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COMMON

Artist profile

Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. a.k.a. Common

Born: March 13, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Years active: 1992 - present

“... but I'mma take her back hopin' that the shit stop - cause who I'm talkin bout y'all is Hip Hop”

Born in 1972 in Chicago, Illinois, Lonnie Lynn Jr. would become the underground rapper Common, making his album debut with Can I Borrow a Dollar? An artist known for often thoughtful, verbose lyricism and exploring varied sounds, his later albums included Like Water for Chocolate, Electric Circus, and Be, among others. A Grammy winner, Common has also turned to acting, as seen with roles in projects like Just Wright, The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Selma. For the latter film, he and vocalist/musician John Legend have won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for the song “Glory.”

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Rapper and actor Common was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. on March 13, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois to educator Mahalia Ann Hines and basketball player Lonnie Lynn Sr. The young Lynn went on to adopt the stage name Common Sense and became an underground rapper who garnered a reputation for relatively thoughtful, progressive lyrics as compared to top-selling rap artists of the time. He released his debut album Can I Borrow a Dollar? on the Relativity label. His next album, Resurrection, came in 1994 and featured the single “I Used to Love H.E.R.” followed in 1997 by One Day It’ll All Make Sense, which included contributions from Lauryn Hill and De La Soul, among others.

After being sued by a band over usage of his performance alias, Lynn simply began to go by Common, as seen with the release of 2000’s Like Water for Chocolate, a hit album which featured production from Questlove and the single “The Light,” with additional musical contributors like D’Angelo, Macy Gray and Roy Hargrove. Common’s next album Electric Circus was much more experimental and diverse in its sonic orientation, with Mary J. Blige featured on the single “Come Close.” Other tracks hosted musicians like Jill Scott, Pharrell Williams, Erykah Badu (to whom Common was romantically linked at the time), Cee Lo Green and Prince.

In 2003, Common won a Grammy for Best R&B Song for “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop),” a collaboration with Badu that was featured on the 2002 soundtrack Brown Sugar. (He would receive another Grammy years later for the song “Southside.”)

In 2005, Common dropped the more straightforward, funk/soul-based Be, a No. 2 album on the Billboard charts. The project featured production from fellow Chi-town artist Kanye West, who also contributed lyrically to the single “GO!” and tracks “The Food” and “They Say,” with singer John Legend appearing on the latter song as well.

Common has continued to focus on recording as seen with albums Finding Forever (2007; No. 1 on Billboard), Universal Mind Control (2008), The Dreamer/The Believer (2011) and Nobody’s Smiling (2014). Yet he has also increasingly turned to acting, having made his television debut with a role on the sitcom Girlfriends. Later TV projects included One on One and Hell on Wheels, with Common playing 19th-century character Elam Ferguson for several seasons.

The rapper/actor has also landed major parts for big-screen projects, among them American Gangster (2006), Terminator Salvation (2009) and the romantic dramedy Just Wright, playing an injured basketball star opposite Queen Latifah and Paula Patton. He’s also co-starred in family fare such as the animated Happy Feet Two (2011) and Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012), in which he played a soccer coach. Other projects have included the drama LUV (2012), thriller/caper Now You See Me (2013) and Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma (2014), in which Common portrayed activist James Bevel. For Selma, Common and Legend won a Golden Globe for the song “Glory” as well as an Academy Award, with both artists using their Oscar acceptance speeches to highlight contemporary issues that connect to the Civil Rights Movement.

In addition to performance work, Common has authored a 2006 children’s book I Like You but I Love Me (illustrations by Lorraine West), as well as a 2011 memoir named after his third album.

COMMON

Official site: Common

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Discography

Movies

LUV

LUV

Over the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle....

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Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton: This Is Stones Throw Records

Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton: This Is Stones Throw Records

Under the direction of founder and world-renowned DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw Records has consistently released critically acclaimed...

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Two Trains Runnin'

Two Trains Runnin'

The search of several young, white men for blues singers who have been missing for decades coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Missi...

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A Happening of Monumental Proportions

A Happening of Monumental Proportions

During the course of one day, a group of students at a school in Los Angeles find themselves caught up in a plot of sex, lies and dead bodie...

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Misdirection: The Real Magic

Misdirection: The Real Magic

A documentary film that follows two young men on a 3-year odyssey, through small triumphs and big set-backs, as they train to become profess...

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Feel Rich: Health Is the New Wealth

Feel Rich: Health Is the New Wealth

FEEL RICH: HEALTH IS THE NEW WEALTH documents the nascent self-love revolution emerging in urban communities. Narrated by Quincy Jones III, ...

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Black America Again

Black America Again

A visual celebration of the beauty, strength, perseverance and spirit of the Black community in these troubling times....

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Brave New Voices 2010

Brave New Voices 2010

The excitement and poetry of the Brave New Voices 2010 National Slam team championships is captured in this special....

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A Most Beautiful Thing

A Most Beautiful Thing

A chronicle of the first African American high school rowing team in America made up of young men, many of whom were in rival gangs from the...

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Just Wright

Just Wright

Physical therapist Leslie Wright lands the dream job of working with basketball superstar Scott McKnight, helping him recover from a career-...

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Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Having forged a 20-year run as one of the most innovative and influential hip hop bands of all time, the Queens NY collective known as 'A Tr...

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5 Sides of a Coin

5 Sides of a Coin

"5 Sides of a Coin" is a comprehensive overview of the worldwide cultural movement of Hip-Hop....

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Love Beats Rhymes

Love Beats Rhymes

A young woman dreams of making it big in the world of hip hop, but her parents demand that she finish her university degree. She dutifully a...

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John Wick: Chapter 2

John Wick: Chapter 2

John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by...

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All About Nina

All About Nina

Nina Geld's passion and talent have made her a rising star in the comedy scene, but she's an emotional mess offstage. When a new professiona...

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Letter to the Free

Letter to the Free

Inspired by some of the greatest musical recordings and performances 'behind bars', Young imagines a time and place where jails and prisons ...

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Alice

Alice

Alice spends her days enslaved on a rural Georgia plantation restlessly yearning for freedom. After a violent clash with plantation owner Pa...

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Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to thr...

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Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives

Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives

Exploring the social impact of what The Source Magazine in 1998 voted, "The Best Hip Hop Radio Show Of All-Time." The documentary film is th...

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The Informer

The Informer

In New York, former convict Pete Koslow, related to the Polish mafia, must deal with both Klimek the General, his ruthless boss, and the twi...

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Ava

Ava

A black ops assassin is forced to fight for her own survival after a job goes dangerously wrong....

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Saint Judy

Saint Judy

The true story of immigration attorney Judy Wood and how she singlehandedly changed the U.S. law of asylum to save women's lives....

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Soundz of Spirit

Soundz of Spirit

Award winning documentary by Joslyn Rose Lyons exploring the relationship between spiritual connection and the creative process in hip-hop m...

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Diane Warren: Relentless

Diane Warren: Relentless

An intimate look at the life, career and process of one of the most accomplished songwriters of all time, Diane Warren....

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Hunter Killer

Hunter Killer

Captain Glass of the USS Arkansas discovers that a coup d'état is taking place in Russia, so he and his crew join an elite group working on...

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Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

A celebration of Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of...

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Smallfoot

Smallfoot

A bright young yeti finds something he thought didn't exist—a human. News of this “smallfoot” throws the simple yeti community into an...

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Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life

Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life

The greatest rapper to ever pick up a mic - with his velvety flow and unparalleled rhyme style he captivated everyone from Jay Z to Tupac. N...

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Pete Rock: Soul Survivor

Pete Rock: Soul Survivor

...

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Breathe

Breathe

Air-supply is scarce in the near future, forcing a mother and daughter to fight for survival when two strangers arrive desperate for an oxyg...

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Killing Me Softly with His Songs

Killing Me Softly with His Songs

Killing Me Softly With His Songs is a musical documentary about the life and work of composer Charles Fox, known for pop hits such as "Killi...

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Between Riverside and Crazy

Between Riverside and Crazy

City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed—and the Church won’t leave him al...

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Beef

Beef

A documentary on the evolution of MC battles from verbal one-upmanship to street warfare....

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The Words That Built America

The Words That Built America

In recognition of the 4th of July, several celebrities and politicians of differing ideologies join to read the historic documents which lai...

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Here and Now

Here and Now

On the eve of a major performance, singer Vivienne receives life-altering news that causes her to reevaluate her priorities. Crisscrossing t...

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The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give

Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer s...

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Music

Music

The story of music and the music industry told through interviews with musicians, composers and producers across genres....

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Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation

All grown up in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor must lead the resistance of humans against the increasingly dominating militaristic robot...

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Wanted

Wanted

Doormat Wesley Gibson discovers that his recently murdered father - who Wesley never knew - belonged to a secret guild of assassins. After a...

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Date Night

Date Night

Phil and Claire Foster fear that their mild-mannered relationship may be falling into a stale rut. During their weekly date night, their din...

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Every Secret Thing

Every Secret Thing

One clear summer day in a Baltimore suburb, a baby goes missing from her front porch. Two young girls serve seven years for the crime and ar...

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Being Charlie

Being Charlie

Charlie is a troublesome 18-year-old who breaks out of a youth drug treatment clinic, but when he returns home to Los Angeles, he's given an...

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Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces

When a Las Vegas performer-turned-snitch named Buddy Israel decides to turn state's evidence and testify against the mob, it seems that a wh...

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The Wiz Live!

The Wiz Live!

Winner of 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Wiz was a massive Broadway hit which spawned a dismal feature film starring Diana Ross ...

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Megan Leavey

Megan Leavey

The true story of Marine Corporal Megan Leavey, who forms a powerful bond with an aggressive combat dog, Rex. While deployed in Iraq, the tw...

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Chasing Trane

Chasing Trane

An account of the life of the brilliant jazz musician John Coltrane (1926-67), a gifted saxophonist, an extraordinarily talented thinker who...

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BET Presents Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration

BET Presents Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration

A White House concert and celebration in honor of the 8-year Presidency of Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama....

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The Kitchen

The Kitchen

The mobster husbands of three 1978 Hell's Kitchen housewives are sent to prison by the FBI. Left with little but a sharp ax to grind, the la...

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Letter to the President

Letter to the President

Narrated By Snoop Dogg- Letter To the President is a feature documentary that showcases the close-knit ties between the Hip Hop Music commun...

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Street Kings

Street Kings

Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicate...

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Happy Feet Two

Happy Feet Two

Mumble the penguin has a problem: his son Erik, who is reluctant to dance, encounters The Mighty Sven, a penguin who can fly! Things get wor...

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Barbershop: The Next Cut

Barbershop: The Next Cut

To survive harsh economic times, Calvin and Angie have merged the barbershop and beauty salon into one business. The days of male bonding ar...

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Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince

Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince

A lineup of artists -- including Beck, Common, Gary Clark Jr., Foo Fighters, H.E.R., Juanes, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Chris Martin, Mavis S...

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Pawn

Pawn

A petty robbery spirals into a tense hostage situation after three gunmen hold up a diner that's a front for the mob....

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Run All Night

Run All Night

Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of...

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Kanye West: College Dropout [Video Anthology]

Kanye West: College Dropout [Video Anthology]

A collection of music videos and behind the scenes footage released to promote Kanye West's upcoming debut album, College Dropout. The compi...

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Chamber Check: Evolution of a Fight Scene

Chamber Check: Evolution of a Fight Scene

More fight choreography footage and in fact seems to be documenting more than one fight scene, unless one simply takes the entire film as on...

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Now You See Me

Now You See Me

An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audi...

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The Tale

The Tale

An investigation into one woman’s memory as she‘s forced to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves i...

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Seven Friends: George Miller’s Justice League

Seven Friends: George Miller’s Justice League

Documentary chronicling director George Miller's unmade 2008 superhero movie Justice League Mortal....

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Selma

Selma

"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famo...

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Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP is a feature length performance documentary about the runaway juggernaut that is Rap music. At the wh...

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A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop

A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop

A once-in-a-lifetime live concert special celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Airing Sunday, Dec. 10, at at 8:30 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT ...

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Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad

From DC Comics comes the Suicide Squad, an antihero team of incarcerated supervillains who act as deniable assets for the United States gove...

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The Price of Protest

The Price of Protest

United States, September 1st, 2016. American football player Colin Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem, protesting police brutality...

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Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize

Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize

An outstanding lineup of entertainers gathers in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall to salute Dave Chappelle, recipient of the 22nd annual Mark...

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The Odd Life of Timothy Green

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green i...

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X/Y

X/Y

As Mark, Jen, Sylvia, and Jake navigate through their emotionally-arrested states, X/Y reveals the honest and wanton desire we all have to c...

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American Gangster

American Gangster

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the H...

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You're Watching Video Music Box

You're Watching Video Music Box

The untold story of the world’s longest running video show, Video Music Box. A hip hop mainstay since 1983, VMB gave a platform to artists...

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Kanye West: College Dropout [Video Anthology]

Kanye West: College Dropout [Video Anthology]

A collection of music videos and behind the scenes footage released to promote Kanye West's upcoming debut album, College Dropout. The compi...

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Movie 43

Movie 43

Fifteen directors and an all-star cast created this twisted comedy that follows three teens on the hunt for the world's most banned film....

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Unity

Unity

Despite the advent of science, literature, technology, philosophy, religion, and so on -- none of these has assuaged humankind from killing ...

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The Legacy of J Dilla

The Legacy of J Dilla

In his short lifetime, J Dilla was a musician, producer and visionary who profoundly influenced rap and hip-hop. Given how prolific he was i...

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Ocean's Eight

Ocean's Eight

Debbie Ocean, a criminal mastermind, gathers a crew of female thieves to pull off the heist of the century at New York's annual Met Gala....

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Girls Trip

Girls Trip

Four girlfriends take a trip to New Orleans for an annual festival and, along the way, rediscover their wild sides and strengthen the bonds ...

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Fool's Paradise

Fool's Paradise

A down-on-his-luck publicist discovers a recently released mental health patient who looks just like a misbehaving movie star. The publicist...

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2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Filmed at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honors inductees: Tina Tur...

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New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

The lives of several couples and singles in New York intertwine over the course of New Year's Eve....

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Brown Sugar

Brown Sugar

Sidney and Dre can attribute their lifelong friendship and the launch of their careers to one single childhood instant... witnessing the bir...

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One World: Together at Home

One World: Together at Home

A global broadcast & digital special organized by Global Citizen and the World Health Organization featuring comedians, musicians, and actor...

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Entourage

Entourage

Movie star Vincent Chase, together with his boys, Eric, Turtle and Johnny, are back…and back in business with super agent-turned-studio he...

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Two Trains Runnin'

Two Trains Runnin'

The search of several young, white men for blues singers who have been missing for decades coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Missi...

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Alice

Alice

Alice spends her days enslaved on a rural Georgia plantation restlessly yearning for freedom. After a violent clash with plantation owner Pa...

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Glitter Ain't Gold

Glitter Ain't Gold

A sixth grader takes a trip with his best friend to a local flea market to buy his first fake chain in order to impress his crush....

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Alice

Alice

Alice spends her days enslaved on a rural Georgia plantation restlessly yearning for freedom. After a violent clash with plantation owner Pa...

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