I met this girl when I was ten years old,_x000D_ _x000D_ And what I loved most she had so much soul._x000D_ _x000D_ She was old school, when I was just a shorty_x000D_ _x000D_ Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me.
CommonRead
Man, if I get a chance to speak on the microphone, I've got to say something somewhere in there. You know, I'm going to laugh and have fun, too, but something has to be said that has some substance, because this is a platform, and the power that we have with words and with this microphone is phenomenal.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the responsibility of using one's voice to convey meaningful messages.
In this quote, Common reflects on the importance of using the microphone, a symbol of communication, to express significant ideas while also allowing room for enjoyment and laughter. He acknowledges that with the power of words comes a responsibility to share something of substance to impact listeners positively, highlighting the dual role of entertainment and enlightenment in artistic expression.
In practice
Using this quote during a speech about the importance of impactful communication.
I met this girl when I was ten years old,_x000D_ _x000D_ And what I loved most she had so much soul._x000D_ _x000D_ She was old school, when I was just a shorty_x000D_ _x000D_ Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me.
I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand, but instead was given a bullet.
As I got to know the people of the Civil Rights Movement, I realized... _x000D_ I am the hopeful black woman who was denied her right to vote. _x000D_ I am the caring white supporter killed on the front lines of freedom. _x000D_ I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand, but instead was given a bullet. I am the two fallen police officers murdered in the line of duty. 'Selma' has awakened my humanity.
It was incredible to have J Dilla in your dining room making beats - it was one of the greatest experiences I've had.
I look into mother's stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl_x000D_ _x000D_ Turnin' this woman's womb into a tomb_x000D_ _x000D_ But she and I agree, a seed we don't need_x000D_ _x000D_ You would've been much more than a mouth to feed_x000D_ _x000D_ But someone I would've fed this information I read_x000D_ _x000D_ To someone my life for you I would've had to leave_x000D_ _x000D_ Instead I led you to death.
A talk is a voyage. It must be charted. The speaker who starts nowhere, usually gets there.
The message sent is not always the message received.
If we go on explaining we shall cease to understand one another.
To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.
There may be an art to conversation, and some are better at it than others, but conversation's virtue lies in randomness and possibility: people, without a plan, could speak a spontaneous, unexpected truth, because revelation rules. Telling words recur in this smart, generous conversation between Stephen Andrews and Gregg Bordowitz: patience, responsibility, feminism, ethics, cosmology, AIDS, gift, freedom, mortality.
In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.
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