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Common & Pete Rock "Fortunate" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Genius Verified
Genius
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8/2/2024
Common & Pete rolled up to Genius to discuss their song “Fortunate.” The smooth track is off their joint album The Auditorium, Vol. 1. The duo discuss how fortunate they are for each other, how the Brazilian sample came about, and more!
Category
🎵
Music
Transcript
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00:00
Some black thot said to me one day, I was telling him I was stuck, man.
00:04
I ain't been really writing, blah, blah, blah.
00:05
He was like, nigga, you done earned yours in this.
00:08
Just rap.
00:09
Yeah.
00:09
Just rap.
00:10
Yeah.
00:10
And I was like, damn, it sounded so simple, but it meant a lot because
00:15
it made me think about, man, I like to rap.
00:24
I started with the beat, and it's a Brazilian sample.
00:27
And when I heard it, the guy was singing over it.
00:30
But I have this thing where I could just take his vocal out.
00:33
And when I heard, it was amazing.
00:35
And that's what made me make the beat.
00:37
Once I made the beat, I put the sample back in it.
00:39
I said, I don't know if he gonna like that, but I'll send it to him.
00:42
And then he made it what it is.
00:44
I couldn't tell what it was saying because it's a Brazilian record.
00:48
But for some reason, it made me think of Fortune.
00:51
Fortunate.
00:52
Like, because it's like...
00:53
It sounds like he could be saying fortune.
01:00
But for me, I thought about it as fortunate.
01:03
I was like, this is something I really want to talk about because gratitude
01:07
and just being grateful for where you are is like the beginning of life.
01:12
It's the beginning of my every day.
01:14
When I heard Common on this, it blew me away because I felt like it was
01:18
the perfect puzzle piece.
01:20
It gives you that summer vibe.
01:23
And so I said, this is a match made in heaven.
01:26
And I'm glad it came out the way it did.
01:34
I started that because I just got a call that a friend of mine was murdered.
01:38
It was weighing on me and I was in the studio.
01:40
I just thought about what life is.
01:43
I get calls from friends that are dealing with health issues and different stuff.
01:48
And we losing loved ones and all that's going on in the world.
01:52
I kind of wanted to start with that line just as an affirmation, man.
01:57
This is gratitude right here.
01:59
I'm fortunate to be alive.
02:09
These people that I've known throughout my life, they don't give me that fake shit.
02:13
If I'm playing them some music, they not going to just be like, oh, that's dope.
02:17
One of my good friends is always calling this movie just right.
02:20
I mean, he calls it just wrong because he said my acting was that bad in it,
02:25
which I'm like, hey, people like that movie, so shut up.
02:28
But anyway, I appreciate the authenticity in my friends.
02:33
And it's a very important component to who I am.
02:47
I think Chicago gave me what it is to be a warrior,
02:56
what it is to be black and intelligent, what black excellence is,
03:00
what it is to be true to you because you got to be yourself.
03:03
You're going to get called out on it.
03:06
You're going to get exposed.
03:17
When I'm waking up, the first thing that I'm doing is thanking God,
03:21
like no matter how I'm feeling.
03:22
Because sometimes you wake up and you're not feeling great.
03:25
You feel like something feel funny or something.
03:27
But I'm just really starting with gratitude and saying, thank you.
03:30
Then I go into a prayer of thanks.
03:32
And I'm thanking God for all the things that, whatever I feel for the day.
03:36
It might be, yo, coming to Genius, you know, I'm saying what I'm thankful for.
03:42
I went to a church in Chicago.
03:44
Still am a member of a church called Trinity United Church of Christ.
03:47
The motto was unapologetically black, unashamedly Christian.
03:50
Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a leader, a true leader, and taught us about God.
03:57
But he was teaching us about black and being black and being black and being black.
04:02
And he was teaching us about being black and being black and being black.
04:06
You know, God, but he was teaching us about black and being black and being empowered.
04:12
And I didn't grow up all the way with my father.
04:14
His sermons were fathering me in certain ways.
04:36
12 years old is when I wrote my first rap.
04:43
I'm super grateful that I sat in that room with my cousin Adelaide and wrote this rap.
04:49
Because it led me to my whole path and who I am.
04:52
I see a lot of emcees that didn't continue to make it or follow their dream.
04:59
I'm just saying I'm grateful to be here.
05:01
Rhyming and rocking with Pete Rock and somebody paying attention to my rhymes,
05:08
man, that means something to me.
05:10
Fortunate that the God shared the lessons.
05:12
He returned to the essence.
05:14
I still feel his presence.
05:15
Most of my brethren are from 87.
05:18
Childhood friends.
05:20
I'm glad that I kept them.
05:21
Fortunate for the wisdom of the elders and my grandmother and mother's love that never
05:26
failed us.
05:27
I'm fortunate.
05:28
The wisdom of the elders is something that I abide by because I feel like, you know,
05:32
I know that the elders have had experiences.
05:36
They have the wisdom.
05:37
The ancestors also are something that I believe speak to us and speak to us.
05:44
And my grandmother and mother's love.
05:45
I grew up with my mother and my grandmother.
05:47
They were like the foundation.
05:50
My grandmother was always helping me when I was really young, walking me to school.
05:55
She took me to Disney World one time.
05:57
You know, my grandmother just gave me that love, man.
06:07
Man, I'm really seeing my daughter, this human being that has the capacity to be God-like
06:27
because she is.
06:28
To be spread in love and leading herself and others.
06:31
To be an example of what God's love is.
06:35
And to me, all those things are qualities of a savior.
06:38
When I give up good bars, she like, yeah.
06:40
But she loved the ones that say something about her that's on that level.
06:43
In the days of the unknown, I'm fortunate to come home to blocks we fought and swung on.
06:49
Fortunate the Lord put me on the path to use the microphone for a ride and a staff.
06:55
Fortunate that my heart and the beat knocks the windy city street bop.
06:59
I'm fortunate for Pete Rock.
07:00
I'm fortunate.
07:01
For me, like what makes Pete Rock so special is when he says soul brother number one,
07:07
he's the essence of that.
07:08
When people hear the word soul, it's like it's only one Pete Rock in the world.
07:14
God created one Pete Rock.
07:16
He created one of all of us and tapping into that self and knowing ourself in that way
07:23
and knowing ourself as a person and as a creator is what allows it to be only one Pete Rock.
07:30
What's special about Common is everything he's about.
07:34
He's about the hip hop.
07:36
He's about rhyming.
07:37
He loves to rap.
07:38
And then the skill, his flow, his cadence, everything like that.
07:43
The voice is all like 100%.
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