JW Bella
What ‘chu doing to my heart is unfamiliar…

It’s weird that the people you usually love are not the ones you can readily mention when asked. At least, that’s how I work. When people have asked me who my favorite rappers are, I’ve listed off mostly females: MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Yo-Yo, etc. In truth, I like their music, but I don’t listen to it a lot. But Common. Common has been my internal favorite, and I never realized it until recently. I was looking through my Amazon music list and I noticed I have almost every Common album in my collection...more than any other (except J Dilla... but that’s another post and another day). I even catch myself using Common more often in lesson plans. My writing style is something like his: a bevy of imagery stories connected by metaphors and similes. While there are other artists that are exceptional at doing this, I love his way of articulating it with words and phrases. To some, it’s unfamiliar. To me, it’s awesome!