Chicago rapper Saba continues the rollout for his introspective new album Few Good Things with the video for the previously released single “Come My Way” featuring Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. The video is fairly straightforward, mostly featuring Saba rapping into the camera outdoors broken up by interior scenes of Saba rapping alongside the members of his Chicago-based crew, Pivot Gang. No stranger to the group dynamic, Krayzie Bone joins them like an unofficial sixth member as he raps his contribution to the reflective song.
The video for “Come My Way” follows the release of Saba’s short film, also titled Few Good Things, which echoed the theme expressed across the album and songs like “Come My Way”: Acknowledging the good things that make life worth living, even when horrible things are happening to make it seem like it’s not. That message has special resonance in light of the past year for Pivot Gang, who suffered the second death of a member when Squeak, the group’s DJ and producer, was shot to death in Chicago in August. The group previously lost member John Walt, Saba and Joseph Chilliams’ cousin, to a stabbing in 2017 and has commemorated him with their annual John Walt Day concert ever since.
After releasing his long-awaited third studio album, Few Good Things, Chicago rapper Saba followed up last night with the premiere of the album’s accompanying short film, also titled Few Good Things. Like the album, the film, directed by C.T. Robert, casts its focus on the themes of family and community, as well as the comforting memories that grow from each. A series of vignettes, home movies, and photo albums soundtracked by the album highlight the good things that Saba is holding onto.
In an artist’s note, Saba said of the film, “The concept of Few Good Things is the realization of self after a search for exterior fulfillment. It is the satisfaction and completeness you gain by simply living a life that is yours. Few is a small number, but few is not lonely. In the face of all adversity, a few good things is recognizing and accepting blessings. Few is to count them, one by one. An empty glass is full of air. An empty bank is full of lessons. An empty heart is full of memories. Few good things is to grow comfortable with the empty, and despite that, finding your fullness.”
Watch Saba’s new short film, Few Good Things, above. Few Good Things, the album, is out now via Pivot Gang LLC. You can stream it here.
Saba’s new album, Few Good Things, is out now after a rollout that included smooth singles like “Come My Way” featuring Krayzie Bone and “Survivor’s Guilt” with G Herbo, as well as a short film touching on the album’s theme of family, home, and finding peace. Although it hasn’t been out long, it’s clear that the fan-favorite standout from the album is “Still,” which features Atlanta crooner 6lack and St. Louis rapper Smino as all three contemplate long-term love in all its forms.
In Saba’s verse, the Chicago rapper touches on his love for his work and how it conflicts with his love for his significant other, while on Smino’s verse, the soulful St. Louisan offers a scintillating take on a long-lost relationship, wondering if she kept his things around. 6lack’s chorus brings things full-circle, as he contrasts his superstar lifestyle with the toll it takes on his home life.
In addition to the videos and short film, Saba is preparing a promotional tour for the album set to run through March, April, and May supported by Dreamville rapper Lute and the Los Angeles singer Amindi.
Listen to Saba’s “Still” featuring 6lack and Smino above.
Few Good Things is out now via Pivot Gang, LLC. You can stream it here.
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Things are looking up for Saba. On the Chicago rapper’s last album, Care For Me, he came to grips with the trauma of losing his cousin and Pivot Gang bandmate John Walt to street violence, and in the last two years, he’s seen another member of the crew, Squeak, fall victim as well. So, you’d be forgiven for being surprised that his first new effort in three years, Few Good Things, takes a completely opposite tack compared to its predecessor.
This was intentional, as I learned during a Zoom call with Saba to discuss the new project and all he’s done since Care For Me became a fan favorite. That album, he says, is “so personal that it’s like my fans and people who are fans of that album, they now have an emotional connection to those songs and those lyrics in that time period. So going into this album, there’s something that you have to accept as an artist and that’s that once people develop an emotional connection and it’s not just an objective connection to something, that’ll be your best album regardless of what you do.”
This is why he approached Few Good Things as an “anti-Care For Me.” Creative decisions that would work for one wouldn’t work for another, so Saba had to reverse the formula that made Care For Me such a success – a risky move which he acknowledged, accepting that fans’ reception of the new work could go the other way as well. “Every decision we made on [Care For Me], how do we make the opposite decision on this one while still being original and organic and authentic to who I am? Because Care For Me is such a part of me, but also Few Good Things is a fuller scope of who I am.”
As Saba points out, there were as many years between those two albums as there were between his initial breakout on Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap mixtape and Care For Me. The same level of growth and evolution is evident, as well, although he sticks close to his roots as one of the products of Chicago’s Young Chicago Authors open mics. Those same open mics produced city standouts like Chance, Mick Jenkins, Noname, and the rest of Saba’s Pivot Gang crew Joseph Chilliams, Frsh Waters, MFnMelo, and John Walt. That sound – effortlessly complex, full of heady wordplay and surprising, off-kilter cadences – remains an anchor point for the 13 songs on Few Good Things, while Saba makes an effort to expand the sound beyond the muddled, rainy palette of his prior work.
For instance, on “Fearmonger,” produced by Pivot mainstays Daoud and Daedae, a bright bassline underpins a stripped-down instrumental as Saba meditates on the nature of the near-constant anxiety that comes with growing up at the lower end of the income spectrum – and seeing that course slowly reverse through his own precarious efforts. Not only does the song represent a hard left turn from the introspective material he’s best known for, but he also shared it as the first single from the album as an intentional bid to reset fans’ expectations ahead of time.
“We dropped ‘Fearmonger’ first because it’s the most sonically opposite of the entire Care For Me album,” he explains. “I wanted to scare people, I wanted them to not be sure how they felt about it and that to me is what pushes sonic boundaries, especially in hip-hop.” He offers an even wider perspective, pointing out that, “it’s a lot of monotony, it’s a lot of the same, so I think when I do a record like ‘Fearmonger,’ I want to put that out and push that because there’s an individualistic approach to the conception of that record. So, some fans might hear that and not understand how to listen to it but based on fan-hood and them wanting to like it — because fans want to like the music — some of them will listen until they do like it. And I think that’s how music’s meant to be listened to.”
Putting out a song called “Fearmonger” in the hopes of scaring people out of complacency – and doing so so completely fearlessly – is a bold move, but the rollout for this project is full of them. In addition to the album, Saba has shot a short film, also titled Few Good Things, hoping to capture the spirit of the music. He also betrays next to no apprehension about switching disciplines, instead displaying the same bold confidence with which he talks about juking fans’ expectations.
“I think the cool part of being able to play music, but music specifically that is lyric-based, is that we’re able to use our language to set scenes,” he explains. “We can make our language really visual, and I think that’s one of the elements that make telling personal stories, firsthand, telling things that are valuable to me, I think that’s one of the things that makes it unique. It makes people connect to it, but I think it’s always been, with our writing style, it’s always been really visual.” That skill, he says, is critical to making the leap into a visual medium. “When we started really locking in and working on this album, the director of this film, C.T. Robert, was really close,” he says.
“Every song that got done, he got immediately. We talked. We had full conversations, pretty much every time anything new got added to the mix, where we broke down family stuff. We broke down the lyrics. We broke down everything so that it was really open, in terms of the writing of the film, while also the writing of the album was happening simultaneously.” However, he’s still not sure how he feels about the movie or the album, yet, because they’re not out there in the world where viewers and listeners can consume them – his one concession to the artistic anxiety he’s been able to somehow escape throughout the process.
“I think I’ll experience that the day of the screening, the day it’s public, the day everybody is able to see it,” he says, “because that’s the day that it’s going to feel like, ‘Alright. This is real. This is tangible. We’ve released this.’ I’m so used to having things months and months and months in advance that it almost is imaginary until it’s released. This album, even Few Good Things, it’s been music that has been done for months and months and months. So, to finally be releasing it next week now, it’s just a crazy, crazy, crazy feeling.”
As far as what he wants those fans and consumers to take away from the concept of Few Good Things, he offers a few examples of the things that have become important to him and sustained him through the tough times that aren’t even all that far in the rearview. “One thing that I got from these last couple of years is time,” he observes. “I got a lot of my time back, and in having that time, you’re able to realize how valuable just that is. Just being able to spend your time how you want and not having to make choices based on necessity and survival and all of this other shit, but just how would you spend your day if you could spend your day how you wanted to spend it and that’s what true wealth equates to.”
Few Good Things is out 2/4 via Pivot Gang, LLC. You can pre-save here.
Finally, after a wait that lasted nearly four years, the music world will receive a new album from Saba next week. The Chicago native is preparing to release his third album, Few Good Things, and so far it stands as a promising follow-up to his 2018 album Care For Me. The rapper has released three singles from the project: “Stop That,” “Fearmonger” with Daoud, and “Come My Way” with Krayzie Bone. Ahead of the release of Few Good Things, Saba returns with the album’s fourth single, “Survivor’s Guilt” with fellow Chicagoan G Herbo.
The duo’s new single is a bass-heavy effort that finds the both of them grappling with their individual survivor’s guilt. Saba fires off lines like, “I’m tryna move better, what’s really eatin’ when you from a food desert? / I see the news letters, can’t listen to them, they be movin’ too careless,” during a pair of verses on the song. To close things out, G Herbo arrives with a verse of his own that gives a glimpse of how he pushed through his past struggles. “Stay on the grind, had to plot for some years,” he raps. “Ain’t have no fear, I weren’t droppin’ no tears.”
The song arrives after Saba unveiled the official tracklist for Few Good Things. The project will offer 14 songs to listeners with guest appearances from 6lack, Smino, Black Thought, Mereba, Foushee, G Herbo, Eryn Allen Kane, Benjamin Earl Turner, Pivot Gang, Cheflee, Daoud, and Day Wave.
You can listen to “Survivor’s Guilt” in the video above.
Few Good Things is due 2/4 via Pivot Gang, LLC. You can pre-save here.
This April marks four years since Saba released his last album, Care For Me. Luckily the Chicago rapper will release his third at the beginning of next month. Called Few Good Things, it’s locked in for a February 4 release date, and so far, he’s shared three singles: “Stop That,” “Fearmonger” with Daoud, and “Come My Way” with Krayzie Bone. With a little over a week left until the album arrives, Saba unveils its full tracklist and artwork.
The cover for Few Good Things depicts a middle-aged man posed in front of a fence with light pink flowers slightly covering parts of his body. As for the tracklist, it includes featurs from 6lack, Smino, G Herbo, Black Thought, Mereba, Foushee, Eryn Allen Kane, Benjamin Earl Turner, Pivot Gang, Cheflee, Daoud, and Day Wave.
You can view the cover art for Few Good Things above and check out its tracklist below.
1. “Free Samples” Feat. Cheflee
2. “One Way Or Every N**** With A Budget”
3. “Survivor’s Guilt” Feat. G Herbo
4. “An Interlude Called ‘Circus’” Feat. Eryn Allen Kane
5. “Fearmonger” Feat. Daoud
6. “Come My Way” Feat. Krayzie Bone
7. “Still” Feat. 6lack & Smino
8. “A Simpler Time” Feat. Mereba
9. “Soldier” Feat. Pivot Gang
10. “If I Had A Dollar” Feat. Benjamin Earl Turner
11. “Stop That”
12. “Make Believe” Feat. Foushee
13. “2012” Feat. Day Wave
14. “Few Good Things” Feat. Black Thought & Eryn Allen Kane
Few Good Things is due 2/4 via Pivot Gang, LLC. You can pre-save here.
Chicago rapper Saba’s third album, Few Good Things, is only a few short weeks away from release, and today, he announced that it would be preceded by a short film of the same name, sharing a minute-long teaser suggesting poignant moments, illuminating storytelling, and lush musical accompaniment. The album was previously supported by two singles, “Stop That” and “Come My Way” featuring Krayzie Bone. Saba will also tour the album in the US beginning in April.
Few Good Things: The Short Film is slated to premiere on January 31 with a follow-up screening on February 1 via the premium social live media platform Moment House. Along with the film debut, journalist Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins will host a live discussion with Saba and the film’s director, C.T. Robert. You can see the premiere times below and purchase tickets here.
In the press release, Saba said of the film, “The concept of Few Good Things is the realization of self after a search for exterior fulfillment. It is the satisfaction and completeness you gain by simply living a life that is yours. ‘Few’ is a small number, but ‘few’ is not lonely. In the face of all adversity, a ‘few good things’ is recognizing and accepting blessings. Few is to count them, one by one – an empty glass is full of air, an empty bank is full of lessons, and an empty heart is full of memories. ‘Few good things’ is to grow comfortable with the empty, and despite that, finding your fullness.”
Watch the trailer for Few Good Things: The Short Film. The album is due February 4 via Pivot Gang, LLC. You can pre-save it here.
LIVESTREAM DATES/TIMES BY TERRITORY
1/31 – 6pm ET – North + South America (East)
1/31 – 6pm PT – North + South America (West)
2/1 – 6pm JST – Asia + Australia + New Zealand
2/1 – 6pm GMT – Europe + UK + Africa
Growing up in Chicago, Saba had, as many Midwestern kids did, a fascination with the melodic double-time flow of the five-piece Cleveland rap band Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Their relative proximity and mid-90s radio dominance would have contributed to that, but also, Saba just seems like exactly the kind of rapper to have rooted out every single example of the genre to absorb and learn from — you can occasionally hear the influence in his flows on projects like Care For Me and Pivot Gang’s You Can’t Sit With Us.
Now, with the release of his third album, Few Good Things, just over the horizon (it drops on February 4 on Saba’s own Pivot Gang imprint), the Windy City MC gets to link up with one of his musical heroes on his latest single from the album. “Come My Way,” produced (as usual) by Daoud and daedaePIVOT, features none other than Bone Thugs member Krayzie Bone, who once won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance with another disciple, Chamillionaire, and recently participated in his band’s Verzuz with Three Six Mafia.
In the press release for the single, Saba said, “When I think back on first discovering Bone Thugs-N-Harmony as a child, it immediately stood out to me as unique. I started paying attention and really learning how to rap from listening to them and trying to recite it. It felt honest and completely true to themselves — authentic in a way that doesn’t come around very often and in a way that will be impossible to recreate. Their mix of melody and rhythms that I had never heard is what connected with me in a way that other music just didn’t. It inspired me to be more creative.”
Meanwhile, the inspiration for the song itself is “nostalgia and growing up, and I think ‘hopeful’ and ‘soulful’ are accurate descriptions of the song… I’m describing many things that are normal on the westside of Chicago so that it plays like just any other day — pretty stagnant but having so much life. ‘We ain’t got no time to relax’ is a harsh reality for so many people experiencing this type of poverty where the focus is on work and survival.”
Listen to Saba’s new single “Come My Way” featuring Krayzie Bone above and check out the dates for his Back Home Tour here.
Few Good Things is due 2/4 via Pivot Gang, LLC. Pre-save here.
Saba is just a few months away from giving us his first album in almost four years, and its upcoming arrival couldn’t come any faster. The Chicago rapper revealed the upcoming body of work is titled Few Good Things after releasing its presumed lead single, “Fearmonger,” earlier this month. Saba continues the campaign for Few Good Things with its second single, “Stop That.” The new track is a hard-hitting effort that finds the rapper tackling his insecurities and motivating himself to never succumb to them.
In a press release that arrived with the song, Saba spoke about the meaning of the track to him. “I feel like more often than not, we let our own judgement of ourselves knock our confidence off before anyone else even offers any feedback,” he said. “Our own insecurities ring really loudly in our heads, to the point where we make ourselves smaller before giving anyone else the chance to.” He added, “This is something that I feel like I found myself beginning to do over the years. Hiding from the uncomfortable moment. And this song works as my noticing and correcting that.”
In addition to sharing the new song, Saba also revealed that Few Good Things will arrive on February 4, 2022, leaving fans with less than three months to prepare for the project’s release.
You can watch the video for “Stop That” above.
Few Good Things is out 2/4 via Pivot Gang LLC. Pre-order it here.
Saba has been involved in some quality projects over his career, including his first two albums, 2016’s Bucket List Project and 2018’s Care For Me. He also spearheaded Pivot Gang’s 2019 compilation You Can’t Sit With Us. However, for the past couple of years, Saba’s releases have been scarce, having delivered just a few singles since his last album. Thankfully, that’s about to change. On Wednesday he officially announced his third album, Few Good Things, is “coming soon,” and he showed his gratitude to his supporters in a string of tweets.
With everything going on, it gets hard to take your time. It’s something I find valuable in my own art. But y’all have grown with me through years of this shit now. And I’m extremely grateful
“Thank you to everyone who waited,” he wrote. “I can’t believe I’m writing this right now but i’m ready. With everything going on, it gets hard to take your time. It’s something I find valuable in my own art. But y’all have grown with me through years of this sh*t now. And I’m extremely grateful.”
I’ve both lost so much and gained so much since the last go round. These last few years have been eternities for me.
He added, “I’ve both lost so much and gained so much since the last go round. These last few years have been eternities for me. This next one is special to me. If you’ve ever been a supporter of me and Pivot in anyway, RT my next tweet.” In the following next post, Saba announced the album and promised a new single would arrive on Thursday.
This comes after Pivot Gang producer Squeak was shot and killed back in August. Squeak produced a number of songs for Saba and other Pivot Gang members prior to his tragic death.
