Common
A massive crowd didn’t seem to mind that Rodrigo y Gabriela canceled their Sunday ACL appearance. While that duo cited exhaustion, their replacement, Common, was full of energy. From the moment the Chicago MC strutted onstage – fist raised high – he bounced around in a powder-blue button-down looking thrilled with the chance to rock the festival crowd. The veteran rapper turned chart-topper ran through a slew of hits from Be and the recent Finding Forever, and while M.I.A. spewed vague revolutionary rhetoric on the same stage two days earlier, only Common could advocate on behalf of the Jena 6, give a brief lesson on white privilege, and still rock the party. DJ Dummy dazzled the crowd with a dizzying, beat-juggling display, and Common paid tribute with a 10-minute medley of golden era classics, spitting hip-hop quotables from A Tribe Called Quest to BDP, Pharcyde to N.W.A.
This article appears in September 21 • 2007.
