WATCH: We asked Common to freestyle about facts. Here's what happened
For Common, freestyling is a state of pure creativity. Letting rhyme after rhyme flow off the top of his head, he has no trouble fitting in tricky words that others suggest.
The Chicago musician and actor has weaved in terms like "prehistoric," and "Keanu."
During an interview at the PBS NewsHour, Common said he just needed a word to get started.
"How about 'facts'? Can you riff off "facts"?" national correspondent Amna Nawaz asked.
The Chicago musician and actor, who's one honor away from becoming an EGOT winner, didn't hesitate, even fitting in a NewsHour mention:
"Sometimes she might even ask/ If I can come in here and rap on facts/ Imma tell you this, even sitting in a booth/ Anytime I talk about facts, I spit truth/ That's what it is, I spread truth to power/ I came to do this at the PBS NewsHour."
In his new memoir, "Let Love Have the Last Word," Common talks about his decades-long career, fatherhood and the sexual abuse he faced as a child.
"I've been rapping for more than 25 years now. I would rap for free. I would rap if I lived on the streets. I would rap if I was a preacher, a prisoner, or a politician," Common wrote.
When not figuring out songs in a studio, Common said he will "get in a car and put on a beat and say my raps out loud. I just start freestyling whatever lines I like."
Common has been on tour since July supporting his new studio album, "Let Love," which will be released on Aug. 30. His full interview with the NewsHour will air in the coming weeks.
Support Canvas
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of "Wheel of Fortune," "Love Connection" and "Scrabble" who later became a…
John Leguizamo has appeared in more than 100 films while also telling a distinctly Latino story in documentaries, one-man shows…
In death, Leonard Cohen is having a rebirth. The legendary singer is being remembered by older and younger generations alike…
Alec Baldwin's Western "Rust" had its world premiere Wednesday at a film festival in Poland, three years after the shooting…
In her new collection of columns from The Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer Prize-winner Peggy Noonan takes readers on a journey…
If you've ever wanted to own a piece of Hollywood history, now's your chance. A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers…
When Centurion was founded, it was the first group of its kind working to overturn wrongful convictions for people facing…
As major American museums reexamine their collections to ensure diversity and inclusion, there's a growing realization that they need more…
As a dancer, choreographer, director and speaker, Jamison's distinguished career leaped over barriers of race and gender.
In the 1980s, about 70 percent of clothes sold in the U.S. were made in the country. Today, it's down…
This is her first time receiving nominations in the country and Americana categories.
For many Muslim and Arab Americans, Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East are personal, and so…
A giant in the music and entertainment industry has died. Quincy Jones, known to many as 'Q,' was revered as…
Jones rose from music school dropout to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives…