On “This Man,” a sunset-evoking song on “The Auditorium Vol. 1,” Common raps, “Whether Grammy or Oscar, I keep the same posture.” He’s referring to the awards he’s amassed over his decades-long career, and how they’re merely accolades that acknowledge his talents but don’t define them.
But after the album, produced entirely by hip-hop legend Pete Rock, got nominated for a pair of 2025 Grammys, his stance has shifted — if only a bit. “This is an incredible feeling. I’m overwhelmed,” says Common, who’s currently shooting Season 3 of the Apple TV+ show “Silo” in London. “I feel like it’s one of those things where you’re like, man, we really are Grammy-nominated for this album in categories with Kendrick Lamar and Eminem and J. Cole. My posture is even stronger now.”
Common and Rock have stood tall in the hip-hop community since they debuted in the 1990s, the former as an intellect whose raps interrogated heady subjects like romance and faith, and the latter as an architect of New York City’s gritty-meets-soulful sound. Together, they’ve been nominated in two Grammy categories for their first collaborative set: best rap album and best rap performance for “When the Sun Shines Again” featuring De La Soul’s Posdnuos. It’s a milestone that’s not lost on the two veterans, who first worked together back in 1996 on Common’s “The Bitch in Yoo,” a track that came amid a fierce lyrical battle between him and Ice Cube.
“It’s a new audience out there that’s hungry for good hip-hop music,” says Rock of the project’s warm reception. “The work that we did for this album was extraordinary. I feel like I accomplished a goal I had set in mind to mix into today’s society with what I used to do in the ’90s, and it kind of worked out.”
The duo had connected a few times over the decades — on “The Bitch in Yoo,” and two years later on Rock’s “Verbal Murder 2” — but “The Auditorium” came together after years of mutual respect crossing the right lines. Amid the pandemic, Common was sent a few Rock beats by musician Karriem Riggins (Kanye West, Erykah Badu), which prompted him to reach out to Rock for more. They set to work on the album casually, with Rock eliciting feedback on the Aretha Franklin- and Curtis Mayfield-sampling songs that would make the final cut.
What resulted was an album that plays like a love letter to the artform of hip-hop — pure instrumentals, smart bars — that the two have respectively refined throughout the decades. Across a lush backbone of polished beats with a rich soul, Common pontificates about the concept of destiny (“So Many People”) and pays homage to the tapestry of influences that they both share (“Dreamin’”). The maturity of the record speaks to the growth that comes with age and wisdom — both are in their 50s — and the nagging discourse that hip-hop is a young person’s sport.
“I’m not trying to rap and say everything that a 25-year-old should say, and there’s nothing the matter with what they’re saying, but why at my age try to be that?” says Common. “I think you get the love letter to hip-hop in the truth and evolution of who we are as people and artists, and our love for this.”
Following an early autumn tour, both musicians are soaking up the success of extending a legacy that continues to grow, with a potential sequel set for 2025. “It makes me feel wonderful that we’re still out here doing what we’re doing, and it just fills my passion for music and things I like to do when I’m home making music,” says Rock. “To see younger people loving this music and singing Common’s lyrics and we’re watching the fans sing our songs in the audience while we’re performing on stage — that to me is mind-blowing.”