Common Announces New Album 'Nobody Smiling'

Common is turning the spotlight back on his music in 2014. The rapper-turned-actor has announced details surrounding his new album Nobody Smiling.

For his 10th studio LP, the Chicago MC has reconnected with fellow Chicagoan No I.D., who will executive produce the concept-driven project.

“2014 will be one of my greatest times in music,” Common told REVOLT. “Originally I was making an EP, but we’ve just been making a lot of songs—myself and No I.D.—and I liked the direction.”

The follow-up to 2011’s The Dreamer/The Believer will arrive later this year on the 20th anniversary of Common and No I.D.’s 1994 album Resurrection.

The title was inspired by his troubled hometown of Chicago. “We came up with this concept Nobody Smiling [and it] was really a thought that came about because of all the violence that was going on in Chicago, or that is going on in Chicago,” he explained.

He hopes the music will serve as a call to action. “I like to say was because we’re going to bring it into fruition that it’s going to stop the violence that was going on, and it happens in Chicago but it’s happening around the world in many ways.”

Last year, Common dropped remixes to Chris Brown’s “Fine China” and Jay Z’s “Open Letter,” and had announced plans for a mixtape, which was never released.