Common People.
468. That's how many times the word "love" is used in rapper slash actor Common's new memoir and second scribe, 'Let Love Have The Last Word'. Believe me I counted. Why? Because this language truly is a labour of love. Almost 500. Half of a thousand. Even though love doesn't appear at first until the seal of the seventh page. That's more than twice as many times than there is pages to this books body of text. But never overused. Always heaven sent meant. "I never knew a love, love, love like this". You truly are seeing the light here. Love is all around and all you need. It's something we all have in common, hurt or heartfelt. It has the power to lift you up...and put you right back down. It can break your heart. And it can heal all world war wounds. It can come from mother, daughter, father's and sons. Lovers and friends. And everyone all around us. To what could become of strangers on the street street to those we will never meet. There's love for the physical. The spiritual. Animals. The earth we live on and the wildest dreams we fall asleep with every night, looking towards the future. It can even happen as the author of this book tells us in simply holding the door open for another person. "Love is a verb" as Common says. A doing word. A call to action. "The first emotion I ever experienced was love", Lonnie Lynn wrote in his autobiography almost a decade back. His first New York Times bestselling book, 'One Day It'll All Make Sense', named after one of his hallmark hip-hop classics like 'Can I Borrow A Dollar', 'Resurrection' and the double-header of definitive healing in 'Be' and 'Finding Forever'. Not to forget the beautiful and experimental 'Electric Circus'. And this four letter word runs through his follow up and most personal and profound prose yet like blood through your veins and hope to your heart. The 'Glory' Oscar winning singer who has also appeared in 'Selma', 'The Hate U Give', 'Terminator' and 'John Wick' movie chapters, fighting with Batman, Christian Bale and kicking Keanu Reeves ass like their was a bounty on the boogeyman and used to love H.E.R. fist to desk, taps in and lets us feel how his heart really beats with the click, clack of his typewriter. Like we all will in unison time.
Love is...this. The corner of your bookshelf really is about to give you this feeling. The dreamer and the believer will give you the desire and faith of this with his vision that is more than just the words you see on the page. The genre icon who once sang with John Legend that he's "from the land where money talks and love stutters," gives it it's voice here for all those who can't find the words. "God is Love. Forgiveness is Love. Self-Care is Love. Art is Love. Compassion is Love". The Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder soul of hip-hop and the greatest and most inspirational conscious rapper of all-time gives us the perfect Spring read for the park or early evenings as the light from the sun comes in. Giving us a memoir manual as inspirational as the king Muhammed Ali's 'Soul Of A Butterfly' or the late sportscaster Stuart Scott's 'Every Day I Fight' cancer battle, the man who fell in love with her, Erykah Badu and tennis ace legend Serena Williams as well as his beautiful mother and daughter details his loves life and times, whilst relating to ours and offering a mirror through his words of wisdom for us to reflect. Like his chapter bookmark beginnings with love quotes from the legendary likes of Martin Luther King Jnr, Maya Angelou and Socrates, all with intention not pretention. Like the closing quote of 'If Beale Street Could Talk' author James Baldwin tells us, "Great art can only be created out of love". And you can see where the 'Come Close' and 'Retrospect For Love' artist got his inspiration from like Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill. Preaching gospel, compelling and eloquent, Common shows us what love means to him in relation to God, family, his passion projects like this one and his desires and dreams for another partner and to one day be a husband as well as a father. Vulnerable in his commitment he reveals his flaws when it comes to wanting to make this house a home and his mistakes as a man. All so we can pay attention and heed. All so we like he can learn from his mistakes in our own love for self and what in turn that can do for us opening our hearts to others. Love in action over love addiction sure sounds like a plan...straight from the heart.
Honest and genuine, the philanthropist, Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn gets real and raw when he gets to the real heart of matters like watching his pops pass or his stepfather never leaving his mother's side when she was sick. Yet for all the times it's used-even in its unaccounted for past tenses-the word "love" is missing from many pages detailing prison visits from the rapper in concert like country late legend Johnny Cash performing at San Quentin. All until the end of these passages. This could be because Common's love in action with this reaching out to the bonds of the incarcerated speaks for itself without puffing it's chest out. Or it may be symbolism to show what is truly missing from our prison system today. Common also opens up the conversation further on mental health matters, especially in relation to the immeasurable amount of men not speaking up, out, or being spoken for. Especially those hiding behind the shame of abuse. And Lonnie Lynn too after decades in the spotlight and even more in coming to terms with this all in this moving memoir reveals he was molested. And in making this stand against toxic masculinity and sexual violence towards people in more ways than one, he bravely gives more than himself a voice. Showing he, we, you, I, him and her are never alone in this. His story like his life is really something. Prologue to the closing chapter. And in an epic epilogue of powerful portraits and personal playlists Rashid gives us something for our Spotify to show us what he was jamming to whilst putting all this lasting 'Love' down. Classics like 'A Love Supreme' by John Coltrane, 'The Makings Of You' ("children laughing all around you"...truly) by Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye's 'God Is Love', the Commodores 'Zoom' and 'The Way Young Lovers Do' by Van Morrison. Get in sync now to this headphone rhythm. But if that isn't enough for your lent ears, like it all making sense one day, it seems like love just won't have the last word in these here pages. Like naming his first book after one of his albums, Common will names his next album after this book. A summer album set to smash feature J Dilla, Kendrick Lamar and soul man Leon Bridges. And songs like the tear inducing, Marvin Gaye inspired 'God Is Love' with the aforementioned, the bicep curl strong 'Hercules' and 'Her Love', a spiritual sequel to his signature classic 'I Used To Love H.E.R.' like this album is to this book. Showing that when it comes to rappers writing with a pad and pen, their true love will have the last word on wax. Because after all like Rashid Lynn's Common Sense tells us 'Let Love Have The Last Word' "is not just a declaration. It's a statement of purpose." And what a one to make with so much of that. Love to some may just be a word. But it's one to the rest that will last forever. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
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