The first track on Common's album, Nobody's Smiling, is a powerful written account of the inner city: Neighborhoods. He begins his album by talking about some of his struggles in the neighborhood he grew up in. The community he describes resonates with many other inner-city children, who experience the same struggles every day. This neighborhood comes from “the other side of town, closed to anyone who doesn’t live nearby.” Which implies that if you don't already live there, there is no reason why you would want to live there. It is an area that has been mastered by many and a place where the minority are pushed. The life he is accustomed to is one of hopelessness, hopelessness, and filled with drugs and scammers. He says “it’s the tastemakers and trend-setters who have been feeding us hoping the federal government won’t get us.” » Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay In this lifestyle, the federal authorities are the main concern. There's no way out, no way to a better life, so the only thing to turn to is hustling and selling drugs. The blame lies with one person. With increased penalties for drug use or possession imposed by Reagen County and continued under the Bush administration, life on the streets has turned into life in prison. Common puts this directly on Bush: "Reagan era, Bush terror." Crack babies, mom's a helping hand, we were Bush's products. » Common concludes his song with a note of violence in the city. Living in this neighborhood is not only synonymous with drug trafficking and the ever-present threat of prison time, but also unstoppable violence. “No one can stop the violence, why does my city continue to lie? Niggas throwin' peace signs but everybody keep dying He feels like there is nothing that can be done to get them out of the violence and there is no help from outside, so the community continues to unravel. If that wasn't enough to turn people off, Common also talks about struggles against racism. With “the federal government building cases” and “racist, hate-filled judges,” there is simply no victory in this community. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Personalized Essay The title track of The Commons album Nobody's Smiling is a very dark song about inner-city violence. Throughout the song, he raps about the police brutality he experienced in inner-city Chicago. He's referring to special forces coming into a house and people fighting back, which happens a lot: "on the bridge, when the operations arrive, break some out, the operations are running." It's not a game, nigga, there's no options. Violence is so common that it's just an everyday occurrence when you live this type of life, but it does it for a reason. Common says "I'm doing 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 ten people shot down, 7 ate the two 8-inch treys and a 45-inch, which refers to the bloods and crips and types of ammunition used to kill his crew. Thus reinforcing the violence between the city and the population, and between.