Common

This year’s BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival Opening Night Concert, presented by BRIC in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance, will feature socially-conscious hip hop performer and actor Common. As a GRAMMY-award winning artist, Common has become a prominent voice in hip hop’s new millennium renaissance.

“An artist’s duty,” Nina Simone once said, “is to reflect the times.” The rapper/poet/actor/activist Common has embodied this statement his whole career. From his ‘90s breakout in underground progressive hip hop, through mainstream success with the Soulquarians, and on to Hollywood stardom and beyond, he has remained an eloquent narrator of the injustices, challenges, conflicts, and hopes of his cultural moment. In the spirit of Simone’s quote, the Festival’s 40th season is a summer-long celebration of democratic ideals and social justice—and there’s no better way to kick it off than with a free show by this inspiring artist-citizen.

Following the concert, at 10:00pm, gala guests and Friends of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival (i.e. members) are invited to the Opening Night After-Party featuring a celebrity guest DJ to be announced.

Gates open at 6:30. All performances are rain or shine.

For the latest information, including weather updates, set times, seating configurations, and FAQs, please visit the BRIC website.