Don’t look now, but Common is quietly on pace to star in more shoot’em up dramas than Tom Cruise and George Clooney combined. You’ve already seen dude go hard as a hitman in Smokin’ Aces and a hustler-on-training-wheels in American Gangster. But if you thought those two roles were different for "Mr. Finding Forever," just wait ‘til you see him go buckwild in the seriously-graphic cop flick Street Kings in mid-April. Then, come June, he’s at it again as Gunsmith in the big-budgeted Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

Rashied Lynn isn’t a total hypocrite for all this gun blasting though. The positive stuff the dude’s rapped about for years on One Day It’ll All Make Sense and Be is, in fact, the same stuff he lives by. In person, Common is humble, articulate and offers eye-to-eye contact with every response. Hell, he’s even got a summer CD in the works that he promises will put a smile on people’s faces. All the bullet spraying and shit talking on the screen is just acting, just him showing some diversity as an artist. But don’t take our word for it. Let Common, the studio gangsta, tell it for himself…

HipHopDX: How’d you get attached to this bloody picture?
Common: My agent told me about the script. I read the script, and then he said I could go ahead and audition. I went to audition at [director] David Ayers’ office. I remember the lights had went out that day. It was some type of blackout. I went in there and just gave it my all. We got a good call back that said, “Hey, you got the part.” It was a great experience. I love the process of auditioning because it’s such a humbling experience.

DX: What’s your motivation for wanting to get into acting?
C: I wanted to express myself in a new way artistically, and it had to be something that I was passionate about, too. I took some acting courses, some classes, and I was so enthused about it. I feel like, “Man, I can’t wait to go to the next acting class.” I was discovering a lot of things about myself. I mean, I am discovering a lot of things through the process of acting. I’ve since come to find out you discover a lot of things about other people as you take on these characters. You learn more about people. Also you just learn more information. If you’re taking on a character of being a pastor, you’re going to have to learn about being in the pulpit and learn more about The Bible. You take on these things while you’re researching. I love to learn, so I think that helps me as far as being passionate.

DX: You played a hitman in your last movie, so what are you learning?
C: That it’s fun. Nah, I guess I’m learning that the things that you do do not denote you as being all bad. Just because in Smokin’ Aces, I played Sir Ivy, who was this right-hand man to a hustler –he was a hustler himself- he wasn’t just a bad person. I guess what I’m discovering is that everybody has good and bad in them. I could play a pastor and within that character there still might be some lust going on. He still may be doing dirty things within the church. It’s good and bad in all people. Some people’s background and what they’ve been exposed to is why they end up being in those [unfortunate] situations. As Coates in Street Kings, I went to Compton and I went to Watts. I discovered a new part of L.A. that I felt was necessary for me to know because when I come here, I’m around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood area. I need to see the grit and I needed to feel the ghetto and another soul of this city. It was important for me to see that. That research helps me in understanding people. Like I said, it allows you not to judge when you see somebody. You try to come to more of an understanding.

DX: What was that first real L.A. experience like?
C: One of the times I drove through it was a police assignment ‘cause I was learning more about being a police officer and deputy sheriff. I was driving through and a lot of the cats [in the neighborhood] were like, “Hey, that look like Common right there!” I was hoping they didn’t think I was like a police informant or something. Anyway, you go to observe and try not to make specimens out of the people. It’s people that are living this life. I try to look at each aspect of the ghetto because the ghetto has beauty to it, too. It’s a certain village atmosphere. It’s tribal and it’s community still. You try to look at those things and acknowledge the positives and negatives. That’s pretty much what I did. I didn’t actually go get an apartment. But I did what I call “touch down” with the people.

DX: Common, what’s interesting is how on the screen you’re primarily these tough guys, but on your CDs you’re one of the most likable cats in the worlds. You like walking both sides?
C: When I first began acting, I would tell my teacher that I wanted to do some dark roles. I’m always viewed as the poet, conscious, loving guy. That’s who I am. That’s the core of me. But there are some darker things that I felt could be expressed. It also gave me the opportunity to be an actor, to take on a role that was different from me. When you’re playing yourself, you don’t get acknowledged. For me, as an artist, I feel it’s more challenging to be an actor that takes on roles that really become a character who does things different from who I am. I’ve done some of these dark characters. I’m looking forward to doing something like playing a priest or a banker. I have had guns in most of my films. This is total opposite of Common. Continued on page 2 »