Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 13

COMMON Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Com- mon began rapping during his teens and got his first break in the early ’90s when he was featured in The Source magazine’s “Unsigned Hype.” He made his recording debut in 1992 with “Take It EZ” and the album Can I Borrow a Dollar? , and two years later he reacehd a wider audience with his sophomore album, Resurrection , in part be- cause of the track “I Used to Love H.E.R.” and its attack on some of the subject matter preva- lent in the hip hop of the time. Common’s first album under that moniker, One Day It’ll All Make Sense , appeared in 1997, featuring collab- orations with such artists as Lauryn Hill, De La Soul, Black Thought, and Questlove. Those last two proved an important connection, as Common subsequently signed a major-label deal with MCA and fell in with Questlove’s “Soulquarians,” guesting on the seminal records Things Fall Apart by The Roots and Black Star by Mos Def and Talib Kweli. That environment fueled his critical and commercial breakthrough Like Water for Chocolate (2000), gaining con- siderable popularity for “The Sixth Sense” and “The Light,” the latter earning the rapper his first Grammy nomination. After guesting on Kanye West’s The College Dropout , Common signed with West’s new GOOD Music label, crafting 2005’s four-time Grammy-nominat- ed Be with the fellow Chicagoan. Their second album together, 2007’s Finding Forever , topped the charts and won Common the Grammy for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance for “South- side.” Around this time, Common also began appearing in major films, including American Gangster , Wanted , and Terminator Salvation , and in 2011 he began a four-year stint starring in the AMC series Hell on Wheels . Following his first release on the Def Jam label, Nobody’s Smiling (2014) Common appeared in the Best Picture Oscar–nominated film Selma , for which he and John Legend co-wrote the Oscar-, Gold- en Globe–, and Grammy-winning theme song, “Glory.” Common’s memoir Let Love Have the Last Word was released earlier this year, and a companion album—inspired by his work on the book—was released yesterday. Common is making his first return to Ravinia following his 2017 debut. QUEEN LATIFAH New Jersey native Queen Latifah is a musician, critically acclaimed television and film actress, label president, author, and entrepreneur. She became the first hip-hip artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006, and her critical success in Hollywood has included Oscar, Golden Globe, and SAG Award nomi- nations for her portrayal on Mama Morton in Chicago as well as an Emmy nomination plus Golden Globe and SAG Award wins for her role in Life Support . In 2015, Latifah returned to the small screen for the HBO biopic Bessie , which she produced, recounting the “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith—she earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations plus a SAG Award for her role. A flurry of accolades has also fol- lowed her music career: in addition to winning a Grammy for Best Rap Solo in 1994 for “U.N.I.T.Y.,” she has received six further nominations, including Best Female Rap Solo for “Go Head” (2004), Best Jazz Vocal Album for The Dana Owens Album (2005), and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Trav’lin’ Light (2008). Latifah’s recent screen work includes Miracles from Heaven with Jennifer Garner, NBC’s The Wiz Live! as the title character, Lee Daniels’s Fox TV series Star , and Girl Trip with Jada Pinkett Smith and Regina Hall, as well as voicing the mammoth Ellie in the Ice Age animated film series. After her big-screen debut in Spike Lee’s 1991 film Jungle Fever , Latifah starred in Set It Off and co-starred with Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito in the critically acclaimed Living Out Loud . Her film credits also include The Secret Life of Bees , Hairspray , Mad Money , Just Wright , Joyful Noise , The Last Holiday , and Beauty Shop , as well as starring in and executive-producing the box office hit Bringing Down the House and the TV movies Life Support and Steel Magnolias . From 1993 to 1998, Latifah starred in the network comedy Living Single , and then from 2013 to 2014 she hosted an eponymous talk show. Her production company, Flavor Unit Entertainment, is owned and operated by Latifah with her partner, Shakim Compere. Queen Latifah is making her Ravinia debut. RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 26 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 110