Common At The White House NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

October 4 2016 by BOB BOILEN We've never done a Tiny Desk Concert that wasn't behind my desk at NPR But when the White House called and said they were putting on an event called South by South Lawn a day-long festival filled with innovators and creators from the worlds of technology and art including music we jumped at the chance to get involved We chose Common as the performer and the White House library as the space This Tiny Desk Concert was a convergence of art and soul mixing politics with heart Common's choice of songs dealt with incarceration as the new slavery imagined a time where women rule the world and honored the man he looked up to all his life his father For this occasion Common put together a special six-piece band of close friends that includes the great Robert Glasper with his eloquent and delicate touch on keyboards and Derrick Hodge whose music spans from hip-hop to folk and has made a big imprint on the world of jazz on bass Common also asked his longtime friend and collaborator Bilal to sing on two songs The performance includes three brand new songs along with one classic I Used To Love H E R Common was born on Chicago's South Side and grew up in President Obama's city His rap career began in the early 1990s back when he was known as Common Sense and he's always taken on big ideas without easy answers in his songs from abortion to social justice to the legacy of hip-hop itself 25 years later morality and responsibility continue to play significant roles in his songs In 2015 he won an Academy Award alongside the singer John Legend for their song Glory from the movie Selma Common told us that he'd been invited to the White House many times before including by Michelle Obama for a poetry reading back in 2011 but he was thrilled by the prospect of performing his music during Barack Obama's final months as president One look at this Tiny Desk Concert and you'll see that thrill on his face and hear it throughout this magnificent performance on this very special day Common will release his 11th studio album Black America Again in November Set List I Used To Love H E R Letter To The Free The Day The Women Took Over Little Chicago Boy Credits Producers Bob Boilen Abby O'Neill Niki Walker Directors Mito Habe-Evans Niki Walker Audio Engineers Josh Rogosin Kevin Wait Videographers Niki Walker Mito Habe-Evans Nick Michael Cameron Robert Nikki Boliaux Animator CJ Riculan Supervising Producer Jessica Goldstein Executive Producer Anya Grundmann Photo Becky Harlan NPR For more Tiny Desk concerts subscribe to our podcast a http 3A 2F 2Fwww npr org 2Fpodcasts 2F510292 2Ftiny-desk-concerts-video a

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