Common Had Difficulty Recording

Rapper Common revealed that working on his new album The Dreamer/The Believer helped him get through a difficult period in his life. Common told KEPR CBS-19 in Chicago that he wasn't very inspired to make music, and reuniting with his longtime collaborator No I.D. helped spark his creativity.

"I hadn't figured out what I was going to do, what label I was going to work with," said Common. "[No I.D.] was willing to be like, `Yo, let's go! Let's get it. Let's go get on this hip-hop,"' he said. "So I think that meant a lot to me and from there we just continued to grow."

Since the release of his previous album, 2009s Universal Mind Control, Common switched labels and broke up with his longtime girlfriend, Serena Williams.