Common, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Peace, brother. How you feeling, Trevor?
Hey, man, I'm doing good.
Taking every day as I can, you know?
Um, it's good to have you here,
because every time I speak to you,
I feel like you're starting a new career.
Some people know Common as the rapper.
Some people know Common as the action star
who's fighting against John Wick.
Some people know Common as the poet.
Some people know Common as-as the businessman.
Some people know Common as the activist who fights,
you know, for people to be treated more fairly
in the prison population.
And now, we're gonna be talking to Common
as the man who's starting, like, a... like, a fitness brand,
a fitness and wellness brand.
Tell me about that.
Yeah, so, Trevor, it's a...
it's a health and wellness series called Com&Well,
and, really, everything you named,
for me, is aligned with purpose.
Like, if your overall purpose...
My overall purpose is to inspire people,
is to spread God's love,
is to enlighten, um, and bring joy,
and this-this series is really about health and wellness.
This has been a... it's been a journey
for me to understand myself more, um, in a good way,
like working out, eating better,
meditation and, you know, like, therapy.
Um, even... I even got introduced to gardening
by this dude that's the Ghetto Gardener
-named Ron Finley on the series. -(laughs)
So, like, to me, Trevor, health and wellness for me
has been, like, a way to combat when all of the...
the hectic, the chaos, the... the fight that we got going
against, uh, you know, the leadership.
I'm like, man, I got to build myself up,
I got to feel great about myself
-You have to. -and show myself love,
so I can go out there and do the good fight, you know?
What do you do? What do you do, Trevor?
Do you do anything for...
to stay, like, in that health-and-wellness thing?
You can't... you can't interview me when I'm interviewing you.
That's not how this works. I see what you're trying to do.
You're trying to trick me into giving away,
like, the fact that I don't work out.
That's what you're... you're trying to make me feel bad.
'Cause now I'm gonna say, "Oh, I eat ice cream once a day,
uh, and then sometimes I do a few push-ups."
I see what you're doing, Common.
You're just trying to make me look bad.
That's what you're trying to do.
No, man, you look... you look good, man, you look good.
You got the... you got the right sweatshirt.
You got the right look, so hey, we're just gonna add
a couple of things to that, like a couple of push-ups,
-a couple of little sit-ups -You know...
-and just the vegetables. -Can I tell you something?
What I love about what you've been talking about
and what you're starting to do is,
you're trying to encourage people to look inwards.
You're trying to encourage people to go like: Hey, man,
I get that you're protesting,
I get that you're involved in politics,
I get that you're working,
I get that you're trying to survive during this time,
but none of that works
if you yourself are not working on the inside.
And I think we do take that for granted as people, you know?
Just meditating, just taking a moment to breathe,
getting the body moving.
It seems... it seems like a frivolous thing,
but it's really important.
I feel like you've always been like that as a human,
so when you say you're doing more of that,
like, what-what changed in your world?
'Cause I've only known Common to be a guy who's, like, healthy
-and conscious about who he is. -You know, I didn't start off...
I started off on the South Side of Chicago,
eating barbecue pork, you know, not working out,
you know, drinking beer, just doing anything, and I don't say,
you know, I'm not knocking any of those things,
but eventually, at a certain point,
I just felt like I wanted to be better in my craft
and better as a person, and I started, like, taking steps.
It was, like, just adding different things to my diet,
paying more attention to myself, and I started to be clearer,
I started to have... I felt more empowered, you know?
-Mm-hmm. -And I felt like I was more of myself.
Um, how that is enhanced during this period,
to be honest, Trevor, has been...
what you said-- I've been able to spend more time doing it.
Like, sometimes, you know, because our days are busy,
you know, before the pandemic I would get up
and do my meditation
and just be quick, quick with the prayer, you know,
and now I get a little... I get time to spend with it,
I get to appreciate it.
It's something you said, Trevor, that's super important,
I always say it, it's like,
there's no activism without self-activism, really.
I mean, and I want to go help the world,
I want to help people's lives and change the world,
I want to be a part of political change,
but, man, if I'm not good, I can't give my full self
-Right. -to that work.
One thing we can't deny is,
America, especially, is really good at convincing people
that being healthy is expensive, and it's really good
at making unhealthy choices the cheaper ones.
You know, if you come from a poorer community,
if you come from a poorer household,
it's a lot easier to reach for a bag of chips,
it's a lot easier to only eat fast food.
There's nothing wrong with having it once in a while,
but some people are trapped in this cycle.
And I wondered if, like,
you know, if you've been tackling this,
or you're looking to tackle this in the series, and saying, like:
How do we exist in a world where-- maybe, you know, like,
Ghetto Gardens you were talking about, for instance--
like, how do we exist in a world where we get people to the place
where it's like: Yo, you may not have money
to do the "fancy things"
that a lot of people use to stay healthy,
but there are simple, cheaper things
that can help maintain your health as well.
Yeah. Well, I mean, this show is just geared towards that.
But I... we really break it down to, like, a raw level
where you don't have to have a...
you don't have to go work out at some gym
or have all the, like, super equipment to work out.
Um, it's also, like, just, as far as foods go,
it's just adding certain vegetables to your...
to your diet, and adding certain greens that just...
And also, with the gardening, you can grow your own food
wherever you are-- in the hood-- no matter what that takes.
-Right. -Um, and I think, you know,
even... and for meditation, it's just, like,
finding your own space.
But I want Common well for the people in the hood, brother.
Like, I want... And, you know, and abroad.
But it's really targeted towards making sure
that-that no matter how poor you are
or how... what, um, economic structure you're in,
you can... you can do this, man.
And we deserve that, and I feel like that
is one of the things that helps elevate us
that helps us feel better about ourselves.
I feel like you've always been about elevation.
You know, I wonder what you hope to achieve
by performing at the Democratic National Convention.
I know you're gonna be one of the people who's performing.
You take your performances really seriously.
You try and pick the song that has a message,
and you're trying to get something across.
What do you think people need to hear the most right now
that you're trying to give them?
Well, you know, at the Democratic National Convention,
we performed the song, "Glory," John Legend and I.
Like, that song is about saying: Hey, we...
in the ways and in the steps of Dr. King
and the women and men of the civil rights movement,
we of today want to bring people together
by extracting all the negative energy
and not even, like, putting our minds towards that,
but really focusing on how we can come together
and how we can uplift each other,
how, like, we could spread love to each other.
And that fight-- man, I'm a fighter, man.
I know... you know I talk about love,
but I fight with love, too, meaning I'm not, like-like...
part of my combatant...
The leadership that we have in there now
is going out and doing for... for our people,
doing for our people and bringing...
and, like, also bringing awareness about voting
and voting for the right people.
Like, Trevor, I'm out here, like,
I'm educating myself right now on, like, a lot of candidates,
just running down the ticket, so I can go to states...
so I can go to the states and educate people
who are from these communities, saying, "Hey, man,
there's some good people running in your state."
We have a organization, myself and Alicia Keys
and a few other artists, called Urgency 2020,
and-and, man, I'm really enthused about that,
because we're gonna take...
You know, of course, the Biden, um, Kamala ticket is beautiful,
but we also want to make sure that people down...
down the ticket are-are made aware of
and-and we go out and get these votes.
So, that's part of what...
You know, for me, "Glory" is-is all for that.
-It's that fight. It's fighting with love. -Mm-hmm.
I love that, man.
You-you are... you are combative in your love.
That sounds like what my mom used to say
when she would whip my ass.
-"I'm combative in my love." -(laughs)
Common, thank you so much for joining us on the show.
I appreciate you.
Uh, I can't wait to see you again in person.
-Look after yourself, sir. -All right, peace, good brother.
Love, Trevor.