The Grammy Museum hosted a love-in last evening (July 23) officiated by the Dr. of Love—aka Common. The artist-actor-author-activist was in Los Angeles promoting his forthcoming album Let Love, inspired by his recent memoir, Let Love Have the Last Word. Both the album (Common’s debut on Loma Vista Recordings, arriving Aug. 30) and the book were the focus of the museum’s sold-out Q&A/performance session, “An Evening with Common.”
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“This is the Let Love show and this is the Let Love Orchestra,” declared an exuberant Common as he prepared to treat the audience to several album cuts. “My name is Common. Or some people call me the Dr. of Love. If you ask my ex-girlfriend, she’ll call me some other names, you know what I’m saying? But we’re here to celebrate love and the Let Love movement.”
For the next 30-plus minutes, Common and his tight, six-piece band alternated between performing various tracks—opening with “My Fancy Free Future Love”—and answering audience questions about learning how to love yourself and others, the premise behind his new book. The mini-concert set list included current single “Hercules” (featuring Swizz Beatz), “Good Morning Love” with band member Samora Pinderhughes, “Show Me That You Love,” “Memories of Home” featuring surprise guest BJ the Chicago Kid and “God Is Love,” which features Leon Bridges and Jonathan McReynolds.
McReynolds, the second surprise guest to join fellow Chicagoan Common onstage, helped the Grammy, Oscar and Emmy Award winner close out the show with a robust audience sing-along to the Common classic “The Light.” Prior to that, Common asked the audience to show some love for an unknown rapper he’d met on the streets in New Orleans named Ray Wimley. Dressed in a Rockets basketball jersey, Wimley blew the audience away with his impromptu, razor-sharp freestyling skill. Noted the rap veteran in introducing the young man, “He’s one of the greatest freestylers you’ll ever hear.”
The first half of the evening was devoted to Common’s chat with the Grammy Museum’s Scott Goldman about the inspiration for the memoir, published in May, and how it fostered the new album. Among the highlights:
Genesis of the book: Literature is something that inspires me. I love self-help books, so I’m like this would be a great path for me to really talk to people in a way that’s not about preaching or having all the answers … just putting out positive energy through my experiences, whether fruitful or showing my flaws; how to move toward positivity even in these dire times. Anything I do now in life, I do my best for it to be purposeful. Writing the book was another way for me to fulfill a purpose through a different avenue.
How the album came together: I was still in the process of writing the book when my team presented the idea of doing an EP inspired by the book. As I began writing the music, I started shutting out other aspects of my life like film work. I really focused on the music, which I hadn’t done in a minute. And that led to writing about things I hadn’t shared in the book yet. That’s how powerful music has been for me.
Love lesson taught by his daughter: She challenged me, saying, “I don’t feel like you’ve shown that you cared for me.” She released a lot of things that I didn’t know or didn’t think was the case. I learned that the only way to really truly love her was to hear her out, listen to her perspective. It was a good lesson. If we are humble enough, we can learn from our children.
Being unafraid of therapy: I’m always seeking to get better in my art, as an actor, as a musician. But one of the most important getting betters that I’ve been dedicating my time to is getting better as a person. That work started early with me practicing spirituality by seeking out different ways to get closer to God and deal with pain and struggle. Music became a great expression of that for me. I think my first therapy session for real was because of a breakup. I was really going through it. And I’m not afraid to try things.
Biggest lesson learned about himself: The more vulnerable and open I am, the freer and more confident I feel. That the more I’m able to do the things that I say I want to do, like working on myself, the happier I feel. As long as I’m on this planet, I can be working to be better.
Common’s Let Love Tour continues tonight (July 24) at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in L.A. and wraps on July 26 at the Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach, Calif. The tour’s second leg gets underway on Aug. 7 in Toronto, Ontario.