Bobby Caldwell’s Wife Reveals He Only Had 12.5% Publishing For Common’s “The Light,” Not 100%

Common recently claimed that Bobby Caldwell charged him 100% of the publishing for sampling “Open Your Eyes” on his 2000 classic “The Light.” While the Chicago rapper stated the late singer deserved it, his wife Mary Caldwell revealed that the statement was false.

“I guess during the interview with Common it was stated that Bobby demanded 100% of the publishing on ‘The Light,’” she exclusively told VIBE. “If you check BMI, you will see that Bobby has 12.5% of the song. Bobby never involved himself in publishing shares. He never involved himself with the business of music. He only did what he loved and understood, which was to write music and sing. He was an artist and nothing more, other than being a kind soul and a wonderful husband.”

Per BMI, Caldwell’s wife is telling the truth. The breakdown shared by Mary also revealed that he received a 25% share of the song as a songwriter and composer of the track. Thus, even if the shares were combined, they only amounted to 37.5% Check out the screenshot below for the accurate splits of “The Light.”

Common made the initial claim during his recent appearance on Juan Ep Is Life. “I wanna say, God rest his soul,” he stated. “And I feel bad: at one point he had wanted us to do a record together and we ain’t get to do it. He did charge us 100% publishing for that. And to this day, Questlove and my lawyer, and Derek who is my manager and one of my best friends said, ‘Take that song off the album.’”

While the “Go!” rapper understood their perspective in the business sense, he felt the song was too good to leave off of his 2000 album Like Water For Chocolate. “I said, ‘Are y’all f**king crazy?’” he recalled. “Questlove said he was tryna talk me out of it, he was tryna figure out how he could talk me into taking that song off the album. He’d just say, ‘Aww, I don’t think it fit the rest of the Dilla-vibe beats and stuff.’”

It turned out to be a good decision, as “The Light” was Common’s first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 44. Listen to “The Light” below.