Common freestyles for the Lord
Nice!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nashira on -
Yooooooooooooooooooo!!!! TIGHT!
Yes! My man is saved!!!!! He said..."We waitin on the Lord, w' w' w' waitin on the Lord with Patience!!" Yes Common you better preach/rap!!!! He might as well wait up on that alter till I get my white dress on! "I'm coming baby!" LOL
Common is so beautiful man! Yo, how many rappers can freestyle about JESUS and still be tight!!!! I mean I know that Common can freestyle like crazy, but about Jesus tho?! He's more of a beast than I knew he was....I'll "Amen" to that! Ok I'm about to watch this about 36 more times! Thanks for sharing girl.
This clip was at Jeremiah Wright's church in Chi Town, this guy is a WONDERFUL preacher, I would go see him preach at Chapel (@ Howard Univ) annually. His grandson was a member of the Howard Gospel Choir when I was a member...
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Permalink Reply by misskayjones on -
Yes Nashira, Common is beautiful! The way you talk about Common reminds me of my cousin with her die hard love for Ronnie DeVoe of New Edition. If any of us(girl cousins) even sorta acted like we could have had a thought of liking him, she would promptly shut us down!I thought this was fly cuz he was able to get the crowd hype over a form of music that was once frowned upon as being able to merge or be an integral part of religion.
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Permalink Reply by Fanon Che Wilkins on -
nah sweetheart. i am a member of KMT-an African fraternity founded 20 years ago at Morehouse College.
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Permalink Reply by Fanon Che Wilkins on
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This is so priceless. What I love about this cat is that he remains grounded and connected to everyday folk. Big shout to Otis Moss, my fraternity brother and apparent guest pastor for the event that evening.
Fanon
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Permalink Reply by des on -
this was..............entertaining. i am only a new found Common fan (since i saw him perform at the Electric Factory 2007). However, Dr. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr (pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ) is tha truth. I listen to him in the mornings on WURD 900am (former WDAS-talk radio staff) and Rev. Wright is like a blend of Malcolm, Martin and Farrakhan all wrapped up in one. He makes the word plain, he breaks that thing down. He delivers it in a way that it's relative to todays government, todays society, todays issues facing our people (the same issues that have faced God's children all of our lives). if you can, i would implore you to check him out. (www.streamingfaith.com : www.tucc.org)
FYI- Rev. Otis Moss currently serves as Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ under the leadership of Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
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Permalink Reply by Fanon Che Wilkins on
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OK. Thanks for the correction. So Otis is moving up the pastor ranks. Big up!
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Permalink Reply by des on
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not "correcting" you, i guess i was just a little excited and didn't think b4 spkg. yes, big ups. i think he's a gd choice (still growing on me, but so far he's doing a gd job)
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Maddox on -
I feel mixed about this.
I know common has evolved over time in terms of ideologies he believes in. I don't know the works of this pastor outside of his relation to Obama, so can't really speak on him but I will say this:
Besides it being admittedly cool to see one of my favorite rappers of all time freestyling with a choir. I have reservations about what appeared to take place from the pulpit.
Is Common a christian now? I honestly am curious.
Even if the answer is yes, if you pay close attention to the words of the freestyle you can see some cause for concern. He does an excellent job of arranging the phrases the pastor gave him into a coherent rhyme. But he also gives thanks to God for his role in American Gangster, a good movie, but a movie about the biggest drug dealer in american history. A movie in which he played a drug dealer and killed people. Don't get me wrong, I am happy he got the role, and I liked the movie, but people are very impressionable, especially to words being spoken by someone from the pulpit handed a mic from a Pastor who is about to start his teaching.
James the brother of Jesus Christ says about the Tongue (speech): James ch 3: 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
This doesn't apply directly, to the freestyle but is a commentary on how powerful words are and how careful we should be with what we say.
It also doesn't bode well with me that the pastor put Common on the spot like that in that forum. Teachers, apostles, pastors, bishops etc have to be extremely careful with what they say, and whom they endorse to speak. Because that person represents them and in turn Christ especially if it is being done in front of a congregation. Even if the whole assembly can dissociate the fact that the musician politician or whoever is stating their own opinion. It doesn't mean that God is necessarily cool with it.
Jesus says in Luke ch 11 23"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters."
So if Common is not a christian may giving him the pulpit during your service do potentially more harm than good, and cause confusion?
Pastors have more accountability in the eyes of the Lord (James 3:1). Therefore it is that much more important for them to heavily weigh their actions.
Just some food for thought.
Either way, I pray for both Common and Reverend Wright that they seek the Lord at all times and desire closeness to Him above all otehr things.
Jesus saves,
Steve
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Permalink Reply by Nashira on
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Wow Steve this is pretty deep.
I too questioned Common's faith after seeing this clip. (despite the fact that I LOVE Common and was truly excited as I watched this)
In the past I've heard that Common was muslim... I watched the clip a few times in order to listen out for him to say certain things that a Christian would say... like "JESUS", because as you know, Muslims do not always refer to God as Alah, but in some cases depending on the person and who they are talking to, sometimes they refer to Alah as God. Common mentioned the name "Jesus" once, which still did not convince me that Comm Sense was now a Christian. But what did it for me was the fact that Common was in a Christian church on New Years Eve. Not a party or a concert, but a church. How many hip hop artist do that? So if he is not a Christian, I can say that at least he was in the right place at the right time. What better place to bring in the New Year? On your knees (praying) @ 1200am? Priceless...Maybe Common is truly seeking Jesus!
As far as him thanking God for his role in "Smokin Aces" and "American Gangster"... If he feels like that was a blessing from the Almighty God, why not thank him? I know that I've done things that weren't always so right and still thanked God for the positive outcome. For example: Have you ever been speeding then pulled over, but the cop gives you a warning and not a ticket? You are happy, so you thank God because you know you were speeding and deserve a ticket. Have you ever cheated on a test, passed, then thanked Jesus afterwards... Makes a lot more sense to thank Jesus than satan. I think that it's ok to praise God for whatever you think is a blessing. You shouldn't judge, God has different blessings for everyone. And do not forget how mysterious his wonderful ways can be!
Steve as you know, most people do not automatically establish the feeling of closeness to God that you feel. Most have to work at it. For some it's hard enough to establish and maintain faith the size of a mustard seed. So admire anyone who makes an effort to establish that. I am just happy that the brother was there in the first place. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't there to promote album sales... and it's not like Rev. Wright called 50 cent to the pulpit to freestyle, he called Common, a legit brotha... Who knows, maybe Rev. Wright could be the one bringing Common to Jesus you never know, maybe Rev. Wright knows Common's heart and where he is trying to be in his Christian walk...I'm sure that he would not call just anyone to the pulpit. You are being very negative... who knows what the freestyle could have done for someone, like a teenage boy going through hardships in the 3rd pew that likes Common, so now it's cool to rap/talk about the goodness of the Lord because Common did it... We do not know God's plan... remember he works in mysterious ways... that 1 min freestyle could have really touched someone and brought them closer to him!
We must not judge...
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Maddox on
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My intent was not to criticize common in any way. It was a statement about the seriousness of who pastors, or other leaders of the church let represent them and in turn Christ. I agree that every opportunity for financial or career advancement may in turn be a "blessing" and lead us closer to god. We have to be very careful though, how we present ourselves to others. You are right, perhaps this freestyle may have inspired someone to get closer to god, but it also may have inspired someone to believe that playing an assassin hired to kill a man, or working for a family member who runs the largest heroin operation every created in the US may be okay since someone spoke about it thankfully from the pulpit. For common, perhaps he is grateful, and more appreciative of God for the opportunity, but for someone else maybe that would not be a good thing. For instance, and I'll expose my own weaknesses a little bit, someone may be able to have a drink every night and have no problems with alcoholism, but I couldn't do that. In the flesh I enjoy getting drunk like a skunk, but in the Spirit I know it does nothing good for me. If my reply sounded like an assault on Common's sincerity or integrity it was not. I pray for common, not that he be like me but that he develops a heart for seeking the Lord the same way I am trying to everyday.
As for my judgement on Rev wright... Forgive me if it was written to sound like I was being self righteous. I make no claims of moral or spiritual superiority to him, but there is a call for us as Christians to hold each other accountable thereby strengthening one another. We often quote Matthew 7:1-2 to each other "1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." which is a quote from our Lord Jesus. And it is true that we should not go around criticizing each other to no end. My criticism of the reverend's actions are open to myself or anyone else who may do a similar thing. We have to hold each other accountable, no one is perfect alone except Christ, but together we all now make up the body of Christ. The same way your hand may catch you after your foot trips we have to try to keep one another in check in order to make it as a church. For instance, Paul who never walked with Jesus in the flesh, who was the least of all the Apostles in his own eyes,and had the distinction of being the only apostle who had previously condoned the killing of christians, still, when faced with Peter's hypocrisy of acting one way with jews and another with gentiles did not hesitate to correct Peter the "rock" on which Jesus said the church will be founded for his prejudice.(Galatians 2:11-13) If paul did not do that perhaps the church would now only consist of the descendant of the jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and then where would the rest of us be?? I wasn't looking to discredit Reverend wright just stressing my concern over how the action of allowing Common to speak in that forum may be perceived.
I thank you Nashira for your response, and hopefully this makes more sense. I appreciate the fact that you didn't just speak negatively about what I wrote but took it as an opportunity to correct me. I'm not the best writer and some of my points may have not been clear enough in my first response.
-Steve
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Permalink Reply by Nashira on
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It's funny that you say that you are not the best writer... I was just thinking to myself... Wow this brotha is a great writer!!
I see what you are saying and it is clear that we agree on some but probably won't ever agree 100% on this. I really just try to see the good in almost everything. Hope... I hope for the best... Someone told me once that there is something special about a Christian that truly finds JOY when someone comes to God. I've experienced this in church numerous times, you know at the end of service, there's the "alter" call? I've found myself completely joyous with tears in my eyes when total strangers walk down the isle to make it publically known that they love the Lord and and accept him as their personal savior. So I guess I kind of compare the situation with Common with these experiences, because I admire him as a person and to know that someone that I admire, who I also thought was a muslim, might now be a Christian... I was happy! Not crying but happy! Not a negative thought in my mind! I have friends who are non- believers and it BREAKS MY HEART! So I just pray for them everyday... hoping that one day... they will walk up for an alter call and accept him before it is everIasting too late. I
dunno, to me it's just one more person in the dark... coming to the light! Who knows, maybe Common really isn't a Christian, but it's very nice for me to hope so!! Guess I should add him to my prayerlist just in case huh?
Dr. Maddox, I truly admire your biblical knowledge... I'm tryna be like you!
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Maddox on
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Amen sis. I appreciate your optimism!!!
and I am no bible scholar!!! I just know the stories from what I have read and how to navigate biblegateway.com to get the verses.
Christian hip hop helps a lot as well!
God bless Nurse Wallace,
Steve
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