Common has confirmed that he has a new project on the way with Pete Rock and the heartbeat of the project will be centered around Hip Hop from the 1990s.
While appearing on the latest episode of MSNBC’s The Beat With Ari Melber, the Chicago rap icon broke the news of him collaborating with the legendary producer.
AD LOADING...
“I been listening to a lot of ’90s Hip Hop because I been creating a new project,” Common said. “I’m working on a new album with Pete Rock and just, the energy of that music, whether it’s Brand Nubian, A Tribe Called Quest, or De La Soul, because they just got their music on streaming, it’s been inspiring to hear.”
He added: “But I am creating new music right now. I’m in a great space.”
Common also spoke about Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary and said that he’s “a part of the progression” of the genre and that rap music “brings people together.”
Both the Like Water For Chocolate rapper and Pete Rock have collaborated on tracks in the past, such as his Ice Cube diss “The Bitch In Yoo” and “Verbal Murder 2.”
They’ve also been a part of joint albums, including Common’s The Dreamer/The Believer in 2011 with No I.D. and Rock’s Don’t Smoke Rock in 2016 with Smoke DZA.
AD LOADING...
In terms of Common’s scathing diss track toward Ice Cube in the mid-1990s, Cube recently spoke about how the Grammy Award-winning artist somewhat welcomed him with open arms in Chicago prior to their spat.
“Love Chicago. My first show — my first big show outside of L.A. was at the Regal Theater in Chicago,” he told Fake Shore Drive‘s Andrew Barber. “We forgot our record. We forgot one of our records that we were performing. Guess who took me to the record store to buy the record? I had to go buy our own record. It was Common.”
He continued: “He was opening up for us. I mean, we didn’t really know who he was and you know that’s just ya know one of those footnotes. Chicago has always welcomed us before the rest of the country. It was Chicago.”
Last month, Ice Cube and Common’s tumultuous past made headlines after Outlawz member Napoleon claimed 2Pac was ready to take aim at Common in the mid-1990s over their ongoing public spat.
AD LOADING...
In a sit-down interview with The Art of Dialogue, ‘Pac’s former protégé said the late All Eyez On Me rapper “looked up to Cube” and was down to defend him against Common — only he was dealing with his own friction with the N.W.A. legend.
“I remember when the East Coast-West Coast thing was heating up, I think Common and Cube was going through their beef, like they were dissing each other,” Napoleon said. “I remember ‘Pac was like, ‘See, if I was cool with Cube right now, I’d be going after Common for him, but now I’m staying out of it.’”
