'They’re in God’s Way’: Rapper Common Opens Oscars Performance By Calling Out the NRA

Rapper Common joined Andra Day singing “Stand Up for Something” with a powerful message for feminists, Dreamers and the Parkland, Florida community fighting the NRA.

“On Oscar night, this is the dream we tell,” Common began. “A land where Dreamers live and freedom dwells. Immigrants get the benefits. We put up monuments to feminists. Tell the NRA they in god’s way. And to the people of Parkland we say Ase.”

Activist Khary Penebaker explained that the word “Ase” is a “West African philosophical concept through which the Yoruba of Nigeria conceive the power to make things happen and produce change.”

Common continued with, “sentiments of love for the people, from Africa to Haiti and Puerto Rico.” It was possibly a reference to Donald Trump’s comments about “sh*thole countries” including Africa and Haiti and the way Puerto Rico has been treated in wake of the hurricanes.

The two concluded by asking the audience to stand up for their values. The crowd rose to its feet.

Watch the performance below: