Common & Pete rolled up to Genius to discuss their song “Fortunate.” The smooth track is off their joint album The Auditorium, Vol. 1. The duo discuss how fortunate they are for each other, how the Brazilian sample came about, and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00Some black thot said to me one day, I was telling him I was stuck, man.
00:04I ain't been really writing, blah, blah, blah.
00:05He was like, nigga, you done earned yours in this.
00:08Just rap.
00:09Yeah.
00:09Just rap.
00:10Yeah.
00:10And I was like, damn, it sounded so simple, but it meant a lot because
00:15it made me think about, man, I like to rap.
00:24I started with the beat, and it's a Brazilian sample.
00:27And when I heard it, the guy was singing over it.
00:30But I have this thing where I could just take his vocal out.
00:33And when I heard, it was amazing.
00:35And that's what made me make the beat.
00:37Once I made the beat, I put the sample back in it.
00:39I said, I don't know if he gonna like that, but I'll send it to him.
00:42And then he made it what it is.
00:44I couldn't tell what it was saying because it's a Brazilian record.
00:48But for some reason, it made me think of Fortune.
00:51Fortunate.
00:52Like, because it's like...
00:53It sounds like he could be saying fortune.
01:00But for me, I thought about it as fortunate.
01:03I was like, this is something I really want to talk about because gratitude
01:07and just being grateful for where you are is like the beginning of life.
01:12It's the beginning of my every day.
01:14When I heard Common on this, it blew me away because I felt like it was
01:18the perfect puzzle piece.
01:20It gives you that summer vibe.
01:23And so I said, this is a match made in heaven.
01:26And I'm glad it came out the way it did.
01:34I started that because I just got a call that a friend of mine was murdered.
01:38It was weighing on me and I was in the studio.
01:40I just thought about what life is.
01:43I get calls from friends that are dealing with health issues and different stuff.
01:48And we losing loved ones and all that's going on in the world.
01:52I kind of wanted to start with that line just as an affirmation, man.
01:57This is gratitude right here.
01:59I'm fortunate to be alive.
02:09These people that I've known throughout my life, they don't give me that fake shit.
02:13If I'm playing them some music, they not going to just be like, oh, that's dope.
02:17One of my good friends is always calling this movie just right.
02:20I mean, he calls it just wrong because he said my acting was that bad in it,
02:25which I'm like, hey, people like that movie, so shut up.
02:28But anyway, I appreciate the authenticity in my friends.
02:33And it's a very important component to who I am.
02:47I think Chicago gave me what it is to be a warrior,
02:56what it is to be black and intelligent, what black excellence is,
03:00what it is to be true to you because you got to be yourself.
03:03You're going to get called out on it.
03:06You're going to get exposed.
03:17When I'm waking up, the first thing that I'm doing is thanking God,
03:21like no matter how I'm feeling.
03:22Because sometimes you wake up and you're not feeling great.
03:25You feel like something feel funny or something.
03:27But I'm just really starting with gratitude and saying, thank you.
03:30Then I go into a prayer of thanks.
03:32And I'm thanking God for all the things that, whatever I feel for the day.
03:36It might be, yo, coming to Genius, you know, I'm saying what I'm thankful for.
03:42I went to a church in Chicago.
03:44Still am a member of a church called Trinity United Church of Christ.
03:47The motto was unapologetically black, unashamedly Christian.
03:50Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a leader, a true leader, and taught us about God.
03:57But he was teaching us about black and being black and being black and being black.
04:02And he was teaching us about being black and being black and being black.
04:06You know, God, but he was teaching us about black and being black and being empowered.
04:12And I didn't grow up all the way with my father.
04:14His sermons were fathering me in certain ways.
04:3612 years old is when I wrote my first rap.
04:43I'm super grateful that I sat in that room with my cousin Adelaide and wrote this rap.
04:49Because it led me to my whole path and who I am.
04:52I see a lot of emcees that didn't continue to make it or follow their dream.
04:59I'm just saying I'm grateful to be here.
05:01Rhyming and rocking with Pete Rock and somebody paying attention to my rhymes,
05:08man, that means something to me.
05:10Fortunate that the God shared the lessons.
05:12He returned to the essence.
05:14I still feel his presence.
05:15Most of my brethren are from 87.
05:18Childhood friends.
05:20I'm glad that I kept them.
05:21Fortunate for the wisdom of the elders and my grandmother and mother's love that never
05:26failed us.
05:27I'm fortunate.
05:28The wisdom of the elders is something that I abide by because I feel like, you know,
05:32I know that the elders have had experiences.
05:36They have the wisdom.
05:37The ancestors also are something that I believe speak to us and speak to us.
05:44And my grandmother and mother's love.
05:45I grew up with my mother and my grandmother.
05:47They were like the foundation.
05:50My grandmother was always helping me when I was really young, walking me to school.
05:55She took me to Disney World one time.
05:57You know, my grandmother just gave me that love, man.
06:07Man, I'm really seeing my daughter, this human being that has the capacity to be God-like
06:27because she is.
06:28To be spread in love and leading herself and others.
06:31To be an example of what God's love is.
06:35And to me, all those things are qualities of a savior.
06:38When I give up good bars, she like, yeah.
06:40But she loved the ones that say something about her that's on that level.
06:43In the days of the unknown, I'm fortunate to come home to blocks we fought and swung on.
06:49Fortunate the Lord put me on the path to use the microphone for a ride and a staff.
06:55Fortunate that my heart and the beat knocks the windy city street bop.
06:59I'm fortunate for Pete Rock.
07:00I'm fortunate.
07:01For me, like what makes Pete Rock so special is when he says soul brother number one,
07:07he's the essence of that.
07:08When people hear the word soul, it's like it's only one Pete Rock in the world.
07:14God created one Pete Rock.
07:16He created one of all of us and tapping into that self and knowing ourself in that way
07:23and knowing ourself as a person and as a creator is what allows it to be only one Pete Rock.
07:30What's special about Common is everything he's about.
07:34He's about the hip hop.
07:36He's about rhyming.
07:37He loves to rap.
07:38And then the skill, his flow, his cadence, everything like that.
07:43The voice is all like 100%.