Yesterday (Nov. 4) Common dropped his 11th solo album Black America Again. He continues the push the project with an accompanying short film of the same name.

The 21-minute visual takes viewers on a black-and-white trip through the unadulterated streets of his hometown of Chicago, giving different glimpses of the city. During one point in the film, Common stops to spit some rhymes on the street. He also pays homage to Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man from Baltimore who died while in police custody last April.

His first album since 2014's Nobody's Smiling, Com worked heavily with producer Karriem Riggins on the new project which features guest appearances from Bilal, BJ The Chicago Kid, Stevie Wonder, John Legend and more. "Thank you Karriem,” said the rapper, during an NYC listening for the project. “This is the most inspired I’ve felt since probably J Dilla passed.”

XXL recently chopped it up with Riggins about his involvement in the project. "It’s very positive," he said about the theme of the LP. "[Common] goes on his MC rants too; he can get super raw on those type of joints. We have the ones where he’s speaking out, being a voice for the people, and we’ve got love too. It’s the classic Common we’ve all been waiting for. Not that he hasn’t been doing it, but this is another one in the history books for him."

Watch Common's striking Black America Again short film, above.

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