After a decade in the Universal Music fold, rapper Common is moving over to Warner Bros. Records.
Warner Bros. Records co-president/CEO Todd Moscowitz announced the signing Friday afternoon at an outdoor concert by one of Warners' other recent singings, Texas-based soul-blues guitarist and singer Gary Clark Jr.
Moscowitz, who told the crowd to expect Jill Scott to be No. 1 on the next Billboard 200, said Common signed with Warners less than an hour before Clark took the stage close to 2 p.m.
Common's Least Controversial Lyrics, with Photos
"I'm very grateful to be a part of this family, to be a part of this team," Common told crowd in the Warner Bros. Records courtyard. "We have very inspirational, exciting music to team up with you. We're just open to what this change can bring."
No other details about the signing were available at press time.
Common, who turns 40 next year, was most recently in the news when conservatives expressed disdain over the rapper being invited to the White House in May as part of a poetry event. Their point of concern was a 2007 poem, "Letter to the Law," in which Common rapped, "burn a Bush cos' for peace he no push no button" on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam." The event went off as planned.
His last album was "Universal Mind Control" in 2008. It debuted and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, and No. 4 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It has sold 244,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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