When it comes to self-care—whether mind, body, or soul—multi-award-winning rapper and actor Common has written the book on it. Thanks to a vegan diet and a life lived with gratitude, the 52-year-old seems to be aging backwards. And his voice has continued to ring throughout hip-hop, with the release of The Auditorium Vol. 1 with Pete Rock over the summer. “It’s like, man, this music is actually splashing on the people in a way that I hadn’t felt my music do in a long time,” he told GQ.
The Chicago native also recently lent his talent to Listerine’s Whoa Collection, which is aimed at closing the diversity gap in dentistry through art, music, and community. Common spoke with GQ about the initiative, his evolving wellness journey, and why good vegan cheese is so important.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: Given the way the music landscape has transformed over the last few decades since you broke out, why do you feel you’re still able to make music that resonates with what’s current?
Common: I believe no matter how much things advance with technology, people still relate to heart. People still relate to love. People have wanted love throughout history, and art is something distinct. I’ve listened to Earth, Wind, and Fire my whole life, and some of that music was made before I was born. If I’m reading a James Baldwin poem—these things last forever because they have a soul to them.
It’s being humble enough to know I don’t know everything. So that means I seek and try to learn, get better, and grow. As I evolve as a person, my music and my art evolves. If you look at any album or music that I’ve done, it’s always a reflection of where I am at that point in my life and what I think is fresh. I want something new in my life and to create new good things.
I think people have been able to grow into some of the things that I’ve done. They might not have liked it before. I’ve had people come to me like, “I didn’t used to listen to your music, and then I turned 30 and I was like, yo, this is it.” With God’s grace and my pursuit of just being an artist who does it for the love and wanting to put some great energy and good spirit out there, it’s allowed me to grow and have a career.
What made you want to get involved with this Listerine initiative?
From the beginning, my first conversation was about increasing our oral health care for our communities—for Black communities—and engaging more people to become Black dentists and us to support more Black dentists. That’s very important to me because taking care of ourselves is one of the things that I feel like, it’s part of the revolution. It’s part of changing our trajectory or changing our conditions. One of the most important things is for us to care for ourselves: from oral health care, emotional health care, physical health care to spiritual health care. So for me to align with Listerine and the Whoa Collection was just another element that I could bring to our community in a way that I believe is easy to digest, is relatable, and could still be a component to us being better. That’s what I’m about.
How would you describe the wellness journey you’ve been on as it pertains to body, mind, soul?
I want to say, first, to anybody who’s reading, I didn’t start off knowing anything or even having the desire to be like, “Hey, I’m about to be healthy and take care of myself.” I didn’t know what that was. I grew up in Chicago and that means I was eating everything, drinking at an early age, and staying out as late as I wanted to. But the steps were taken because I wanted to feel good in life. I want to feel good so that when I do have those great moments, I can actually enjoy them. I saw the difference in myself when I started taking care of myself.
