When Common dropped the single Ghetto Dreams in July 2011, his fans were expecting another late-career classic by the Chicago MC. The later singles, Blue Sky, Sweet and [Celebrate] (for some reason no videos of this album are available on youtube, so these are dailymotion and vimeo links) (https://vimeo.com/61555919) didn’t make much noise so expectations settled to a solid veteran album, which it ultimately was. Produced exclusively by No ID and featuring James Fauntleroy on 7/12 tracks, we get rich and opulent sounds for the most part.

Highlights being The Believer with a standout John Legend performance and tracks Gold and Windows which are very good songwriting.

Common did a whole commentary series on each track of the album which goes into more detail.