Yo, a lot of you cats really need to grow up and expand your mindstates. First off if you're not from the Chi you really should'nt give a f@$k if Common sold out or not, and if you are from the Chi and think he has, then you dont know what the hell you are talking about.

How has he sold out? Cause he moved? Big deal!!!!!! I dont hear him on tracks reppin brooklyn, he still reps the chi, and does a lot of underground grassroots ish here. In fact he was here 3 weeks ago, at Malcom X college for a politcal rally to free falsely incarcerated prisoners. He's always around, just because you dont know that hes here doing things for the people of the city he's from and loves doesnt mean he isnt.

Common didnt move because he doesnt love chicago, his home and its residents, he moved to help is career. Chicago doesnt have a music industry, a film industry, a fashion industry, it has no entertainment industry of any form other than clubs, and what metropolis doesnt have those. Chicago is not self sustaining when it comes to the music industry, all we do is buy other peoples sh!t, we dont create any music that becomes nationally or even internationally known on a large scale because THERE IS NO INDUSTRY. There are no major record lables here, there are no major hip hop artists here. There are very few venues here to put on hip hop shows at, and for those that are available most are 21+, which eleminates a large fan base. Basically if you are a hip hop artist living and working in Chicago, trying to make it, you are living and working in ISOLATION, which makes becoming successful extrememly difficult. Then theres the typical chicago mindstate of Hate, and jealously, that crabs in a barrel bullsh!t which unfortunately many here fall victim to. There are not that many underground heads here, compared to the numbers that hail allegience to the mainstream, and a lot of people here have that mad rapper mindstate as well. Cats wont cheer and support their underground acts who often open for big names at venues around the city, but as soon as lets say Ludacris steps on stage its nothing but love for him.

Chicago does not support our own, we would rather diss them, and hate on them because that is the mindstate of a great deal of people here, "f@$k you and yours, i want mine" "f#$k this cat on stage, i got tracks too, and no one wants to hear my sh!t" "f*$k these south side underground cats" "f!@k these westside thugs" "f$%k these northside white boys" No one cares how good the music is, or the talent the group and originality they posses, cats just hate for any reason they can. All this bullsh!t makes it extremely difficult to make it comming out of the Chi, cause everyone even your own are trying to stop you because they want a piece.

Common stayed here for three of his four albums, and as soon as he bounced to NY to work on the last, cats got upset! What for? Cats wanna call him gay cause he dressed eclectic, vintage and trendy? Im from the chi, and those gay cats in boys town and those lesbians in andersonville dont dress like that, they dress in a typical "chicago way" so what the f*$k are you talking about. You cats are too damn closed minded, thinking someone has to fit in this mold of how you think they should be or how you think a city and its people are? Let people be themselves, no one has to fit in sh!t for you, people are individuals and they will express themselves as such. Stop selecting Commmon as the torch carrier for the city, you are putting a tremendous ammount of expectations on one man simply because hes from the chi and he made it. I dont see you cats tripping about the brat and twista sellin out, wtf is the double standard about, the're both from the chi, and handle their business in other places. One moment you wanna diss Com, calling him a sell out, but half you cats trippin probably dont even support your own underground artists you rep this sh!t everyday all day and still live here. What about No I.D, Juice, Prime Maridian (who have been around forever and are still doing sh!t) the Molemen, Prime, Kwel, typical Cats, All Natural, the family tree, Kwazi, QUALO, Usual Suspects, the Outfitters, Mass Hysteria???????????? Why dont you stop b!tching about Common, and divert all that energy toward something productive like supporting your own, and developing an industry so cats can get on here, instead of having to leave. Cats gotta eat, and unfortunately Chicago is starving their own.

I love my city, and my people, no disrespect meant, ,thats just how I see it, as a Chicagoin, as well as someone deeply rooted in the industry, both here, and in NY.

Peace and Blessings