- 7 hours ago
The artist currently has an Emmy, Oscar and multiple Grammy awards, only needing a Tony award to score an EGOT.
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00:04Hi, this is Mariah Gullo from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm in studio with Common today.
00:08Hi! How are you? It's good to see you again. It's great to see you. I know when I see
00:13you,
00:13I'm in a great space. Something good is going on in my life. I want to talk to you about
00:19Marshall
00:19and stand up for something, but first we have some unfinished business from the last time we
00:24spoke. I asked you if you were maybe going for an EGOT and you went straight to camera and you
00:29said yes. Yes, I am going for an EGOT and since then you've won your Emmy, so congratulations.
00:35Yes, thank you. I'll say it again. Yes, I would be grateful to achieve that, but you know, thank you
00:42for the congratulations. That was really something that we didn't know would happen and you know,
00:47just to be a part, like I said, 13th was already special, but to get an Emmy, like me and
00:53the
00:53creators Robert Glasper and Kareem Riggins, we were on In The Clouds because it was like,
00:59I don't know, when we even found out we got a nomination, it was like, what? We got an Emmy
01:04nomination and then to get an Emmy and then to have people from around culture and in the industry
01:12say, man, you better go for an EGOT. I mean, my thing, and I was just telling you right before
01:17we
01:17started talking on camera, it's like, my intentions as an artist and an actor is just to create the
01:23best work possible and do work that impacts people and moves people and after it's created,
01:31do I want to receive recognition and great reviews and the highest accolades? Yes. I mean,
01:39I look at those things as blessings, but I know, you know, the thing that, the thing that I started,
01:45the reason why I started acting, the reason why I started doing this music, music is because I love
01:50it and I love the art. So I want to, you know, I start with the love for what I
01:55do and then put
01:56all that passion into it and then see what comes about. Yes. And, um, you know, I was thinking about
02:02it and I was thinking that like, it's going to be, I don't know. I think the EGOT is like,
02:07not ambitious enough for you. I think you should go for the PEGOT. Do you know what that is?
02:11What is it? It's a Pulitzer Prize. Ooh. Plus the EGOT.
02:16Pulitzer Prize. All right. There's only two entertainers who've done it yet.
02:19Who? Uh, Marvin Hamlish and Richard Rogers.
02:22Wow. Composers. But Lin-Manuel Miranda is one Oscar away from a PEGOT.
02:27I know. He's, I love Lin, so we would love to see him do that. You know, one of the
02:32things that,
02:33one of the goals that I was setting for myself, and this is like on the humanity level,
02:37was go for a Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah.
02:41I know that's not in the entertainment, uh, but I mean, the point is, the reason why I bring that
02:46up
02:47is because all the, you know, for me, like with all the awards that you, with any awards that you
02:54received for me, I started feeling like, oh, this gives me more responsibility to do greater work in
03:01the world to do more, to help people. Like, it, it created more access for me to go out and
03:07like,
03:08meet with people that can help people. And like, you know, I was talking to one of my good friends
03:12who was nominated for some Grammy Awards, and he was like, now people might listen to me when I go
03:17speak at a, you know, at a college or whatever. So, I mean, I also recognize the value in it
03:23beyond
03:24any of my own, like, man, man, look at this award, you know, because it does feel good to,
03:30to receive an award and your family and parents and friends and everybody is celebrating with you,
03:36because they've been through the same, they've been through the journey with you.
03:39Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you, uh, you really try to balance your, the world of entertainment with
03:45the world of activism. Like, you tend to spend a lot of time, uh, working for causes,
03:53but you're also, you know, trying to be an entertainer and trying to do things that are
03:57just for the love of creativity and art. Um, do you have like a specific plan for how you do
04:03that,
04:03or is it kind of, do you just fall from project to project? Well, I mean, I, I have a
04:09vision for
04:09myself, like, and some of those things, like, are big visions. Like, I want to be one of the great
04:16actors of our time. And I, that takes work and effort and like, you know, God willing, I'll get there.
04:22But I,
04:23you know, I set goals to achieve certain things musically or to like say, man, I want to do
04:30theater at some point, you know, and I really do. So I set the goals and I, projects that it
04:39just,
04:39I feel like invigorated by and, and, and they, they feel inspiring. That's what I'm drawn to that. So
04:46it's like whatever is, if something is in front of me that, that seems like it's the right thing
04:52and it's aligned with what I creatively think is, is, is great and, and fresh. And, and then it also,
04:59you know, sometimes you look up and get something that, that is aligned with your consciousness and,
05:05and, you know, what you want to give to the world. And that, you know, that's where Selma or Gloria
05:12even
05:13stand up for something, you know, and for the movie Marshall, it's like all those, those are things,
05:20or Letter to the Free for that matter, like, um, from 13th is, those are the times where you get
05:25to do
05:25something. Like I just did a film called The Hate U Give as an actor and it's, um, it's really
05:31saying
05:32something. I'm playing a, a, a police officer, a black police officer who has dealt with, I mean,
05:38the story's not based around me, but my character is, um, his niece is really struggling with, struggling
05:46with being a black girl, going to a white school, but at the same token, um, her uncle is like
05:52a
05:52father figure to her and her friend gets killed by a police officer. Um, and playing that character
05:58gave me some, you know, like some things that I got to learn about, see things from a different
06:04perspective. And as a, and as a black man, it is a police officer. I got to empathize with that
06:10or
06:10have more understanding and compassion. So I'm, I say that to say, yeah, some of these, you know, um,
06:18projects, I get to really dig deep and, and, and say something to the, to the world. And that's,
06:24those are the most fulfilling ones. Those are the ones that I actually believe God is like,
06:30okay, these are the ones you're going to excel in, but, you know, but I don't get me wrong. I
06:35like
06:35sometimes playing a dark character and, um, but even that, I feel like you could bring humanity.
06:41I think one of the things that I really learned, um, as you know, from acting is just like,
06:48you want to give dimensions to human beings. Like some, I could be walking down the street and see
06:53someone, you know, we tied it up and like what they had turned and their pants hanging down,
06:59I automatically could put a judgment on them. But, you know, it's through the art sometimes that we get
07:05to get close to those people and understand they're human beings and not just, uh, the, the,
07:12the outer vision that we see of like, you might label them a thug or just a street cat, but,
07:19you
07:19know, you can find something else out by getting to talk to them. And unfortunately, everybody don't
07:23get to talk to everybody in the world. So sometimes it's the art that gets us closer to human beings.
07:30That's true. Sometimes all you have to do is see a movie to start empathizing with somebody who you
07:34may not cross paths with on the street. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's why, you know,
07:39I thought Moonlight was like a great study on how, like, you know, it, it, it made the, the racial
07:49relationships better to me, a film like Moonlight, because people got to see, um, Mahershala's character
07:55to be like this dude that you would have labeled a, uh, a thug and just a, a drug dealer,
08:01be a loving,
08:03like, father-like figure to a young, gay, young man. And, um, those are two things you just
08:12don't think about. People don't even think about maybe sometimes even in the black community.
08:16You know, we've seen that and we know that, but you didn't, you don't even think about it all the
08:21way.
08:21So I think it's films like that, or, you know, I look at Slumdog Millionaire, got me into like what,
08:28you know, just the struggles that some of the young people in India had gone through. So I think it,
08:33the best art to me touches, gets us in tune with our humanity. And we, we see that in what
08:41we're,
08:41what we're taking in, listening to watching, and we kind of feel close to it. And, and, and it brings
08:47up
08:48something in us to hopefully make us want to be better or do something better, or just know that
08:53we ain't the only person on the planet thinking like that. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, um, there's a,
09:00there's a couple of themes that come up in Marshall. And one of the, one of the things that I
09:04noticed
09:04because it was, uh, it takes place in 1941 and it's a time when, um, people are, uh, like fear
09:12and racism
09:13is driving a wedge between people who might otherwise work together. Yeah. Um, what, uh,
09:19you know, when you talk about like, uh, the differences between like three communities that
09:23are looking for equality, like the gay community, women and diversity, um, you know, how, how does
09:31everybody come together and work together towards this common cause when there's so many different
09:36facets of what they're looking for? Well, I think, you know, for your third category, you know, we could
09:42just say people of color, but that includes obviously black and Latino people, people of color.
09:47Right. Um, and searching for that opportunity. Um, I think one of the first things is to realize that
09:54it's not just you going through it and it's not only, you can't only, I can't only stand for black
10:00people. I got to stand for women who are being like, when you stand, when you stand for people
10:06who are you standing up for like righteousness and the right thing, then it can't be only for you
10:12cause then it becomes, you know, just, it's just in a way kind of self, not selfish, but it's just
10:18like,
10:18it's only about something that you'll benefit from. And I think it's important that like,
10:25I'm not a woman. So I should stand, I got to stand up for women to show other men, like,
10:31this is what we should be doing. This is how we should do. Cause women have been treated second
10:36class the same way, you know, black people have been treated second class and a lot of Latino
10:44brothers and sisters been treated second class. Some Muslims have been treated second class. Like,
10:49I think it's really coming to the understanding, like, man, we have a lot of things that are in
10:56common and our differences shouldn't make us feel opposition. Like, and it's getting over the fears
11:04of like America, like really has a fear of women rising to a certain level, black people rising to a
11:13certain level, Latino people achieving certain things. It's like the fears of America, the power
11:19as it be specifically like, um, the white male mentality and, you know, of those in power. And
11:26I don't want to generalize and say every white man, but we know that's been the power that has been
11:31like
11:33consistently keeping people in a certain space. Um, and I think once we kind of, they recognize it,
11:42look, there's nothing to fear. We ain't coming to, to take all yours. It's just like enough for all of
11:48us
11:48to exist and to be in a, in a, in a world that's better. And, um, yeah. And I, and
11:53I, and I think,
11:54you know, when, when we see each other in the struggle, we got to speak up too.
12:00Actually, like if you give it some time, it might not be a bad thing. Yeah.
12:04Everybody gets better. Like if everybody's life improves, maybe it won't be so bad for people.
12:11Maybe they won't be demoted like they think they're going to. Yeah. My, my, like my life
12:18experience has been, okay. The more I achieve, if I'm achieving things and then people are struggling
12:26and hurting over here, first of all, I just, as a human being, I don't feel like complete
12:31because I'm like, man, I could do something to help this person. You know, especially if I've
12:36gotten mine and you know, you still got to work and continue to do those things. But if I've
12:40achieved certain things and I'm in a certain place, I should only feel like it only, it doesn't even
12:46feel right for, uh, you know, for people to be poor and me to just be like, ah, that's, that's
12:53just the
12:53way it is. That's why I always, I, I never understood the, the corporate mentality or the billionaire's
13:00mentality of like, okay, I got billions that I'm going to keep exploiting the people. You know,
13:06it's like, wow, you got money that will last generations. So you don't have to worry about
13:11that. So now it might be turning to Bill Gates to do good in the world at that point. You
13:18know,
13:18like, it's like, you've made a lot. So go do, do. You can't take it with you. You can't take
13:22it with
13:23you. And you got enough for everything. Not even your children, you know, when you get to certain levels,
13:28not even your children can mess up that money. Cause you gotta go put it all in one place. So,
13:34you know, I think it's that mentality for me is, um, it's something I don't understand it,
13:40but, and I try to live by, you know, the further I go, the more I reach into the roots
13:46of where I
13:47come from and other places that I see are underserved and, and give what I can give to that.
13:55Let's talk about stand up for something. How did that song come about?
13:58Oh, well, stand up for something. It started, Diane Warren, um, had, had the script for Marshall.
14:07Okay.
14:08And she was, she said she was really inspired by the script and Thurgood Marshall's,
14:14who he is in history. Um, and she was listening to this song called the change is going to come.
14:23And she just said, I want to achieve something in that realm where it's like a timeless song that
14:29just speaks to the times, but it's also uplifting. So she wrote, she wrote this, most of the, you know,
14:37like the, the melody and, and words of the, of the, that was sung, that was sung. And then, um,
14:44we happened to be going to Sundance and ended up on the same plane. And I was sitting,
14:49sitting there behind her and she turned around. We had talked a little bit before and she was like,
14:53I got this song that you, y'all, you got to lay a rap on. It would be great. You
14:57got to write
14:57something to it. And I'm telling you, it's, it's, it's, and she started singing it. And I was like,
15:01okay, she, she would say she ain't the best singer, but it was still, you know,
15:05I knew it had some heart to it. So she sent me like a demo of the song and I
15:11just started calling
15:12her like, yo, I got to be on this, like, come on. So, so I got back from Sundance, I
15:17went and started
15:18writing. I was actually trying to write then and there, like, and you know, I knew Thurgood Marshall's
15:24story. Um, and you know, I've been, that's some, uh, one of the heroes that I learned about in,
15:30in history and as a black and black history too. So I just wrote, I wanted to write something that
15:36was, that would, um, compliment her. I thought she wrote a beautiful song that was like,
15:43that had like this anthem mantra type of thing to it. Like where there's mantras that you can say,
15:49like she says, do the best to do the best that you can do. And you can look in the
15:53mirror proud of
15:54who's looking back at you. And I'm like, man, that could be in a children's book or that could be
16:00like,
16:00in a Deepak Chopra book. And it's like, and it just would resonate. And, um, so I wanted to
16:09actually be able to, you know, compliment that and write some things when I write. So I, when I was
16:14sitting down writing to it, I, I was, I was thinking, I think like, man, how can I say something
16:21that'll be something like a Martin Luther King speech, you know, on this type of song, something
16:26that'll be like a word that, that somebody, words that people could use in life. Like,
16:32let the ways of love be the ways of man. I'm, I'm, I'm thinking like, I want to say something
16:38that,
16:38you know, people would use in, in their mentality in life. So that's how the song came about. And
16:55all of us. And, um, we, we, you know, it felt like where we need to be in our lives
16:59right now,
17:00standing up for something with all that's going on in the world, standing up for something is that
17:05one, you know, thing that we can all do, no matter what, where you sit in life.
17:09Yeah. Yeah. Um, did you get to see the movie before or after you recorded?
17:15I saw the movie after I recorded. Yeah. Um, but I was writing it for the movie because I kind
17:20of
17:21knew the gist of the film and, um, and I, I, some things you just feel like, oh man,
17:27this is the right, this is supposed to be, because I, then the day I heard Diane, um, Diane sent
17:35me the
17:35song. The day I was listening to it over and over, I was getting my hair cut, listening like, uh,
17:40uh, you know, you're like, you ain't got no hair, but I, you know, I was getting my hair cut
17:43and,
17:44uh, I kept listening to it. And then that night I had to go to this, this lunch or this
17:49dinner
17:49and Reginald Hudlin, the director for Marshall was in, he was like, I was like, man, I heard the
17:54song Diane wrote for, for Marshall. And he was like, man, it's, yo, you gotta, you gotta understand.
17:59This is incredible. I was like, I know I'm, I'm going to get on it. I, I was really excited
18:04about it.
18:04We both were. So it was kind of like, you know, everything aligning. Cause I wanted to work with
18:09Andrew Day also. I, we had talked about working together. And, um, so now it's like, every time
18:17we perform it, I just feel like grateful that I was on that plane and, and, you know, just,
18:24we get to do music and art like this for films like this. And, um, you know, hopefully it go
18:31down
18:31and history in the ways that, you know, some of our great leaders have done.
18:37Yeah. And you started a social media campaign around the song.
18:41Yeah. Well, our social media campaign was really encouraging everybody to this hashtag stand up
18:48for something. And it was really encouraging people to, to like write what they stand up for.
18:54And it was, it was something because, um, when we first had to do it, I really had to think
19:01about,
19:01okay, what do I stand for? It really makes you examine your purpose. Cause if you have to say,
19:06I stand for, and I eventually was, I stand for peace. And then I was like, I stand for women's
19:10rights.
19:11So, and I, and I actually, um, ended up adding more verse to the, to the song because of the
19:21campaign
19:21and just like really thinking what I stand for. And I wanted to say more things, but the campaign
19:27is really to encourage people to think about what they stand for. How can they go out and,
19:32and achieve that? How can they go make it active? And that's one of the things that's done.
19:37Our next step on this campaign is really, um, providing a, a base for people to go to. Like
19:43if you said, man, I stand for women's rights, that we can identify some places. If you just went
19:48and checked on this site and we, we don't have it up there, but we'll, we're working towards that.
19:53It's part of the vision is to, that you go to the site and you can see places where, you
19:58know,
19:58in your area where you can like participate in women's rights. So if you stand for education,
20:03or if you stand for the environment or stand for, stand for animals rights or stand for black and
20:08brown justice, wherever, whatever it may be, we want to, we want to activate people into action,
20:14you know, connect them with the right people. Yeah. I mean, cause that's honestly how a lot of the
20:20activism I'm blessed to do and get to do, I connect with organizations who are out there doing it.
20:27Like they do it on a daily. So then I can connect with them and learn and then figure out,
20:33okay,
20:34this is where I fit in and this is how I can help. Yeah. Will you be participating in the
20:39women's
20:39march in January? I would love to. What's the date? I think it's the same. It's probably going to be
20:44January 20th again, the 21st. Ah, yeah. I'll look it up for you. Yeah, look it up. I'll let you
20:49know.
20:49I may be at Sundance on the 20th, but, um, there might be something happening at Sundance. There was last
20:54year.
20:55Last year we got to perform and we, this year we're, we're planning something really special too,
21:00but I need to be at the women's march too. Can I, I gotta figure out how to be at
21:04two places at once.
21:05I'm sure if anybody can do it, it'll be you. Yeah, right.
21:09Common, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. The movie is Marshall. It's out in theaters now.
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