Common may as well be one of the most honored rappers in hip-hop history in terms of his awards. The celebrated Chicago MC recently won an Emmy at the Primetime Emmy Awards over the weekend for “Letter To The Free,”a song he penned in collaboration with Robert Glasper for Ava DuVernay’s documentary “13th.” Winning in the “Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics” category, it marked the first time a rapper had ever won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Grammy award.
This makes Common three fourths of the way done to becoming the 13th person in history to win an EGOT, the entertainment grand slam of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Only a dozen performers, including Audrey Hepburn and Whoopi Goldberg, have earned this achievement.
Yet, the rapper remains incredibly humble, passing off honor to others first: “I want to thank God first and foremost,” he told Deadline after the awards. “Any time I get a chance to work with Ava DuVernay it leads to something positive, something strong.”
Common went on to say that an EGOT “would be a blessing. I wanted to go to Broadway before I won any awards. I would love to do theater.”
Common had originally started his historic streak of awards with a Grammy for his 2002 collaboration with Erykah Badu titled, “Love of My Life.” Then, Common veered into Oscar territory when he sealed a trophy for “Glory” with John Legend in 2015, along with a Golden Globe and Academy Award. Common had also won a Grammy for his Finding Forever single “Southside” with Kanye West.
By comparison, only Eminem with one Oscar win (“Lose Yourself”) and 15 Grammy wins come close to the former Common Sense. Will Smith and Queen Latifah both have Grammy victories in their respective careers but have been shut out of the other three notable categories.
Common had previously released his 11th record Black America Again just last year.
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