Intimate yet expansive in its depiction of his Chicago hometown, Be is Common’s return to his street-poet roots after the quirky Electric Circus. There’s a starkly real yet ultimately positive worldview throughout, because Common brings as much thoughtfulness to a track about gangbanging (“The Corner”) as he does the gorgeous self-love anthem “It’s Your World”. It’s the equivalent of listening to riveting stories from your dad . . . but over a soulful, scratchy beat.