Common had an early morning wake-up call with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to promote his new book One Day It’ll All Make Sense. The Chicago MC opened up about the reservations he had when penning his memoir, the therapeutic writing process, lessons from his mother (“She’s just one of the coolest people ever, she’s definitely my best friend in the world”), being labeled a “socially-conscious rapper,” the controversy surrounding his performance at the White House, and why he thinks his “Ghetto Dreams” collaborator Nas is the best rapper alive—aside from himself, of course.

“Nas is so poetic with it and I feel like his lyrics, you can write ’em down on paper and they will last for time. It would be like literature that we read,” said Common, whose new album The Dreamer, The Believer is due November 22.