Lonnie Rashid Lynn, known by his stage name
Common, is an American rapper, actor, and activist from Chicago, Illinois. He has received three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He signed with the independent label Relativity Records to release his debut studio album
Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992), and gained further critical acclaim with its follow-ups,
Resurrection (1994) and
One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997). He maintained an underground following into the late 1990s, and achieved his first mainstream success through his work with the black music collective, Soulquarians.