Common and Pete Rock have teamed up for one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. i spoke with them about their tour, great shows, jazz and more.
First things first, the debut album from the newly formed team of hip-hop superstar Common and super producer Pete Rock is called The Auditorium Vol 1 for a reason. The pair, on tour now, absolutely plan to work together again.
“It’s a blessing that we connected at this point in our lives and if God’s willing we will continue to just create,” Common says when I speak with both of them on Zoom. “It could be in different facets, like of course more volumes of the ‚Auditorium.’ But there’s so much potential with Pete and I. I do believe that this is the beginning of us creating more and more.”
Clearly the duo have a palpable musical chemistry that is evident from the opening track, “Drwamin’.” For the following hour they deliver an often-uplifting collection of tracks like “Wise Up,” “Lonesome” and “Now and Then” with the help of guests like Bilal and Jennifer Hudson, among others.
I spoke to the duo about creating music together, why they’re so excited to tour together, the best show each has ever seen, the jazz artists Common feels most closely related to musically and much more.
Steve Baltin: Well, it’s interesting you say that you both believe in higher power. Most every writer talks about the fact there’s a level of channeling in what they do, whether it comes from a higher power, spirit, beyond, whatever you call it. Do both of you feel that in working on this album, you caught that higher power, that channeling where stuff just comes to you quickly?
Pete Rock: Yes. I think that over the years of being in this music business a lot of magic happens. That comes from really loving what you do. But when you’re around that all the time, it just inspires you to shine in that way. And so it’s natural for us.
Common: I do feel that this album has a spirit to it that is when you, in that, you just connected and in alignment with, with the most highs. I’m not saying everybody has their own alignment and what they purpose to do, but I feel like Pete and I like as he said, went through all our experiences, that’s part of the journey too, But then was able to be at this point and really be the vessels and be in alignment with the creator to allow this music to come through. To be honest, it was easier writing and on a practical level, the beats were just inspiring. Pete made some music that just really inspires me. I know that has to come from God and his blessings and his gifts on Pete.
Baltin: What were the songs on this record where you most felt that spirit and where it was just easiest to come to?
Rock: I’ll say the first song that we bumped heads on, me and Common, was this song called „A God (There Is).“ We tell this story all the time of a thing that James Brown taught me about where the woman was at. So I was trying to tell Common the way I made the beat and where he should come in with on the beat. He disagreed, it was like he disagreed with James Brown, not me. I was more concerned of that cause this is what he taught us. We bumped heads on went back and forth about it. Then Common came to an agreement and said, “I’m gonna try it your way, Pete.” Then he had to live with it. Even when he did it the right way, he had to live with it a little bit and then it became the actual feeling from the song.
Common: For me, that song, “A God (There Is)” is one of the ones that you just described. When I got that beat, I just knew where I needed to go with it and the writing just started to come. In fact, out of the songs we started working on that we kept for the album, that to me was the spark of it in many ways. Even though we had did some other joints, that was dope. “A God (There is)” was one of those ones where it just was coming through.
