Common, The Author

Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr, aka Common, has penned an autobiography called, "One Day, It'll All Make Sense." The rapper is from the southside of Chicago and his book reflects that era in his life among other things. He gets very personal in the book and tells the Chicago Sun-Times, “It’s about the evolution of a young man growing into manhood. It’s about love relationships, not only on a romantic level but love for the art you’re doing, music and acting, love for my mother, my daughter... and, of course, Chicago. It’s not only the backdrop on the cover, it’s the backdrop of my life.”

Some of the topics discussed in the book:
How he was going to retire in 1992 after his first album release due to extremely low sales, how singer and first love Erykah Badu broke his heart when she dumped him over the phone, his invite to the White House and his praise for fellow Chicagoan, Kanye West.

On if he felt he knew what it meant to be a man:
“As a man, I take responsibility for things I’m doing, have done or want to do,” he said. “Talking about this stuff helped me see different aspects that make me a man — the sense of self, who you are, things you want in life, things you love, what your values are. A man has to be able to express himself, to say what he needs and wants and do that in any setting, to be himself. But he has to take responsibility... I still ain’t mastered it. I eventually figured it was OK to write this book. Cause at first I was like, have I lived enough? — but I thought I’ve lived enough that it might resonate with someone. I’ve learned about how to be a man in increments. I like that life is a journey, that you never get it all. That’s why, you know, one day it’s all going to make sense.”

His new album “The Dreamer, The Believer” drops in November. Also in November, the 4th to be exact, he stars in an AMC Western cable series called, “Hell on Wheels."

Perhaps in the future I'll bump into him again at an LA area health food market and ask him... does he always buy organic.