Generations of cool: a conversation between a legend and a legend-in-training: 'Tag, Brother- You're it!'

FIFTY years ago Harry Belafonte, then a young actor, budding activist and maturing singer, sat at the feet of Paul Robeson and Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, soaking up their wisdom as he embarked on an entertainment and civil rights journey that would take him around the world many times over.

Fifty years later, it is actor, hip-hop ambassador and award-winning musician Common--who has reinvigorated today's music and film with his own flavor--as the student and Belafonte, who recently turned 80, the master instructor.

Decades apart, these two generations of coolness--brought together by EBONY magazine one chilly Saturday morning--met in a New York studio to talk about life, the creative spirit and the youth of America.

Belafonte, a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a powerful performance in the Emilio Estevez movie, Bobby, and has spent the last few years finding common ground with gangs in Los Angeles and filming a documentary of his life story. Common, on the other hand, made his acting debut this year in Smokin' Aces and later this year will co-star opposite Denzel Washington in American Gangster. He has written children's books and started the Common Ground Foundation, an organization dedicated to using hip-hop to advocate for justice, education and health awareness among youth.

During the conversation, the two men discovered that they not only share a zodiac sign (Pisces) but a spiritual connection, a mutual respect and an affinity for changing the world. And as Belafonte schooled his 35-year-old counterpart in matters of politics, art and inspiration, Common proved an eager--and humble--student.

That morning, both men cemented a friendship and vowed that this initial conversation would not be their last.

COMMON" I'm so honored to be here, man. It's so great. Thank you, man. You're one of the great names in my life.

BELAFONTE: You look just like I thought you would!

COMMON" Talk to me, sir, about our roles as artists in communicating a cultural message to the world. You said something earlier about the importance of discovering agendas. I'm going to be like you, Brother.

BELAFONTE: You will never really know how powerful you are until you see your power base. Do you think you've seen poverty sitting here in Watts or in Cincinnati? I took a group to Africa and showed them some of the worst poverty --people eating their feces, children digging into the muck of dogs--and I've got it all on film.

Anyway, the one thing that you have in common with all of these Africans is that the same cat who did it to them is doing it to you, and you're nowhere near where they are. I want to let you know that they are ready to let you get there. There's still some bottom left for you to hit here.

But let me show you where these oppressors are prepared to take you, and then you'll see who your real allies are. If you don't know these people in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, then you have missed the whole scene. You're so busy dealing with your little narrow gig, and the minute you get a taste you'll leave everything and then they will come and get you again.

COMMON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. BELAFONTE: Because that's what we did--in civil rights-you get a hit, you do a nice little thing and we walk away. And they come right back in like bad weeds and choke us off again.

COMMON: What makes us walk away like that? There were so many people into it for a minute. What do you think makes us walk away?

BELAFONTE: Nobody stuck around long enough for us to pass the torch. Every day I walked through the streets of Harlem I saw poverty and unemployed folk--my father was one of them, my mother was always hustling for a gig--but at the same time I saw Paul Robeson, I saw Dr. DuBois, I saw Jackie Robinson, I saw all of the great heroes, because segregation said that you may be a little bit better off if you make a buck, but you ain't going to live no place else except in your Black community.

So we always had the images bumping off us, so you could walk down the street and say, 'Here is what I want to be. I can touch it, I can feel it.' In the more recent past, all those who succeeded and who had acquired knowledge and information, they left and went to live in all the outposts and the suburbs. I'm guilty too, but I was on a mission to just break down segregation. I didn't realize that beyond breaking down segregation I was also abandoning revolution. So we had to find a way to make those things come together.

If you get the right to vote, and if I'm a Black person with the first chance I get to vote, who and what do I vote for?

COMMON: I'm glad to hear you say that. The last election was the first time I ever voted. I never had faith in politics and I still don't know for sure if there are people out there who will make movement for us. But I had to try to do what I could to get Bush out of office.

BELAFONTE: Don't look for people out there who will make movement for you--because you're it! Tag, Brother--You're it!