Despite releasing three albums, Common found himself struggling to sustain his music career.
The rapper’s career took off in Chicago, IL, in the ’90s. He released three albums during this decade: “Can I Borrow a Dollar?” (1992); “Resurrection” (1994); and “One Day It’ll All Make Sense” (1997).
Common explains that his first album received limited attention and credits his second album with putting him on the radar of some of the industry’s greats.
The rapper also opened up about the challenges he faced in the music industry early in his career, which caused him to question whether it was a sustainable path.
“It was hard being in Chicago and trying to get even signed or get heard… I still wasn’t planted in the industry. I could remember going into my third album like ‘Man how am I going to make a career of this’ because I wasn’t making a lot of money. I was as Andre 3000 said ‘Living check to check.’ If you don’t move your feet then I don’t eat,” Common told Bilal and Millings.
His turning point came with the single “The Light,” released on his fourth studio album, “Like Water for Chocolate” (2000). Although he was already recognized in the Hip-Hop space at that time, Common still felt like an underground artist until the single gained radio play and led to him being booked for Summer Jam.
“It was the first time I saw people outside of hip-hop culture singing one of my songs or like even knowing who I am or caring about who I am. I remember doing a performance and seeing young Black girls singing ‘The Light,’ and I was like ‘Wow they never was singing any of the other music,'” he recalled. “So I saw the difference. I saw me doing Top 40 shows at that time, and to this day that’s one of the songs that when I perform people know it the most. So that was the game changer.”
