... I don't love Nobody's Smiling too much. I appreciate the concept and the focus, but I don't revisit all that often outside a couple tracks.

Black America Again was a fucking gem though.

And agree with everything re: EC. Super underrated, unfairly maligned, and the only two duds were the ones you named. Rest of the album was FIRE and Common was rapping his ass off at this time in his career. On another level.