DX: What are you playing in Wanted as the Gunsmith?
C: The Gunsmith, as much as “gun” is in his name, is more of a peaceful, calm spirit. He’s more of a Buddha-like person in a certain way. He’s a part of a fraternity that are assassins. These assassins issue out fate. They tell us who we’re supposed to go take out. It’s the will of fate. It’s not like a bad thing that these assassins are doing. The Gunsmith is the calm spirit of that team that actually trains everybody with their weapons.

DX: The movie looks wild.
C: Man, I’m really excited about that movie. It looks like something I’ve never seen before—from the storyline to the way it looks and the effects that it has. Also, just the diversity of the cast [is amazing]. You hit every facet. There’s Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy, Common...all of these different genres. And if I could say humbly, I think they chose some good people to be a part of it. I’ve only seen the first 20 minutes of the film and I’m like, “Man, I can’t believe I’m a part of this.” I’m excited about it. We just did some re-shoots the other day. Even James was talking to me like, “Man, I think this is a good movie.” I could tell he’s critical about things.

DX: You’ve been around some serious Oscar power: Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and here with Forest Whitaker. What has that been like?
C: All I can do is smile. Like you said, working with Oscar winners is kinda like a dream in a way. To sit across the table and do a scene with Denzel Washington and to go and do a re-shoot with Morgan Freeman [is amazing]. It’s funny ‘cause in one of the scenes I was driving and he was in the backseat. So, it was a reverse of Driving Miss Daisy. I was “Driving Mr. Freeman.” I didn’t get to tell him that. I forgot. But I’ll tell him sooner than later. I’m just enthused. I want to surround myself with that type of talent ‘cause that will help me to grow. That’s the pedigree of artists that I wanna work with. I feel like, me as a musician, I set a certain tone and certain integrity of the way I wanna put art out. I wanna do the same thing as an actor.

DX: You working on the next album after Finding Forever?
C: Yeah, the new album is called Invincible Summer. It will be out in the later part of June. The music sounds new. It’s really developing. I’m really happy about it. It feels good. It’s not really heavy. The Neptunes are producing a lot of it. Also a producer named Mr. DJ [is on the project]. He did a lot of work with OutKast. He did “Bombs Over Baghdad” and “Ms. Jackson.” These cats are really giving me some new, fresh sounds. I’m taking it somewhere vocally that I haven’t been before. I’m enthused. I’m really excited. I think it’ll be a great summer album. I wanna make people smile and enjoy life. As much as I wanna make them think, it’s important that they smile, too.

DX: So, there will be a couple of club tracks in there?
C: When I went on the Kanye West Glow in the Dark Tour in Europe, I was overseas and just saw people partying overseas. Seeing the music that they were partying to was just a good feeling. I was like, “Wait, none of my songs are being played over here!” What am I missing in my music repertoire? You never stray away from [positive] music. You always need music that’s uplifting and conscious, but you also sometimes wanna relax and party. At a party, you might not wanna hear those things at that time.

DX: Common, why didn’t you mention Kanye’s name as a producer for this new CD?
C: With Kanye, point blank, I’m on G.O.O.D. Music. We’re always going to collaborate. If he’s not producing it, he’s gonna executive produce it and say, “Yo, Rash, we need to do these things with it.” He’ll always be a part of it, but right now he’s focusing on getting his tour together, this Glow in the Dark Tour. I always go with the flow of things. This is what I’m doing for this album. On the next album, Kanye and I will be working on it with some other new artists. But I think this will give it something fresh and it’ll give it more spice when Kanye and I get back together. Who knows? He may do something for this album, too, because I’m not finished.

DX: How do you even have time to record music?
C: Right now, I’m just focusing on the movies. I love music. God willing, I feel like I could do that for the rest of my life. I would be in a Jazz club-like setting but it would be Hip Hop. Movies are something I focus on. I just look for the right next project. I audition and focus on that. The music comes so naturally after that. When I’m working on something else, the music becomes freer. When I’m expressing myself artistically over here, it allows me to not put as much pressure on the music. It’s not my only source of income. It’s not my only creative outlet. Continued on page 3 »