away.
Common's meditation practice involves finding a quiet place, breathing deeply, visualizing a light in his mind, setting intentions, and practicing letting thoughts come and go to achieve a still and quiet mind. He has found a shorter duration works best for him, rather than longer sessions where he might fall asleep.
Hip-hop has evolved from early days focused on bravado and expressing greatness to a point where artists like Kendrick Lamar and Common openly discuss meditation, therapy, self-love, and even personal traumas like molestation. This evolution reflects a maturation within the genre, allowing artists to explore deeper aspects of the human experience beyond just confidence and strength.
For Common, 'the soul' refers to spirituality and tapping into one's spirit, believing in a higher power (God) that exists within everyone. The soul's quest is to reach its highest level and purpose on the planet, which involves evolving through difficulties and sharing one's divine self through art and service to others, recognizing that different spiritual paths can lead to the same higher power.
18 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Inherent Self-Worth
Understand and believe your value comes from who you are divinely created to be, not from external achievements, popularity, or societal measures of success. This helps you maintain self-esteem even when external validation is absent or challenged.
2. Seek Therapy for Cycles & Trauma
Engage in therapy to identify and address recurring negative patterns, fears, commitment issues, and past traumas that may be impacting your relationships and overall well-being. Therapy provides tools to work through these issues and foster a more empowered life.
3. Practice Mudita (Sympathetic Joy)
When facing rejection or envy, consciously send love and light to those who have found success, wishing them continued happiness. This Buddhist practice helps overcome jealousy, blockages, and allows for quicker recovery from disappointment.
4. Embrace ‘Trust Life’ Philosophy
Adopt the belief that difficult experiences are meant to happen for your growth, allowing you to understand yourself more deeply and evolve into your higher self. This perspective helps in learning from challenges rather than being defeated by them.
5. Find Value in the Process
Learn to appreciate the effort and experience of a task, such as doing your best in an audition, even if the desired outcome isn’t achieved. Recognizing the “gems” in the journey itself can provide growth and satisfaction beyond just the goal.
6. Make Step-by-Step Diet Changes
Begin your wellness journey with small, incremental changes to your diet, like removing one type of food at a time or increasing water intake. Observe how these adjustments make you feel to build sustainable, beneficial eating habits.
7. Engage in Daily Exercise
Incorporate some form of physical activity into your daily routine, even a walk, to reduce stress, improve your mood, and gain a different perspective on life’s challenges. Exercise also contributes to overall physical and mental well-being.
8. Develop a Meditation Practice
Find a quiet space to practice meditation by breathing deeply, setting intentions, and gently letting thoughts come and go to achieve a still and quiet mind. Experiment with different durations and styles to discover what works best for you.
9. Tap into Your Soul’s Purpose
Connect with your spirituality and divine self to discover and align with your unique purpose on this planet. Offering your authentic self and gifts at the highest level can inspire others and bring profound fulfillment.
10. Share Beneficial Life Information
If you’ve been introduced to beneficial life practices or information, consider it your duty to share these insights with others, especially those in communities who may not have had similar exposure. This helps spread wellness and growth.
11. Overcome Resistance to Change
Acknowledge initial resistance to new wellness practices or lifestyle changes, but listen to your inner desire for self-improvement. Take small, conscious steps to implement changes, observing the positive effects they have on other areas of your life.
12. Light Palo Santo for Centering
Use Palo Santo by lighting it to bring in good energy, remove bad energy, and create a sense of calm and centeredness. This ritual can be a simple way to set a positive atmosphere or prepare for reflection.
13. Practice Body Self-Love
Alongside physical movement and exercise, actively cultivate love and appreciation for your body. This holistic approach ensures that physical wellness is complemented by a positive self-image and acceptance.
14. Maintain Openness to Spirituality
Explore and respect diverse spiritual paths, such as Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, recognizing that different traditions can lead to similar values of love and connection to a higher power. This fosters a broader understanding of spirituality.
15. Ration Alcohol Intake
Be mindful of and ration your alcohol consumption, especially if there is a history of alcoholism in your family. This practice contributes to overall health and well-being by avoiding excess.
16. View Therapy as Ongoing Support
Understand that therapy is not necessarily a one-time fix but a valuable, ongoing resource to revisit whenever you need support, guidance, or help navigating life’s challenges. This allows for continuous personal growth and healing.
17. Use Walking for Brain Health
Incorporate regular walks into your routine, as they can be beneficial for cognitive function and help alleviate symptoms like brain fog. This simple activity offers both physical and mental health advantages.
18. Learn from Heartbreak’s ‘Why’
When experiencing heartbreak or significant difficulties, actively seek to understand the underlying ‘why’ behind these events. This process can unveil crucial lessons and ‘jewels’ that contribute to building stronger character and a more resilient self.
5 Key Quotes
Our society, the world can place value on certain things that are not going to fulfill you as a person, not in the long run.
Common
The more I really understand that, I feel like an adult, I feel like empowered, life becomes easier. Now that doesn't mean I don't feel the disappointment that I didn't get the role or that this job didn't happen. I feel that, but I'm able to recover quicker.
Common
Sometimes the goal is what you've experienced through it, even though if you wanted that goal of the role, but the true gems and the true jewels might come in the experience if you can see it that way.
Common
I don't believe in things that we experience like that. I believe it's a why to it. And that why will give us the jewels that we need to move forward, to build stronger character and aura and person as we look at those lessons and get those gifts of whatever that difficulty brought us.
Common
As the immortal words of Biggie, they lived for so long, we never thought the hip hop would take it this far. It's not only just the hip hop is such a big phenomenon and it's just like has moved the world in so many ways, but it's also the evolution of who and what we're expressing.
Common
2 Protocols
Dealing with Rejection (Mother's Advice)
Common's Mother (recounted by Common)- Send whoever got the role/opportunity some love and light.
- Say a prayer that they do well.
- Know that the opportunity was for them.
- Understand that your place is your place.
Common's Meditation Practice
Common- Get to a quiet place.
- Breathe deeply.
- Put a light into your mind and see that light.
- Set intentions.
- Try to let thoughts come to your mind and remove them, letting them go.
- Strive to get your mind still and quiet.