Nobody's Smiling
With Common\'s hometown of Chicago reeling from rampant gun violence, his 10th studio album, *Nobody\'s Smiling*, is a meditation on that crisis. Produced by longtime collaborator No I.D., the album features big names like Big Sean and Jhene Aiko alongside Chicago fixtures such as Lil Herb and Dreezy. It takes its cues from both \'90s boom-bap and the darker sound of Kanye West\'s *Yeezus*. Common weaves his own experiences and memories growing up in the Windy City into those of the tracks\' narrators, creating an impressionistic tableau: \"These streets is my religion,\" he raps on the standout \"Kingdom,\" which has a gospel choir that evokes that of \"Jesus Walks.\" The abrasive beats of \"Blak Majik\" and \"Hustle Harder\" are some of Common\'s hardest-hitting in years; they jibe perfectly with the heated, mournful tone of his lyrics.
Nobody's Smiling is one of Common's most personal records in quite some time, reflecting on the ups and downs of his relationship with producer No I.D. and meditating on the loss of J Dilla. He also addresses his own conflicted decision to leave the city and people that so greatly shaped some of his best music.
Common has always had a problem staying on the right side of the line between “conscious” and preachy—even on his classic albums, he threatens to go from being concerned with social and political issues to letting them drain his music of any real vitality. Nobody’s Smiling—a Common record in 2014 about Chicago’s gun…
In a wordy yet clever verse from her 2011 song “Live Up,” rapper Jean Grae detailed the inherent tensions that characterize…
Common noted that this album's title references Eric B. & Rakim's "In the Ghetto" -- more specifically, the song's recurring sample from the duo's "I Ain't No Joke."
On his tenth album, Common chooses to focus on his Chicago hometown, a city that has been beset by increasing violence over the past few years.
Something strange happened to hip-hop in the past decade: the genre's most conscious artists, once considered incendiary, somehow became legacy artists.
On Nobody’s Smiling, a rejuvenated Common returns to the war-torn streets of Southside Chicago as a wise and focused veteran.
This letter to the rapper's home town is one of the hip-hop albums of the year, writes <strong>Lanre Bakare</strong>