Black America Again

Building a strong, solid foundation for his skyscraper of words, the rapper channels everyone from Malcolm X to James Brown into a mountainous manifesto of beautiful blackness that is reflective of the struggle for dignity and equality, while also working towards the banishment of stereotypes. [Jan 2017, p.61]

In a year of political and social upheaval in 2016 he reached deep down to make a very personal statement from beginning to end on Black America Again and it shows in every word he wrote.

The self-professed rapper-actor-activist has delivered a modern-day hip-hop answer to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” tackling everything from romance to the wage gap to the lack of diversity in Hollywood with a political bent.

There will be plenty of important political rap coming in the near future, but it is unlikely that much of it will match the cohesion and clarity of Common’s vision

At the end of the day, Common creates a great album with such a pertinent and topical purpose. If nothing else, it’s a strong snapshot of the happenings in America right now and the promise of what the country could become.