NEW YORK (AP) – Common says earning an Oscar nomination for his music attached to a film about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the activist’s birthday makes the moment one of the best in his career.
Common’s “Glory,” featuring John Legend, earned an Academy Award nomination for best original song. The track, which won a Golden Globe Award earlier this week, is in the film “Selma,” where Common plays the role of activist James Bevel.
“I feel like, ‘Wow! I never knew that this would happen,'” Common said in a phone interview Thursday from Los Angeles. “Just thinking about creating songs in music and in hip-hop, and for me to say, ‘I’m an Oscar-nominated actor, or artist. I’m an Oscar-nominated person,’ it’s incredible.
“I am overwhelmed and inspired and enthused. I am actually ready to do more work now.”
Thursday would have been King’s 86th birthday. He was assassinated in 1968 at age 39.