His decades-long career has made Common a well-respected figure in music overall, not just hip hop. The Grammy Award-winning Chicago rapper has remained an imposing figure in the entertainment industry as he casually drifts through various forms of artistic expression. The multi-hyphenated emcee's subjects can tackle anything between matters of the heart to pertinent issues plaguing disenfranchised communities, and his ability to cleverly weave rhymes is why many consider him to be one of the best to pick up a microphone.
Common recently sat down with BET for their Rate The Bars series where artists read snippets of rap songs and give their two cents about the rhymes. The first track Common examined is Polo G's "Pop Out," and judging by the bars, Common compliments the wordplay. However, he said, "I hear it a lot, so didn't go above the norm," so he gave Polo G a three.
Moving on, the next few bars come from Vic Mensa's "Go Tell 'Em." After re-reading the lyrics, Common said, "Them good bars right there. Those are bars that sometimes you can say...sometimes you can say rhymes acapella and they gon' get people moved." The rapper liked the substance and the wordplay, so he gifted Mensa with a 4.5.
He was given the lyrics to Kanye West's "I Love It" about oral sex and fake breasts, and while there were a few lines that he liked, he dropped off a 2.5 for that one. Check out what else Common has to say about Mick Jenkins, the poetic flow of A Tribe Called Quest, not being moved by Juice WRLD, and his admiration of Black Thought and Mos Def's intellectual bars below.