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" Chicago&amp;#039;s notoriously nonviolent poet-emcee picks up a 9mm in Smokin&amp;#039; Aces, the new crime caper from Narc director Joe Carnahan. As Sir Ivy, Common is the ultimate right-hand man, fending off hit men (and women) to protect his mob-informant buddy Aces (Jeremy Piven). But one tough-guy turn (actually two: Common plays a drug hustler in the upcoming American Gangster) does not a thug make. In late March, the rapper releases his seventh album, the cheerfully titled Finding Forever.   ESQ: Do you wince when people call you a socially conscious rapper?  C: I&amp;#039;ve grown to embrace it. Look at conscious artists throughout history: John Coltrane, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, KRS-One. Conscious means you&amp;#039;re awake. It doesn&amp;#039;t mean you&amp;#039;re perfect or always saying the right thing. You might be aware of some of your flaws. That&amp;#039;s being human.   ESQ: As the rapper who famously dissed Ice Cube--&amp;quot;rap career is over, better off acting&amp;quot;--how do you think fans will react to your debut?  C: [Chuckles.] When I said that about Cube, I liked that he was acting, but I was saying, &amp;quot;Look, his raps aren&amp;#039;t as good as his acting anymore.&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;m more understanding now. I always want to make music, but I also want to expand as an artist. And if acting is one of those things that I really love to do, then I&amp;#039;m going to do it.  ESQ: Is it true that Jeremy Piven campaigned for you to get the part?  C: He came to one of my shows. I don&amp;#039;t watch television, so I didn&amp;#039;t really know who he was. But we were talking backstage, and he brought up the movie. But Joe [Carnahan] didn&amp;#039;t think I could give that &amp;quot;street&amp;quot; element to the character.   ESQ: You do have a good-guy image.   C: I grew up in Chicago, so I&amp;#039;ve seen some street shit point-blank--cats shooting at you, whoop bam boo. I&amp;#039;ve never killed anybody physically--may-be on the mic I have. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a2217/esq0207common/>