Interlaced throughout the album are short interludes that form a loose narrative concerning day-to-day life on the South Side.

- a song that re-imagines Hip hop as a formerly unadulterated woman, led astray after being enticed by materialistic elements of life.

In the aftermath of the murders of both Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., the rivalry would be settled out of public view at a peacemaking function held by Louis Farrakhan at his home.

This album signified both the arrival of a level of maturity in Common's work, and yet the end of his first phase, which was characterized by a more straightforward and underground-based sound.

Chicago rapper, producer, protégé of No I.D., and frequent collaborator of Common,[13] Kanye West, has echoed lines from Resurrection on multiple records.