There is a lot of talk about Chicago in the news lately. Common has been talking about the city of Chicago for quite some time. The conditions in the city, have been described by several rappers but is America even listening? In this video for “Kingdom” featuring Vince Staples, Common comes with it, in this ‘tales from the hood’.

A cold world that’s why we pack heaters
Listening to this preacher as he tryin to reach us
I’m a need to go back, I gots to get ’em
Back and forth in these streets, that’s the rhythm
Revenge is supposed to be the Lord’s but I use my own accord
When I seen him on the porch, cost my man his life, I can’t afford not to hit him
Shots ripping through his True Religion denim
These streets was my religion
I stood over him, his life is over then
Now these keys got me locked up with older men
Thought these was the keys for me to roll a Benz
They ended up being the keys for my life to end

• Common

In the video, we see a young black male who may have just committed a crime. We see the conditions he lives in. We also see him go out, and get paid by an unknown white person to possibly do crime. The video ends, and we find this is not a young black male, but is a young black woman. The video does an excellent job of capturing the scope of this problem, and how it’s effecting black people! It also goes just far enough to suggest, that the origin of these conditions are not specifically with black people. 5 fists for this video –