by SCOTT C

Last year, Lonnie Rashid Lynn sowed some musical oats that left a lot of his die-hard fans scratching their heads and comparing him to Outkast. As the Chicago-born MC also known as Common spread his artistic wings in an effort to inject variety and creativity into hip hop music, he was met with both critical acclaim and complete dismissal. Unaffected, the Electric Circus tour was touted as one of the best live shows of 2003, and Common was able to work with everyone from Prince and Omar to Bilal, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Mary J Blige. As Montreal gets ready for the first big hip hop show of 2004, the Mirror spoke to Common over the phone from a hotel room in Beverly Hills.

Mirror: Your friend Questlove is always talking in interviews about getting pigeonholed within hip hop as an artist. The Roots seem to take great issue with fans, listeners and critics who categorize them as conscious, or assume they'll be on the nu-soul tip forever. How did the obvious changes in your approach to the music, as well as in your own personal style, get received?

Common: I get all kinds of different opinions and perspectives. Some people understand that I'm just a person, and that I'm gonna go through changes just like anybody else would, and that I follow my heart. They understand that. Then there's people who are like, "Man, why you change on us? We just started gettin' into what you had been doing…" A lot of people said I went soft with Electric Circus. I understand that everyone can't see exactly what you're trying to do every time, and that as an artist you just have to do what you do and hope for the best.

M: Did people give you a hard time after you did that Coke commercial last year with Mya? I could see both the Native Tongue contingent and the hardcore Soulquarians having something to say about a righteous brother like yourself dealing with a multinational.

C: I definitely heard people saying all kinds of things about that. My thing is this. If I'm intelligent enough to stay true to who I am and present myself on a bigger platform, and by that I mean what I think hip hop is about, what I think it means to be a black dude, a balanced human being, I'll take the Coca-Cola platform and major corporation push. I think that everyone should be exposed to pure music. There are lots of valid points for not dealing with corporations, but I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the label that I'm on right now.

The Circus comes to town

M: What's the deal with the Electric Circus live show? I keep reading how it was one of last year's best performances. What can we expect?

C: This particular date in Montreal is all about the next phase. Electric Circus was a big production in terms of the live show, but this time it's just me and the DJ. We gonna bang out all the core classics as well as some stuff from EC, and some brand new material as well. The new album is called BE, as in Basement Elevation or B-boy Evolution. We trying to take it to a higher place.

M: Who's your DJ?

C: My DJ is DJ Dummy! DJ Dummy and Common Sense, a good combination -

M: Speaking of good combinations, where's NO I.D., man?

C: NO I.D.? I saw him two days ago in Chicago. He's doing some production on the G-Unit album, on DMX's album, and he has an artist coming out called K. Fox, so he's got some stuff coming for the people.

M: I remember, when we talked a few years ago, that we shared a love for the music of Omar, and agreed that he was perhaps the most slept-on contemporary soul powerhouse of our time. Fast-forward a few years, and now he's a vocal fixture of Electric Circus. That must have been wild.

C: You're right, man. Omar is the king. This is a very significant artist that most people in North America have no idea about, even after all the records he's released, and to have the opportunity to work with somebody like that is amazing. It was easy, too - once we met, we did a bunch of songs, but two of them didn't make it on the album. When you hear his music, you feel it.

With Specifics and Jean Grae at le Medley tonight, Thursday, Jan. 15, 8:30pm, $25 (free with Concordia student ID)

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