00:00Some black thot said to me one day, I was telling him I was stuck, man.
00:04I ain't been really writing, blah, blah, blah.
00:05He was like, nigga, you done earned yours in this.
00:08Just rap.
00:09Yeah.
00:09Just rap.
00:10Yeah.
00:10And I was like, damn, it sounded so simple, but it meant a lot because
00:15it made me think about, man, I like to rap.
00:24I started with the beat, and it's a Brazilian sample.
00:27And when I heard it, the guy was singing over it.
00:30But I have this thing where I could just take his vocal out.
00:33And when I heard, it was amazing.
00:35And that's what made me make the beat.
00:37Once I made the beat, I put the sample back in it.
00:39I said, I don't know if he gonna like that, but I'll send it to him.
00:42And then he made it what it is.
00:44I couldn't tell what it was saying because it's a Brazilian record.
00:48But for some reason, it made me think of Fortune.
00:51Fortunate.
00:52Like, because it's like...
00:53It sounds like he could be saying fortune.
01:00But for me, I thought about it as fortunate.
01:03I was like, this is something I really want to talk about because gratitude
01:07and just being grateful for where you are is like the beginning of life.
01:12It's the beginning of my every day.
01:14When I heard Common on this, it blew me away because I felt like it was
01:18the perfect puzzle piece.
01:20It gives you that summer vibe.
01:23And so I said, this is a match made in heaven.
01:26And I'm glad it came out the way it did.
01:34I started that because I just got a call that a friend of mine was murdered.
01:38It was weighing on me and I was in the studio.
01:40I just thought about what life is.
01:43I get calls from friends that are dealing with health issues and different stuff.
01:48And we losing loved ones and all that's going on in the world.
01:52I kind of wanted to start with that line just as an affirmation, man.
01:57This is gratitude right here.
01:59I'm fortunate to be alive.
02:09These people that I've known throughout my life, they don't give me that fake shit.
02:13If I'm playing them some music, they not going to just be like, oh, that's dope.
02:17One of my good friends is always calling this movie just right.
02:20I mean, he calls it just wrong because he said my acting was that bad in it,
02:25which I'm like, hey, people like that movie, so shut up.
02:28But anyway, I appreciate the authenticity in my friends.
02:33And it's a very important component to who I am.
02:47I think Chicago gave me what it is to be a warrior,
02:56what it is to be black and intelligent, what black excellence is,
03:00what it is to be true to you because you got to be yourself.
03:03You're going to get called out on it.
03:06You're going to get exposed.
03:17When I'm waking up, the first thing that I'm doing is thanking God,
03:21like no matter how I'm feeling.
03:22Because sometimes you wake up and you're not feeling great.
03:25You feel like something feel funny or something.
03:27But I'm just really starting with gratitude and saying, thank you.
03:30Then I go into a prayer of thanks.
03:32And I'm thanking God for all the things that, whatever I feel for the day.
03:36It might be, yo, coming to Genius, you know, I'm saying what I'm thankful for.
03:42I went to a church in Chicago.
03:44Still am a member of a church called Trinity United Church of Christ.
03:47The motto was unapologetically black, unashamedly Christian.
03:50Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a leader, a true leader, and taught us about God.
03:57But he was teaching us about black and being black and being black and being black.
04:02And he was teaching us about being black and being black and being black.
04:06You know, God, but he was teaching us about black and being black and being empowered.
04:12And I didn't grow up all the way with my father.
04:14His sermons were fathering me in certain ways.
04:3612 years old is when I wrote my first rap.
04:43I'm super grateful that I sat in that room with my cousin Adelaide and wrote this rap.
04:49Because it led me to my whole path and who I am.
04:52I see a lot of emcees that didn't continue to make it or follow their dream.
04:59I'm just saying I'm grateful to be here.
05:01Rhyming and rocking with Pete Rock and somebody paying attention to my rhymes,
05:08man, that means something to me.
05:10Fortunate that the God shared the lessons.
05:12He returned to the essence.
05:14I still feel his presence.
05:15Most of my brethren are from 87.
05:18Childhood friends.
05:20I'm glad that I kept them.
05:21Fortunate for the wisdom of the elders and my grandmother and mother's love that never
05:26failed us.
05:27I'm fortunate.
05:28The wisdom of the elders is something that I abide by because I feel like, you know,
05:32I know that the elders have had experiences.
05:36They have the wisdom.
05:37The ancestors also are something that I believe speak to us and speak to us.
05:44And my grandmother and mother's love.
05:45I grew up with my mother and my grandmother.
05:47They were like the foundation.
05:50My grandmother was always helping me when I was really young, walking me to school.
05:55She took me to Disney World one time.
05:57You know, my grandmother just gave me that love, man.
06:07Man, I'm really seeing my daughter, this human being that has the capacity to be God-like
06:27because she is.
06:28To be spread in love and leading herself and others.
06:31To be an example of what God's love is.
06:35And to me, all those things are qualities of a savior.
06:38When I give up good bars, she like, yeah.
06:40But she loved the ones that say something about her that's on that level.
06:43In the days of the unknown, I'm fortunate to come home to blocks we fought and swung on.
06:49Fortunate the Lord put me on the path to use the microphone for a ride and a staff.
06:55Fortunate that my heart and the beat knocks the windy city street bop.
06:59I'm fortunate for Pete Rock.
07:00I'm fortunate.
07:01For me, like what makes Pete Rock so special is when he says soul brother number one,
07:07he's the essence of that.
07:08When people hear the word soul, it's like it's only one Pete Rock in the world.
07:14God created one Pete Rock.
07:16He created one of all of us and tapping into that self and knowing ourself in that way
07:23and knowing ourself as a person and as a creator is what allows it to be only one Pete Rock.
07:30What's special about Common is everything he's about.
07:34He's about the hip hop.
07:36He's about rhyming.
07:37He loves to rap.
07:38And then the skill, his flow, his cadence, everything like that.
07:43The voice is all like 100%.
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