Common Announces New Album ‘Nobody Smiling,’ Releases ‘War’

Common will join Q-Tip, Nas and Busta Rhymes as the latest '90s-bred veterans to have an album scheduled for a 2014 release.

The Chicago rapper revealed to REVOLT TV that he's working on a new project titled 'Nobody Smiling,' and the project's main collaborator and first single should make fans very happy.

'War,' the first song to come from the project, is produced by No I.D. He'll also craft the sounds for all of 'Nobody Smiling,' according to Common. The producer handled the duties for the MC's first three albums, including the critically acclaimed 'Resurrection.' No I.D.'s last production credit on a Common album was on 1997's 'One Day It Will All Make Sense' before he hooked up with the former G.O.O.D. Music member for 2011's 'The Dreamer/The Believer,' his last album.

'Nobody Smiling' as a title inherently carries tension, and that mood is in full force on 'War.' The production is based off a bustling drum line and horns that sound like something out of 'Godzilla.' It's a warlike overtone as Common switches his focus to the trauma in Chiraq, which last year had its lowest murder rate since 1965.

"Young soldiers who never got to become older / Dogtagged in the body bag / Police kept the knot he had," Common raps.

'Nobody Smiling' drops later this year.

Listen to Common's 'War'