- I just played in the celebrity game,
and I hit the last free throws to seal the game.
And Mike, in this picture, when I greeted him,
he told me to stick to rapping.
He grounded me in this picture for sure.
This is Common.
"Men's Health" has asked me to look back
at my journey to see how far I've come with my health
and wellness and all the fresh things that I do.
This is Rewind.
(tape rewinding)
(upbeat music)
So this picture with me and Naughty by Nature
is monumental for me because coming from Chicago,
it was a big thing to be embraced
by any artists that were outside of where you from.
Part of the reason I was rapping was
I want to KRS-One and De La Soul and Tribe
to know who I was.
And my friends would be like, you dope.
So to be recognized by Naughty by Nature
who been putting out hip hop classics
and big songs that were taking hip hop to the next level.
And for Treach, I remember to express to me
how much respect he had for me for the song
"I Used to Love H.E.R".
That was my first experience.
He came and got me in his Benz, his white Benz,
and took me around New Jersey.
These dudes had a store, a Naughty by Nature store.
They took me to the store and gave me gear.
And to see that level of success and be that close
to it and for them to recognize me was dope man.
And I'm starting to realize I had a lot
of hip hop experiences, like seeing this picture.
Okay, I went to Newark, New Jersey
and rolled out with Treach and went around they whole crew.
And then, I mean, it's times I've been to Queensbridge
with Mob Deep 'cause I was working
on a remix with something and I'm like, wow.
And I've been some places where it is like, oh man.
I had to stop and look at this picture because
I never even realized I had a photo with Destiny's Child.
I never knew that in my life.
This is a time where I was really starting to
feel better about myself.
One thing I had to get to in my own journey
was I used to didn't like showing my head.
I thought I was trying to be like LL,
but I really was just didn't wanna show my bald head.
So I wore hats a lot.
If I look at all these photos,
there's no photos pre 2006 where you could see me
with a bald head.
And I had a bald head since I lost my hair
in '95, '96.
I started to build my confidence at this time.
This was around the album, "Be".
I went through some personal things that was like,
where I had to really self-reflect
and get myself empowerment.
This era was, I could see me feeling that.
And I still have to say, how did I not know
I had a picture with Destiny's Child?
One of the things I've seen that was like
I couldn't believe was he had made this song
for me, this beat.
It ended up being a song called "Heard 'Em Say"
which ended up being on his album.
He had made the beat for me and I was like,
I ain't gonna use it, Ye.
He was like, you sure?
And I was like, no, I'm not going to use it.
He was like, okay, well I'm about to do it.
And he started writing to the song
and he wrote the chorus and the rhymes within 15 minutes.
And it wasn't like he changed the lyrics later.
It just was like, man, I felt like that song
was meant to be his, the way he created that.
And I think one other thing that I thought was, wow,
this dude is who he is.
We had booked a studio session
and we were supposed to start at like two.
He had went out and kicked it all night the night before.
So when we got to the studio, he said, man, Rasheed,
can I get a little sleep, man?
Rash, let me sleep for a minute.
I'm tired, I was out all night.
He went to take a nap and when he woke up,
he put on this record and he chopped it up
and created the beat called "The Corners" for me,
which became one of my dopest songs.
Just how he woke up outta his slumber
and just went right to it and just created
one of the best songs I ever been a part of,
was like, that was amazing.
That just showed his vision.
Yes, I had met Mike before
because I was a ball boy for The Bulls when I was a kid.
He doesn't remember me from those days, but he also had come
to one of my shows in Chicago at the House of Blues.
Mike was watching my show,
but I didn't let people know he was there
'cause he was up in the balcony 'til my last song.
And when I did, everybody just watched him
and just forgot I was on stage.
So I was smart enough to do that at the end of the show.
I had just played in the celebrity game,
and I hit the last free throws to seal the game.
And Mike, in this picture, when I greeted him,
he told me to stick to rapping.
And I was like, Mike,
you just didn't see that game I had?
I couldn't believe that he didn't recognize
that my game was actually a good game.
He grounded me in this picture for sure.
So high school, I was really a good student overall.
I ended up playing basketball in high school
'til my junior year when I got injured,
and that's what led me to rap more.
But overall, high school was super fun.
I look at this picture
and see me holding my high school photos
and I was trying to be fresh
in my class photo for high school.
'Cause you know, people gonna look back at it
and you just want to be fresh.
So people turn to your page and be like, man, who is that?
So you wanted to be one of the dudes
that a woman would look at and be like, all right,
I'm into this cat.
Well, at '93, I was trying to go out and kick it
and I would be drinking and just doing stuff
you ain't supposed to do.
Like just, it ain't good.
2023, wow.
My favorite nights are really dinner.
A dinner is one of my favorite.
That's all I need.
I enjoy those nights more than anything.
It went from Heineken to Pinot Noir.
Yeah.
Well, fitness in my movie and music career
is very significant because fitness is part of who I am.
It's my being.
And in everything you do in music and in film,
you bring in some elements of you to it.
These characters that I get to play in film and TV,
I have to find the essence of 'em.
But some of the essence has to deal with my essence too.
So fitness and me being at my best
and taking care of myself is the way I could bring my best
to this music and the way I bring my best
to films and TV and my character.
And it definitely gets that stress off my mind sometimes.
What was the turning point
in the nineties when you decided to become a vegan?
I learned about foods
and not eating certain foods through KRS songs
like "My Philosophy" or "A Song Called Beef".
Or Rakim talking about fish, which is my favorite dish,
but without no money is still a wish.
I think it was real clever how these dudes would talk
about a lifestyle and to still stay relevant
to who they are and also relevant to who you are.
And they wasn't like,
oh because I'm eating this way, I'm above you.
It was really the same way hip hop
related to me as a person.
So for me, I started to eventually grow into,
okay man, what can I do to improve on myself?
I became vegan in the late nineties and that was only
after I moved to New York and was around a whole collective
of people who were really excellent.
It was like Black excellency.
And so I thank them, I thank them.
Erykah, Chaka, Lorraine, they were the conduit
and the inspirations for me becoming vegan.
'Cause I had already stopped eating beef, chicken,
which was big steps for me.
Or what's the next milestone I would like to reach?
I really would like to do more
as an actor in ways that new types of characters,
new challenging roles,
working with directors like a Martin Scorsese
or Quentin Tarantino or Christopher Nolan.
Definitely one of the milestones.
And to do more theater.
Theater's been something that, my first play I got to do,
"Between Riverside and Crazy", was amazing.
And I want to do more theater as an actor and producer.
So when I look at this picture, first and foremost,
I think about just being a young artist with a dream.
Not knowing much about the music industry,
just really wanting to be something in life.
When I think about diet and lifestyle,
I didn't know how important that would be
to me pursuing that dream.
I really do believe that one of the reasons
I've been able to sustain myself and grow
and evolve in my career is because of making a decision
to take care of myself.
The Chicago rap scene was,
it was really talented artists spread out.
It wasn't a lot of artists out when I was first coming up.
Twista was the first artist that I know from Chicago
to get on a national record label.
And I think I was second.
So our scene was competitive in its own way
because you would hear about the people who were dope.
But it wasn't like we went to a central place often
or knew, like The Tunnel.
And you hear about all these clubs
in New York that people used to go to.
You hear about 'em in raps and stuff,
and hip hop for us was like, we would go seek it out.
And we really were influenced by New York and LA.
The first time I won the Grammy,
it was an incredible feeling
because I never even knew the Grammys was in reach for me.
And then when they did become in reach
for a lot of hip hop artists,
it didn't seem like artists of my caliber and style
were getting that type of recognition
because it was more of some
of the popular artists who were getting the Grammys
until The Roots won a Grammy for the song, "You Got Me".
And that was one of those times where I was like, wait,
it's actually reachable.
Sometimes you gotta see people who are of your ilk
and like you accomplish things for you to know it.
And sometimes you just get created
in your own mind and do it.
This was a time where seeing them win,
I was like, it became more of a realistic thing for me.
And I put that Grammy in my mother's house
and I believe she still holds that Grammy now in her house.
What keeps me motivated is the art that I do.
I love acting, I love music.
I love that it can be inspiring and healing for people.
I love that it can motivate others.
So I stay motivated in that.
Peace, peace.
This is Common and I thank y'all for checking
me out on This is Rewind.
It's "Men's Health", we staying healthy,
we staying in the progress, we staying in the goodness.
All right, y'all?
Love.