• Common's got some balls to be practicing with Serena. [CL]

• Boris Kodjoe needs your help! [NB]

• Guess what! Targeted marketing of high calorie food and beverages to blacks contributes to the obesity problem in the black community! We totally needed a study to tell us that. [QSR]

• Now this is real Hollywood love right here. [Bossip]

• Bow Wow and Game prove they have nothing better to do. [AHH]

• De La Soul, Cypress Hill, Slick Rick and others will be honored at the next VH1 Hip Hop Honors' [SP]

• "A Love Supreme? John Coltrane, Lil Wayne and the Post-Trauma Blues" [CN]

• A look at the old Common, before the Gap ads. [TAN]

• Rohan Marley says his wife, Lauryn Hill, is on the comeback trail. So, that settles it: Pot does make people delusional. [XXL]

UNCOMMON COMMITMENT Since is girl might be too busy with tennis for him, Common finding some very worthwhile things to do with his time when he's not in the studio or on a movie set. He has launched a national online book club for kids ages 13-18 called The Corner. The club focuses on books that "that promote messages of tolerance, compassion and nonviolent expressions of achieving social justice."

A joyful-looking Serena Williams covers the July issue of Ebony; inside she talks about her diet (the typical chicken, fish, and grilled vegetables) and gives a vague quote about Common.

“I think he’s a great guy. He’s obviously a great artist who is timeless and classic. You can’t beat that. But I have to focus on tennis because that’s my goal in life.”

I'm sending tons of positive thoughts her way to counteract the virulent, disgusting racism lobbed at her in the comments section of a certain popular gossip blog. Black is beautiful, guys!

HASTA LA VISTA COMMON Common's continuing to beef up his IMDB page with a role in the new Terminator film, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. He'll play a freedom fighter alongside Christian Bale, who stars as a grown-up John Conner. [AHH]

• Halle Berry, who is 15 years Beyonce's senior, looks better in HDTV than my favorite international pop star in the whole wide world. Despite my slight bias, I can definitely see how that might be true. [TVP]

• Further proof of that "Black Don't Crack" theory. And that some really good, subtle plastic surgery goes a long way. [BET]

• Common, a member of Trinity United Church of Christ, defends his pastor, saying he's not against any particular race, but an establishment that oppresses people. [EUR]

• It makes sense that wealthier people are healthier, and not just because it rhymes. [USAT]

• Maryland's House of Delegates passed a bill that allows police to extract DNA from anyone charged with violent crimes and burglary, prompting several black delegates to walk out in protest. [BS]

Will.i.am got some of Barack Obama's A-List supporters (and some not as A-List supporters) together to sing/talk along to Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech and, basically, express their undying love. John Legend, Common, Scarlett Johannson, Aisha Tyler, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kate Walsh, Tatyana Ali, Nick Cannon, Herbie Hancock, and some people I don't recognize participated. Will.i.am said stars were eager to join in once word of the song got around.

"I'm blown away by how many people wanted to come and be a part of it in a short amount of time. It was all out of love and hope for change and really representing America and looking at the world," will.i.am said.

Dylan and will.i.am say they did not coordinate the production or release of this video with the Obama campaign and the filmmakers say they don't even know if Obama is aware of the video.

• How could anyone question the "blackness" of Barack Obama when he's a member of a church (okay, he's separated himself from it since he began his campaign) that lets Common spit holy freestyles? [XXL]

• Donna Brazile's accused of being honest about how something made her feel playing the race card after she called some of Bill Clinton's Barack Obama comments "depressing." [Politico]

• Stedman's not getting any monetary rewards for sticking by Oprah Winfrey all that time. [MSNBC]

• Genarlow Wilson, who was college-bound before he was jailed for statutory rape after having oral sex with another student at his high school. Now that he's out of jail, he's headed to Morehouse. [AJC]

• Oh really, Tyson? [FWD]

• Janet Jackson gives us an early taste of what's to come on her new album. Feedback? [CL]

• The same people who were wearing this stuff then are now criticizing today's youth for wearing baggy pants. Every generation has committed its fair share of fashion crimes. [Jezebel]

• Wesley Snipes needed to find some way to pay those back taxes. We all know the acting thing is no longer bringing in the big bucks. [BI]

• Reserving judgment on Serena Williams and Common's relationship. They are both nice people. That's all. [Bossip]

• More info on Ledisi, a Grammy nominee for Best New Artist. [MTV]

• Andre J. is not only amaaaaaaazing, but he's also black, very different, and proud:

“Most people are conditioned to think of a black man looking a certain way,” Andre J. went on. “They only think of the ethnic man in XXX jeans and Timberlands, and here Andre J. comes along with a pair of hot shorts and a caftan or maybe flip-flops or cowboy boots or a high, high heel.”

[NYT]

• The week-long series on NBC Nightly News examining "issues facing the American black woman" begins tonight. [EUR]

• Nice. Really nice. [Racialicious]

• There's something charming about a totally bald ex-supermodel. [MG]

• This is just odd. What happened to Kerry, Common? What happened to Jackie Long, Serena? [Bossip]

• First with GAP, now with Lincoln, Common is becoming quite the commercial rapper. I'm not mad at a guy trying to increase his wealth. [EUR]

• Evangelicals might not be the same unified front they were in the 2004 election, which is great news for Rudy Giuliani and Democrats (his ass is grass next November….uh, I hope…) [LAT]

• At the Achievement Gap Summit in California, black and Hispanic leaders say that racism in schools is partly responsible for the poor test scores of minority students. No way! [KPBS]

• An idiot who's obviously stuck in 2002 sent a package filled with white powder to the Atlanta NAACP office. It turns out the powder was crushed up anti-depressants. If cops search the local pharmacies for a weepy, despondent racist trying to refill his Prozac, they might have some luck. [11Alive]

• A local Chicago rapper was shot and killed by police during a routine traffic stop. A gun was apparently "recovered at the scene." [AHH]

I have two sisters who I love more than anything in the world, so it always warms my heart to see sisters having fun together, whether they're fake ones in movies or television or actual tennis phenoms on the red carpet. This display of familial affection occurred yesterday in NYC at the launch of Venus Williams's clothing line, EleVen. These chicks love clothing lines, don't they? More after the jump.

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Alicia Keys and Common are playing a game of trade-the-cameo. She appeared as his love girlfriend/wife in the video for "I Want You," and now Common is playing Alicia's ill-fated man in her "Like You'll Never See" video. Not bad at video-acting, these two, but their videos are kind of depressing me.

Common and Chris Brown, two of my favorites, bonded at yesterday's LA premiere of Chris Brown's family holiday movie, This Christmas. A large portion of black Hollywood was also there — maybe because a large portion of black Hollywood is in the movie. More pics after the jump.

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Common recently made a video encouraging young people to vote for Barack Obama. And while Common is certainly well-loved, does his candidate preference make any difference to you? Let me know after the jump.

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