What do you do when you take a trip to New Zealand?

If your name is Common New Zealand is a place for late night studio sessions.

Yeah, Common was halfway across the world in some tucked away studio recording tracks for his new album, Finding Forever. While there his traveling companion Kanye West, the big man on the boards for the album, was thinking up a hook for a song called “Drivin Me Wild.” In that thought bubble the perfect collaborator for the song emerged. Kanye whispered her name in the air, “Lily Allen.. Lily Allen.. ” An iTune visit later Common found someone he needed for his album, due July 10th.

Common recalls… “I’m like, ‘Aight.’ I wasn’t up on Lily Allen A??,??__ I ain’t gonna front!” but now.. “I just love her A??,??__ the way she carries herself, the confidence, and [her] whole style.”

This exchange was laid out in this week’s Entertainment Weekly.

These days I’m malnourished for lyrics of a different subject matter. So I’m thinking of what vets (or even new jacks) are going to release great music this year and the names escape me. To be real, Common isn’t an absolute favorite, his flow never held my attention past a single. This go around I’ll give his album a closer listen.

Which is right along the lines of his career success.

This being his 15th year in the game, seventh album on deck, Common spoke on his veteran status, yet still kickin’ it like a youngster..

“Man, it feels great! It feels like [2005’s] Be was my first album.. I remember one day [in high school] my science teacher said to me in front of the whole class, ‘‘Yeah, Lonnie’’ A??,??__ that’s my first name A??,??__ ‘‘he’s a late developer.’’ ‘Cause I was still real small and young-looking. I was just like, ‘‘What?’’ So maybe I just developed later [as an artist]. I’m not saying that the material I did before wasn’t nothing, but it’s just constant growth, and the growth is starting to get attention now. That’s a beautiful thing.”

And of course, since he said he “Used To Love H.E.R.”, the state of hip-hop..

“You know, I really don’t think about hip-hop, like, saying, ‘‘Man, where is the music at right now?’’ I just strive to create what I want to hear, and I listen to what I want to listen to, and try not to be even judging it anymore. Hip-hop is gonna be hip-hop. It’s always changing, always evolving..”

“I listen to the stuff that is really fresh to me, that I can enjoy from whatever perspective.”

That really underlines the only way to love music forever.

Oh yeah, that girl on the left.. another album to look forward to.