Globe-Trotting
Originally, this album's title was Invincible Summer. The name change isn't over a lack of heat, is it?
The music as a whole felt like [it should be titled] Universal Mind Control. The record is feel-good music that you can enjoy, dance to and not think [about] too hard. I'm going to rap at the best of my ability, but my goal wasn't to show you why I'm the coldest lyricist.
Did your battle-ready role in next summer's blockbuster Terminator: Salvation bleed into the music?
When I'm working on a movie, I just focus on being a part of that world. But as I was working on Terminator, I got the Neptunes' beat for "The Gladiator.†It's a hard-sounding joint, which gives [the album] a grounding of who I am. I've been through a lot and I got the scars, but I'm the gladiator. Terminator's energy definitely helped in that sense. That's war music.
But why spar atop bubbly electronic backdrops everywhere else?
It's like sex: You want to keep it flavorful and fresh, keep your lady excited. I wanted to push the music forward and create a new sound. And I was blessed to get up with Pharrell and Chad; they were the perfect match to make what has the potential to be world music. I want people who may not even listen to hip-hop to know Common.
You've explained how Kanye was too busy with the Glow in the Dark Tour this time around. Is he a total no-show here?
'Ye is on "Punch Drunk Love.†He's just chanting, doing the chorus. He heard the song and was loving it, like, "We need to make this part the chorus!â€
With such a sudden change of pace from your last two albums, any worries about an Electric Circus–like rejection by longtime fans?
I want the international level of people in Prague, but I'm definitely focused on the hood, too. Common fans know that I create wherever I'm at [artistically]. As much as I was ridiculed for Electric Circus, a lot of people came back and said, "We respect you for it.†And I've always believed that the hood is open to a lot of stuff when they hear it in the right way. —John Kennedy
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Universal Mind Control drops Tuesday, December 9th