Common‘s powerful “Letter To The Free” from his Black America Again album won an Emmy Award at this weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
The song was used in Ava Duvernay’s 13th documentary, which was a Netflix exclusive giving it the ability to be nominated in the Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics category. Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper co-produced the song and features Bilal, so they all got a piece of the pie, too.
“Although I’m honored and excited beyond belief for this award,” Common began on Instagram, “my motivation for doing this song was from the heart like it always is. This award is for all the incarcerated people in the prison system and for justice. In the words of the late great Phife, ‘I’ll never let a statue tell me how nice I am.’ We have more work to do and this is only the beginning. So please don’t think for 1 second that my passion for justice stops here.”
Ms. Duvernay herself won a two Emmys for 13th in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming categories.
A night not soon forgotten. A night that further amplifies the message of 13TH. So we don’t forget. Thank you to @TelevisionAcad. Onward. xo pic.twitter.com/RS1LHg4B8T
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 10, 2017
LETTER TO THE FREE, theme for @13THFilm, wins an Emmy! Congrats to @Common, @RobertGlasper @KarriemRiggins. Bravo! pic.twitter.com/iuHsgnyWKf
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 10, 2017
