Rapper and actor Common wants Cleveland teens to realize the world is bigger than they think: Justice B. Hill

CLEVELAND, Ohio — I can’t think of a more ideal place to talk about literacy than the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library, where Common, an actor and former rapper, came to share his knowledge about Gen Z’ers.

A baby boomer, I doubt I can name a movie he starred in. I know I can’t name a single song found in his discography. Common appealed to teenagers in a way he couldn’t do for me.

But Common wasn’t in town last week to call on me; he came to inspire and offer insight into life to an audience familiar with him and his work.

On a Tuesday afternoon, he filled an auditorium with dozens of teenagers from across the region. Most of them were black, and I would venture to guess that his words affected them.

Because in Common, they saw someone who looked like them and who looked like them. They saw someone whose life was shaped by an urban neighborhood — Chicago, in his case, not Cleveland — someone whose adolescent dreams reflected their own.

Who doesn’t know a black boy who hasn’t had dreams similar to his?

“I thought I was going to the NBA,” Common told the teens. “But I wasn’t that good.”

Not good for the NBA, he stressed. Sufficient.

“If you’ve seen the movie (‘Just Wright’), you know I can play basketball,” he said.

A line like his made people laugh, and it should have. Because so many American teenagers have dreams that their talent cannot achieve. They nevertheless pursue these watercolor dreams.

A handful of teenagers could make their dreams come true; too many of them won’t.

“They come from where we come from,” Common said.

He did not come to dissuade anyone from pursuing their dreams. He was there to point people toward alternatives, to guide them toward things in the world that move them forward, that help them see the world beyond their neighborhood.

Common, 52, implored them to realize how big the world is, a message I try to leave with teenagers I’ve met or students I once taught — white and black students.

Of all the things he talked about, the one that struck me the most wasn’t necessarily the one the teenagers understood. I wish they had.

He said the most important person in their life is themselves. They need to take care of themselves before they can start making decisions about other aspects of their lives.

Education also plays an important role in this regard.

It is impossible to do much with your life in the absence of knowledge. Ignorance takes you to places that are not worth visiting.

After listening to Common, I left the auditorium with a message that probably escaped most teenagers. In its depth, his message was about self-help.

In explaining this message, I thought it might be better to turn to hip-hop. Not to Common’s work, but to someone else’s from his rap era. Oh…how about, say, the Beastie Boys.

The group produced a song called “Fight for Your Right to Party”. But I left the library with a different title in mind, a thought from Common that struck me in a way that “right to party” never could.

Try this: “Fight for your right to literacy.”

I hope Common’s teenage audience does.

Judge B. Hill grew up and still lives in the Glenville neighborhood. He wrote and edited for several newspapers during his more than 25 years in daily journalism before moving into teaching at Ohio University. He stopped on May 15, 2019 to write and travel. He does both.