Common Attacks Soft Rappers and Praises Himself in 'Sweet'

Common is pretty confident about his rhyming abilities.

"I'm to hip-hop what Obama is to politics," he boasts in his new song, “Sweet.”

“Sweet” is a cocky track in which the former humble rapper boasts of his skills with reckless—and explicit—abandon. Rhymes once devoted higher levels of consciousness and black pride now boisterously proclaim, “I’m doing what I do,” and, “Hoe ass niggas,” and, “Sweet ass bitch motherfucker.” After one listen, it becomes apparent that the song’s title not only describes the excellence of his rap game, it is also meant to be a derogatory slur toward less-than-manly, inferior rappers.

Along with the song is a documentary short-like video that could qualify for submission into the Cannes film festival, as Common dodges between street scenes and shots of weed-smoking city dwellers.

“Sweet” is a single off “The Dreamer/The Believer,” Common’s ninth studio album, which sees a departure from 2008’s “Universal Mind Control” electronica mess and instead returns to the lyrically complex rap roots that made him such a respected name in the hip-hop community—with a lot more bravado.

“How can I say this?/Fuck it, I’m the greatest/I am the A-list/For all these great debators,” raps Common unapologetically.

"Working on this, it was more like, 'We need an interlude, we need an emotional song, we need a single/radio song, we need a club song,'" said “The Dreamer/The Believer” producer NO I.D about the album’s content. "You can think about the whole process, knowing what's there already, versus going in to work with somebody and not knowing what else they're going to get from somebody else."

What do you think of “Sweet?” Watch the video below.