Common Answers The Web’s Most Searched Questions

Peace, I'm Common,

and I'm here to do a Google Autocomplete interview.

(upbeat music)

We good to go?

Is Common bad at anything?

Yes.

I'm bad at a lot of things.

I'm definitely not a good cook.

I actually don't know how to cut hair,

even though I look like I knew

how to cut hair in Barbershop.

What else can't I do.

I can't play chess really good,

and I'm not a good liar either.

I probably got a lot more things I could tell you about,

but we got more questions.

Is Common going for the EGOT?

Yes, I am going for the EGOT.

That's a great question

because I wanna put that out there in the atmosphere.

First of all, I'm super grateful

to have a Oscar Award and a Grammy award,

but it would be incredible for me

to achieve an Emmy Award and a Tony Award,

and I'm going for it.

Is Common from the Midwest?

Yes, I'm from Chicago, Illinois, born and raised.

Barbershop: The Next Cut takes place in Chicago,

so I'm very happy to be a part of that,

'cause one of the first films that I got to be a part of

that represents where I'm from.

So, yeah, I'm from the Chi.

What is Common's biggest annoyance?

To be honest, my biggest annoyance is

when people have a job

and they don't know how to do the job well.

That's annoying to me.

What is Common's favorite food?

I would say it's between pizza,

and I love French fries,

so those probably would be two of my favorite foods.

And popcorn.

Popcorn is something that I really love.

What is Common's charity named?

It's called the Common Ground Foundation.

If you wanna support, go check out

commongroundfoundation.org

and spread some love.

Where did Common get his name?

It's funny talking about myself in third person.

I actually chose my name.

I was at college.

My mother used to always say,

use common sense, use common sense.

One day I was just sitting around,

and I was trying to think of a name,

and my friends was smoking something that they call sensi,

which is a form of weed.

For some reason the name Common Sense just came up to me.

I was like that'd be a dope rap name.

So really, my name was Common Sense,

and then it was a group that had the name

so I had to shorten it to Common.

At first I was real pissed off about it

'cause the group had the name

and I'd already come out with two albums,

but now I'm happy 'cause people

I feel like I'm the everyday people's artist,

so Common fits.

Where did Common have his first job?

Well, my first job was like doing janitorial work

at this nursery school.

I had to clean up mornings before I went to school

and then clean up some at night after school.

And my last job since I've been an artist was

I used to sort out parking tickets for the city,

and that was a terrible job.

That was one of the things that made me

be like, man, I wanna--

I gotta go pursue my dream 'cause I didn't wanna do

sorting out parking tickets.

It don't sound good, do it.

Even our camera guy is shaking his head.

Where did Common first meet President Obama?

One of our first conversations

was at this parade in Chicago

called the Bud Billiken Parade.

This was around 2006.

And in fact, one of my albums had just come out.

He told me he just bought the album,

so that's when I first got a chance

to really build with the president,

and he always been cool every since.

I love him.

That's when I first met the President.