As Common gears up for the release of his homage to the state of Chicago ‘Nobody’s Smiling’, he has revealed the inspiration and collaborations within the piece! From the intro itself ‘The Neighborhood’ featuring Lil Herb and James Fauntelroy, to the beautiful Jhene Aiko assist. Common continued to unveil his influences in creating ‘Nobody’s Smiling’ which include the sounds of Rakim!
Adriela Batista
“This was the first song I wrote for the album though. ‘Nobody Smiling’ was…That came from that conversation we had,” he said while speaking to No I.D. “And I could remember going back home listening to Rakim, ‘The Ghetto.’ And thinking like ‘I gotta deliver something that’s gon’ be like—that’s gon’ be—no matter what city you in. I was thinking bout ‘If I’m in Chicago right now, how do I feel?’ And I wanted to just like you said, step in it in the shoes of somebody that’s in that place and still give a perspective that may be different than just—than you may hear from another artist.”
The Chi-town great also went into detailing features within the upcoming project, including West Coast repper Jhene Aiko! Common said of the collaboration titled ‘Blak Majik’:
“I wanted to work with Jhene cause man, I think she got something very special,” Common said. “It’s very rare that you find an artist that people invest their emotions and energy into. And I think what she does as an artist people like really care about her and follow her. They know she got something special. I like her originality. And definitely her voice. And I’m a sucker for good writing. And I love when people write from clever and honest places. And that’s what she does.”
