15. Common – Nobody’s Smiling
Released: July 22, 2014 ~ Reviewed: July 28, 2014 (Rated 3 out of 5 Stars)
Honestly, this album had it’s great moments, the first two songs to start the album were dope, and the final two to finish were crazy too. Yet, with this being a Common and No I.D. album I expected there to be a much more defined direction. It’s only 10 songs long as well, so if Common really had a message to get out he didn’t have space to add much fluff, but we got quite a bit.
Don’t get me wrong, Common was really rapping on this album. He failed to grab and hold my attention though. Half the time I was listening to this album, I just heard weak attempts to recreate some of his best music from the past. I’m always harder on Emcees who I know have the ability to craft greatness, and maybe that is reflective in the score I gave it. – DuB
