Behind the Scenes with Common
Three years have passed since Common last released an album, but on Dec. 20th the Chicago-bred rapper-turned-actor released his ninth record, The Dreamer/ The Believer. After putting music on the back burner to appear in several films and the AMC TV series Hell on Wheels, the 12-track record – featuring John Legend and Nas – has Common returning to the craft that first made him a household name. Over the past eight months, photographer Steven Taylor has been by Common's side as he put the finishing touches on the album. The 25-year-old Taylor first met the rapper years ago after a show at Atlanta's Tabernacle. "It was one of the coolest shows I've been to ever," Taylor recalls. "I remember when he was playing 'Go,' everybody was jumping up and down, and in the rafters it was shaking and it looked like the whole place was going to collapse. " In addition to snapping him in the lab recently with hip-hop veteran producer No-I.D., Taylor accompanied Common to the Big Apple and Haiti, documenting everything with his camera. "We're friends also, so it definitely gave me a little advantage of shooting him," Taylor says.
"Steven is such a dynamic artist and with his photography he is able to capture life in its truest way," Common tells Rolling Stone. "Working with him gets me excited about capturing each and every moment of whatever journey we may be on.” Never short of an adventure, Common's latest journey – as seen through Taylor's lens – can be seen in the photo gallery that follows.
By Charley Rogulewski
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Video Shoot for ‘Blue Sky’
"That's downtown L.A. during the video shoot for 'Blue Sky,' a track off 'The Dreamer/The Believer," Taylor says of this relaxed snapshot taken in October. "It wasn't part of the set. It was just down the hall. It was in an old building downtown so it had this vibe. The video shoot was the day before he left for Haiti. All we really talked about was leaving for Haiti and how excited we were."
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Laid Back
"He is very laid back," Taylor says of Common. "He isn't always goofing around. Ee prayed before the shoot, and he prays before every show. It's always relaxed. This photo is just us goofing off at the beginning of the shoot for the record."
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Good Heart
"Common's got a good heart. There's a lot of people I meet in the entertainment world that aren't people with integrity, and aren't as good as he is," Taylor says. " I really admire that about Common – he's a really good guy, solid guy, family guy. This shot is actually one of the most prominent shots in the artwork of the record."
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The Dreamer, The Believer
"When working on photos for The Dreamer/ The Believer, the approach wasn't for that one magical shot that summed it up," Taylor says. "It was about the whole thing together . . . I don't think I can say there is one shot that captures it all, but I feel like when you see it all laid out – it's all of it together, that sells the vision."
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Haiti
In October, Taylor accompanied Common on a trip to Haiti where the rapper filmed the CNN documentary Common Dreams, about the plight of "restaveks" – modern-day child slaves. "This is one of the restavek girls," Taylor remembers. "She was teaching him how to knit something they were learning in the classroom. CNN had him learn the technique for the camera, but he wouldn't leave until he figured it out."
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Basketball with the Kids
Common's an avid basketball fan, and even played an NBA player in the 2009 romantic comedy Just Wright. But does he have game? "They were playing basketball in a classroom that is in the middle of being built," Taylor says. "You have to go back and touch the ball on the wall on his right, but the hoop was on his left, where the boys are on the right of the frame. The team he played against actually won."
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Port-au-Prince
"That's in the heart of Port-au-Prince, where they were filming his video for 'Sweet.' I had him sit there," Taylor says. It's been almost two years since the devastating January 2010 earthquake that claimed the lives of roughly 300,000 Haitians. Taylor said that "everything in Haiti still looks like that."
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Common and No- I.D.
"Common and No- I.D. are really close friends and have worked together in the past," Taylor says. "No-I.D. is a legend in the hip-hop world, working with Jay-Z, Nas and Kanye West. We were listening to new stuff, and they were talking into each other's ears about a part of the song because the music was so loud."
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The Dreamer/The Believer
"It's a classic hip-hop record," Taylor says of the The Dreamer/The Believer. "Everything that I've heard is amazing."
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Rock the Bells Festival
Common joined Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Nas, Black Star and more on this summer's Rock the Bells festival circuit, where hip-hop artists performed a seminal album from their past. Common took to the mic, performing his 2005 Grammy-nominated album Be. Taylor was on hand at the Los Angeles stop.
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Backstage at Rock the Bells
"Everyone was just laughing," Taylor says of the mood backstage at Rock the Bells. "There's a lot of friends and a lot of down time at something like that."
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Ghetto Dreams
"This was later on in the night when he came out with Nas and did 'Ghetto Dreams,'" says Taylor. "He had already changed, had a glass of wine and was already relaxed at this point."
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Heading to the Stage
"I was just documenting the day," Taylor says. "I knew they were about to come out, so I hopped down first and took this shot of him on the way out to the stage. He was in a good mood. There were a lot of friends around."