The Show: Common

A breakdown of Common's most exciting performance moments.

Common Freestyles for Wendy - Common flexed his freestyle skills on the The Wendy Williams Show by flowing based on words from flash cards. (Photo: Debmar Mercury Productions)

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Common Freestyles for Wendy - Common flexed his freestyle skills on the The Wendy Williams Show by flowing based on words from flash cards. (Photo: Debmar Mercury Productions)

Photo By Photo: Debmar Mercury Productions

One Day It'll All Make Sense - The prez and first lady made it a Chi-Town thing in May 2011 when they invited Common out to The White House to get his slam on for "An Evening of Poetry." Now of course the haters had something to say because Common spoke harshly of former President George W. Bush in the past, but the H.M.I.C. stood his ground and The White House responded, "While the president doesn't support the kind of lyrics that have been raised here, some of these reports distort what Mr. Lynn [Common] stands for more broadly. One of the things the president appreciates is the work Mr. Lynn has done with children, especially trying to get them to focus on poetry as opposed to some of the negative influences of life on the streets."(Photo: Charles Dharapak, File/AP Photo)

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Common Does the White House - Common showed out at Michelle Obama's evening of poetry with a spoken word piece in celebration of American poetry and prose. (Photo: Charles Dharapak, File/AP Photo)

Common x Pharrell x N.E.R.D. - That time Common performed "Universal Mind Control" with Pharrell during the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards and then N.E.R.D. surprised the audience! YUP! (Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BET)

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Common x Pharrell x N.E.R.D. - That time Common performed "Universal Mind Control" with Pharrell during the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards and then N.E.R.D. surprised the audience! YUP! (Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BET)

Common and Kanye on Chappelle's Show - Common and Kanye West brought a good time to the audience at Chappelle's Show. The G.O.O.D. Music duo performed "The Food." (Photo: Comedy Central)

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Common and Kanye on Chappelle's Show - Common and Kanye West brought a good time to the audience at Chappelle's Show. The G.O.O.D. Music duo performed "The Food." (Photo: Comedy Central)

Common and Jhené Aiko's "Blak Majik" - Common and Jhené Aiko brought "Blak Majik," no pun intended, to Jimmy Kimmel Live. (Photo: ABC)

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Common and Jhené Aiko's "Blak Majik" - Common and Jhené Aiko brought "Blak Majik," no pun intended, to Jimmy Kimmel Live. (Photo: ABC)

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Common Does Philly - Common linked up with The Roots, Queen Latifah and DJ Jazzy Jeff at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in 2012 for some Soulquarian/Native Tongues action. (Photo:Kaufman /London Entertainment/Splash News)

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Common Does Philly - Common linked up with The Roots, Queen Latifah and DJ Jazzy Jeff at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in 2012 for some Soulquarian/Native Tongues action. (Photo:Kaufman /London Entertainment/Splash News)

Common Joins the BET Cypher Crew - Common put in work during the 2010 BET Awards cypher. Of course we didn't expect anything less than lyrical heat! (Photo: BET)

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Common Joins the BET Cypher Crew - Common put in work during the 2010 BET Awards cypher. Of course we didn't expect anything less than lyrical heat! (Photo: BET)