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Lyrical giant Common brought his brand of heartfelt raps to ‘The Queen Latifah Show’ on Friday (Nov. 7). The Chicago rhymer performed his autobiographical-J Dilla-tribute song ‘Rewind That,’ off his latest album, ‘Nobody’s Smiling.’
Backed by DJ Dummy, and rocking a red and black football jersey, Com seemed to touch the whole audience, as he went into vivid details about his rise in the Chicago rap scene and first meeting Dilla.
As the crowd stood on their feet for the entire performance, you could see Latifah paying the utmost attention, as she bopped her head and seemed to hang on to every word Common recited. It was clearly an emotional and powerful performance.
After the song, the 42-year-old rapper spoke about why he wrote it, and what the late and legendary Detroit producer meant to him.
“I was just telling the story of how seeing him sick, it was hard for me to deal with that, because we were roommates at the time,” he said. “The emotional changes that you go through, of like denial, guilt and wanting to stay away, and through that song I kind of — not kind of — I acknowledged that. It was healing for me to write that song.”
On Nov. 21, Common will be hitting the road with Jay Electronica for his ‘Nobody’s Smiling’ tour, which will conclude in New York City on Dec. 10.
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