The first track on Common's album, Nobody's Smiling, is a strong written testament to the inner city: Neighborhoods. He begins his album by talking about some of his struggles in the neighborhood where he grew up. The community he describes resonates with many other inner-city kids who experience the same challenges every day. This neighborhood is "on the other side of town, off-limits to anyone who doesn't live nearby." This implies that if you don't already live there, there is no reason why you should want to live there. It is an area kept under control by many and a place where the minority is pushed. The life he is used to is one of desperation, desperation and full of drugs and hustlers. He says that "the traffickers were the taste makers and trendsetters, they who fed us hoping the feds wouldn't get us." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In this lifestyle, the feds are the primary concern. There is no way out of what they have, no way to move on to a better life, so the only thing to turn to is drug trafficking and selling. The blame goes to one person. With increased penalties for drug use or possession brought about by the Reagen area and continued during the Bush administration, street life transformed into prison life. Common puts this directly on Bush: “The Reagan era, the Bush terror. Kids, mama's a push, we were Bush's products. ”Common ends his song on a note of violence in the city. Living in this neighborhood not only involves drug dealing and the ever-pressing threat of a prison sentence, but also unstoppable violence. “No one can stop the violence, why does my city continue to lie? The blacks send peace signs but everyone keeps dying. There is a feeling that there is nothing that can be done to pull them out of the violence and that there is no help from the outside, so the community continues to suspend training. If that wasn't enough to keep people down, Common also talks about the struggles against racism. With "case-building feds" and "racist, hateful judges" there is just no winning in this community Keep in mind: this is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The title track of The Commons album No One Smiles is a very dark song about inner-city violence. Throughout the song he raps about the police violence he experienced in downtown Chicago. He's referring to special forces arriving at a house and people returning fire, something that happens often: “on the bridge when the ops arrive, you blow it up a little, the ops run. This ain't a game, nigga, ain't no options. Violence is so common that it's just another everyday occurrence when you live this kind of life, but it's for a reason. Common says “I do it for Hadiya and Trayvon Martin.” He believes he is fighting for justice. The second half of the song takes a clear turn directly towards gang violence. The lines “Five against six, Star Wars. No stickers, real bullet holes in the car doors. Of the ten people hit, 7 ate 9s, two treys 8s, and one 45-inch refers to blood against crips and the types of ammunition used to kill its crew. Thus promoting violence between the city and the people, and between the people themselves. Common's main point in this rap is that living this lifestyle is dangerous. On all sides there is the threat of imminent death, but it is a death that is not in vain, it is for the Treyvon Martins and for the Hadiyas. This concludes.