Common's New Album 'Let Love' Goes To Places He's Never Gone In Music

When it comes to the way that Common expresses his life through art, he's in a league of his own.

While chatting with iHeartRadio, the 47-year-old Oscar-winning MC opened up about what went into creating his forthcoming 12th studio album Let Love, which drops on Friday (August 30).

Like his memoir "Let Love Have the Last Word," published in May, the album goes to places that Common has never opened up about publicly, especially not in his music as he discusses being sexually abused as a child, going to therapy, and dealing with his emotional scars.

However, Let Love is more than an airing of his personal traumas, the album is also, appropriately, filled with stories of love, triumph, and over-all good vibes. It's a project that Common is proud of, and one that had him rapping like his 22-year-old self on his second studio album Resurrection.

To find out more about Let Love, check out our interview with the legendary rapper below!

Let’s talk about the album, Let Love. It’s out in a few weeks. Tell me about it. What inspired the project and what fans can expect from it?

Because it's inspired by the book, it's entitled 'Let Love.' I think I was really in a space where I felt open to talk about life. And to talk about it in a way that's like, very open and vulnerable. Going to places that I never went in music, and also I still feel like it has a light energy to it, as far as being, uplifting and inspiring, and creative. I was just talking to one of my friends and he's like 'Man, I feel like you rapping like you did when you was on Resurrection!' I was just doing different inflections and doing different things that, really for me, is just about being free. And this album has a soulful, progressive, still musical, element to it. The producers are really creative. So we just went into our creative space, and we really wanted to put something out there that was fresh and new.

Did you work on the album while writing your memoir?

Basically the album came about because I was meeting with my team, and they were like, 'Yo, we think you should do a music project, like an EP, based off the book.' I was like, wow that's a good idea. Cause I love getting to create music that is based around a theme already. That's why I like writing music for films. The best albums I've had, I think the titles gave me a good direction to go in. So when I knew I had 'Let Love', I knew I could talk about love in these different aspects.

The album is not all just love songs, but it is dealing with love. 'Good Morning Love' is the intro to the album, and it's really an invocation into going into the project and really saying, 'Man, it's like a breath of fresh air.' I'm talking about everything that I discussed in the book just in a different way. I'm talking about therapy, I'm talking about mindfulness.

I really wanted to rap, I feel like hip hop can be taken anywhere. It's the voice of us, it's the voice of young, it's the voice of people. So, I talked about what I've been going through and the way I see the world, in a very raw way, and not being like, 'Okay, as a black man I can't talk about these. I can't talk about therapy.'

In one song called 'Memories of Home,' featuring BJ the Chicago Kid, I talk about molestation. And it's like, man, these are things that I feel like I gotta talk about in hip hop. It's like, people don't see the person you're wearing on your chest, but you're wearing a 2Pac t-shirt. That dude took it to wherever he wanted to go, and I feel that's where hip hop has to be. That's where I take the album.

'Hercules' is your first single off the project. What about that song made you decide this is the track I want people to get ahold of first?

So 'Hercules' is a song that just has an energy. It just makes you want to get charged and you get lit off of, you get hype, you whatever the words you want to use — it gives you energy. I don't always have songs that have that energy. I always joke and be like, 'Man, I want some songs that people can work out to. 'Cause people be in the gym, and they don't be always working out to my songs, and 'Hercules' has that type of energy. everything on the album is not just like, about a subject matter that's serious or conscious, you know, in that way. I'm a whole person, so some days I'm just rapping and want to talk sh*t, you know. That's what Hercules is, that is like me just going and MC'ing. And in a certain way, talking about freeing your mind to a certain degree. That is freedom, just being able to be who you are and talk, you know, and go into it. I love the MC'ing, that's the freedom in that, so...

That's where "Hercules" happened and Swizz [Beatz] on there just added to the energy of what I'm saying like, getting people to just feel good and move and uh, yeah- That song, is, you know, it's still live instrumentation but it feel, it's still got the ruggedness that I love in music.

Why do you have two music videos for 'Hercules'?

Well, the first video we created, it had a story to it, and I felt like it was really quirky, and I liked it. I also wanted to have a visual that had Swizz in it, and at the time we needed to film the video, Swizz was in Europe. So it was kinda like, we gotta film this now. So we knocked that first video out, and I knew at some point, that I might want to just have another episode. We called it 'Episode 2,' and Swizz was so energized about the song.

When we were talking about it I was like, 'man we gotta shoot another video.' And I just felt like it was another way of expressing it visually. With the energy of the song, and what it gives you, I think the new video lets pay attention to the lyrics more, whereas the other [video] was more about the story. I'm super excited to have two versions of it.

Being that this is your 12th studio album, how does it feel to have people still wanting to listen to your music and caring about what you have to say after all these years?

For me, it's a gift that I have people still wanting to listen to me. It just makes me inspired. It moves my heart and soul, that I'm talking about music with you and people are paying attention to my music, 'cause my music is my first love. It's like my first child. When you birth a child, you want people to check it out and listen to it. That was the dream that I had when I first was writing. Before any consciousness, before anything, it was like I want to be heard. I want people to know I'm a MC. I want people to think I'm dope and feel that dopeness.

Now, to have it have all the greater purpose and still be liked [...] I feel very grateful more than anything, to answer your question. I'm grateful that people are listening to my music, and can talk about it, and hopefully the overall intention is to put out something that makes people feel good, make people inspired, make people be motivated to be better versions of themselves, and just to enjoy. So, if that's being received, then that's one of the greatest gifts.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Common Let Love Track List

01. "Good Morning Love" featuring Samora Pinderhughes

02. "HER Love" featuring Daniel Caesar

03. "Dwele’s Interlude"

04. "Hercules" featuring Swizz Beatz

05. "Fifth Story" featuring Leikeli47

06. "Forever Your Love" featuring BJ The Chicago Kid

07. "Leaders (Crib Love)" featuring A-Trak

08. "Memories of Home" featuring BJ The Chicago Kid and Samora Pinderhughes

09. "Show Me That You Love" featuring Jill Scott and Samora Pinderhughes

10. "My Fancy Free Future Love"

11. "God Is Love" featuring Leon Bridges and Jonathan McReynolds

Let Love drops on Friday (August 30).

Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartradio