Common Thinks Chicago Is A War Zone Right Now

The violence in Chicago has been rampant. Common has witnessed the gruesome life in Chi-Town first hand. It appears now that it's in the worst shape that's it ever been.  While he hopes to provide jobs to those in need in Chicago, he's aware that's it's not going to be easy. During his interview with Devi-Dev, Common addressed his city's on-going issues and compared it to a war zone.

“It is war,” the rapper said. “To think about this—If you coming up at a time where your parents are not there and then it’s just people that you know are getting killed. You dealing with fear of your life and then you gotta like combat somebody with maybe taking their life. That’s war. It’s war, mental war. It’s like—Sometimes it becomes physical war. It’s emotional war. And you right, kids go through that and they don’t have proper treatment or counseling, whatever. My thing is before they have to go to war give ‘em programs and give ‘em the proper education. So, before you even start that path you can be like ‘Man, you know what? I want to do something with my life.’ Whether it be an artist. Be an engineer. Whatever it may be. A radio personality. Whatever your dream is…I feel like those things need to be put in front of our children. In front of kids, so that they can be like ‘Okay, I got some hope. I see something at the end of the road.’”

Common addressed all of these issues on his new album, Nobody's Smiling, which is currently out now.