Common Shares Secrets to Success

By: Sarah Remelius

9/20/16

The “King of Conscious Rap,” more famously known as Common, shared his secrets to success on Tuesday, even through lyrics.

Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., the actor, philanthropist, and Grammy-award winning musician, discussed working his way from South Chicago to the Grammy stage by finding what he was passionate about. The event titled A Conversation With Common was held at Hogg Auditorium.

“While I was on my pursuit of greatness I realized that to be the greatest, and to reach greatness, you have to reach the highest potential within yourself,” Common told the 883 people in the diverse and revved up crowd. “When you do that you influence others, and inspire others to reach their highest level, and that’s what true greatness is.”

The Distinguished Speakers and Headliners committees both a part of Events + Entertainment, a student event-planning organization on campus, invited the artist to come speak because they said they felt he embodied characteristics they wanted in a back to school event.

“The two committees did research on speakers given our budget and determined which of those speakers were our top choices,” said Ian Durben, Chair of Distinguished Speakers for Events + Entertainment. “We felt that he had the capacity to serve a need that hadn't recently been addressed on campus, so we decided he would be the best suited for the job.”

He started off his speech with a freestyle rap in which he threw in many lines based off of the University of Texas including, “I’m sort of like Matthew McConaughey/ I came to teach” and ended with “I came to UT to talk about greatness.”

“He said that he really enjoyed performing for the crowd and the audience loved his references to UT locations in his freestyle,” Durben said. “He did a great job of evaluating and addressing his specific audience.”

Common discussed Emmett Till, a black teen from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, and how his death largely impacted his life. When he started working as a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls he said he could sense Till while traveling through tunnels to get to the locker rooms.

“I use to feel something down there and I didn’t know what it was,” Common said. “I didn’t physically see anybody but I felt this spirit and I always believed it to be the spirit of Emmett Till, saying ‘hey you have something great in you, you have something great to give to the world.’”

He also discussed his break up with singer and actress Erykah Badu and how this was the first time he realized he truly did not believe in himself. During this time of heartbreak, he discovered that he was “willing to dim his light” for others, including Erykah and his friends. His struggle resonated with sophomore mathematics major Jazmine Batts who was in attendance.

“He talked about ‘never dimming your light’ for anyone else and that was just something I have personally been doing,” Batts said. “That statement just stood out for me because it was something I really needed to hear.”

Common did not shy away from talking about the upcoming presidential election, saying that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are not going to be the ones to change the world for the better, even though he is “going to have to vote for Hillary.”

“This is a critical time in world history and in American history, and I know that you all are the people that are going to change it for the better,” Common said. “The way that you will change this world is by being the greatest you. You have to find your path, believe in your path, and live your path.”