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Common: Nobody’s Smiling
MCs (lyrical content and delivery): 88
Production: 78
Songs (hooks and overall feeling): 45
Average: 70
Grade: C-
Favorite Track: Out On Bond feat. Vince Staples
Yeah, we got ghost writers; they just actually ghosts
It is now a cliché that hip hop is bringing the reality of the streets or as Chuck put it, “hip hop is the streets CNN”. It is obvious from my 90s reference that this is a dated idea; however, the concept of channeling the dead voices of those who have fallen within the poverty of urban America resonates as a more apt metaphor for street raps despite the supernatural nature of the idea.
We are not objective dispassionate observers and recorders of everyday life like Chuck D claimed with his reporter metaphor.
It is more accurate to say that as humans we are enslaved to our subjectivity and prey to our more powerful and often more destructive emotions and appetites.
So the idea that we are empaths possessed by those that are gone with all their unbridled lusts playing out the same dramas that Homer spoke of and Shakespeare presented on stage makes a lot more sense.
Nobody’s Smiling presents the world in some of the ways that it is but also in the ways that disempowered poor people see it lashing out at an impersonal system that withstands the wrath of the living millions and the infinite dead.
Too bad things fall apart or maybe it is more accurate to say that things never quite come together.
No one told Common though because he is rapping like he is in his prime with a flow that has never petrified and remains as liquid as ever.
Despite the below average grade, this album does not deserve hate. Once again Common has tried to do something different and No ID has progressed in his sound palette. It just doesn’t marry as well as it used to.
1. The Neighborhood feat. Lil’ Herb & Cocaine 80s: Forget the intro from Cocaine 80s. Curtis Mayfield warms up the track nicely til Common comes crashing through the door with a flow and lyrics that sound as refined as anything off the post-Can I Borrow A Dollar albums. Hood tales that present the setting without the hyperbole that many rappers fall prey to. Classic Common with a standout feature from Lil’ Herb.
2. No Fear: Attempting to force Common’s flow over this beat was a mistake. The production is minimalist and inoffensive but the verses never seem to gel with the track, never mind the pointless chorus. We get a bit of that Kanye noise manipulation to end the track that demonstrates how the protégé has become the master and the master is now playing catch up with far less interesting results.
3. Diamonds feat. Big Sean: Big Sean’s hook stands out but not for being a welcome addition rather the only thing that grabs even some puzzled attention over this marching beat. Common dependably does his thing but drops a few clunker lines within his couple verses.
4. Black Magic: You would think that Common was completely out from under the influence of the siren Erykah Badu... this track is the counter to that claim and where the album almost completely falls apart. Obnoxious repetition of black magic through most of the track Common Jheno Aiko delivers the only listenable moment and the fact that she can cut through this mess of production with her charming mic presence even for a short time is a miracle. But even she is eventually drowned in the relentless beating of this terrible beat.
5. Speak My Piece: Almost Neptunes-esque in the simplicity of this bass rattling percussive head nodder, Common delivers over this track, but as the track just repeats over and over for close to two minutes with no rapping, you get the sense they had no idea what do to with this song or how to end it. An above average mixtape type track.
6. Hustle Harder feat. Snoh Aalegra & Drizzy: The attempt to appeal to a younger rap audience comes off awkward in a few moments on this album. This hook is one of those times. It is too bad too because the production on this track is some of the nicest on the album with the piano vocal intro from Snoh Aalegra that sounds like it is coming out of a 1940s jazz club and the undulating bass line of the track that snakes all around Common’s voice is exceptional.
7. Nobody’s Smiling feat. Malik Yusef: Another repeated phrase hook with a sinister bass line and the tease of a beat with the snare taps. Once again, Common sounds as hungry and serious about his rhyme craft as ever, but the production doesn’t complement his sound. The spoken word outro from Malik Yusef has some great lines. This might have been better as an intro track in the sequence on the album because it is not terrible.
8. Real feat. Elijah Blake: The staple of the rap album that tries to appeal to everyone is the R&B joint. Production is nice. Common is nice. The hook is not.
9. Kingdom feat. Vince Staples: Sometimes you want to love a track. It was the anticipation of hearing two talented MCs, one young and one old, rock a track over a talented producer’s work and create the six minute plus epic in the vein of Stairway To Heaven, Dream On or You Can’t Always Get What You Want that rap as a genre is sorely lacking that established my sky high anticipation. Vince had been delivering amazing features on albums from just about everyone and Common is still a top notch MC; however, the utter boring execution of this track is so disappointing. Take a page from rock and understand that to keep a track interesting for over six minutes you need to layer in feeling and lustfully climax. Change the tempo! Add an angelic chorus! Do something!
10. Rewind That: Art makes us immortal. Resonate on a human level and barring mass destruction of human civilization you will live forever and be able revisit it all. Time travel before mistakes were made and everything was right. The Jay Dee influence is a nice touch to the track. Dope concept. Dope production. Dope hook. Brutal honesty. A track that belongs in the cannon of great tribute songs alongside T.R.O.Y.
11. Out On Bond feat. Vince Staples: Unlike Kingdom, this is the song that fulfills the promise of the grouping of Com, Vince and No ID. This is a lean track that has a tumbling ride cymbal dominated beat that Common rips and Vince comes with a cool not heard since Snoop circa The Chronic. The fact that two out of three of these bonus tracks are bonus tracks and not regular album tracks casts who ever sequenced this album’s tastes into complete doubt.
12. 7 Deadly Sins: Shuffling beat that would sound at home on a funky Meters record and synths that add a menacing element to the already dark subject matter as Common catalogues the human sins from street point of view. The other great song that should have found a place on the regular album.
13. Young Hearts Run Free feat. Cocaine 80s: Like the meandering sounds on this track, this song never seems to coalesce into anything worth more than a couple listens and then dismissal. The only interesting aspect is the almost Hendrix-like guitar that ends the track, which is too bad because like the record itself, the disparate production and vocals just never quite come together to make a great album despite some excellent songs.
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stupid thread. hell.. i'll even say that this thread is actually racist not just towards white people but to black people as well. you have some black folks always complain about racism, being stereotyped BUT yet they pull shyt like this.
.boy please find me reviewers on this site that are on pitch forks level..I've been on this site for 2 years and haven't read one decent review 
