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Album of the Month: CARE FOR ME - Saba (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-25 17:29:48
Edited:
2024-10-21 16:34:20
Imported:
2026-06

Content

[Next Town Hall Livestream on Sept 30 at 4:30pm EST]

Writing this as it's cold and grey outside and I'm about to turn 27.

I loved this album in college. Weird I can say that now. I remember when it was released, it felt like it was just for me. A real solace to me in jazz school, where I was surrounded by indie and pop musicians. I've always only ever had one real friend that really was into hip hop like I am. Went with him to the JPEGMAFIA show. Went with him to the Saba show in 2022.

Sounds like a hollow hug. The drums on this project are so beautiful and offkilter, like a ticking clock. Keys and guitars are so smooth and gentle, but the every song contains some crackling aggressive energy somewhere in the vocal performance. It's heart beats so relentlessly but so softly.

......||||.....

Performing Masculinity

Uncomfortably honest masculine confessions of self conscious sex seeking.

I pretend not to be depressed, she never wrote me backI hit him back like "Yo', well fuck her, it's on to the next"I wrote that message thinkin' I'm awkward,Prolly' would never have sex

- PROM/KING

The song FIGHTER just describes situation after situation where he is required to look strong as a man in conflict of some kind, but the tone of the song just reveals a childlike confusion and pleading, no intention or genuine will to dominate, just sensitivity and weakness.

But I don't wanna fight no more'Cause I'm not a fighterI want no more

- FIGHTER

It comes up again on PROM/KING when he goes to the after prom party and gets a knife pulled on him. His reaction is literally just "At this point, I'm just exhausted"

Just adorable rendition of going to Prom and being nervous, feeling awkward and hoping you don't fuck up

My heart's racin', I'm focused, I'm tryna keep it playaGave her the croissant, or corsageOr whatever the fuck my mom handed me

+++==++++

Jesus's Death

Multiple points contrasting the death of Christ with the death of a young black man. Feels to me like he's highlighting the gap in significance between the two deaths. One divinely mandated in adulthood, the other explanationless and meaningless in youth.

Jesus got killed for our sins, Walter got killed for a coat - BUSY

I know 'Pac was 25, I know Jesus 33 - LIFE

Same hollow thud in the chest with the tragicomic two line story about his uncle

my uncle on the phoneHe was gone for more than half my lifeHe got out a year and then he died

- LIFE

-------__---------

LOGOFF

KTi song!

Internet turned me into another man

This simple Solitaire lyric is such a beautiful idea, taking Solitaire as meaning Solitude and a game but evoking the image of early solitaire players on personal computers. Just so simple and poetic

Look, Solitaire more than a game with your card

Constantly tying the internet addiction to insecurity and the need for validation kind of folds this into the tender masculine performance status anxiety thign

Stay in the public, and pray to your GodNeed validation, I'm too insecure

I love how in Chance's verse he just keeps repeating "Everything's on camera", feels like a spell, or the revelation of a mantra. It just BEARS REPEATING

/////

GREY

So impressive to me that Saba manages to make a "society's always on their phones...." song AND a song that's like "popular music is so insincere....." but he actually pulls it off without sounding curmudgeonly. Helps he was 24 when he made this. Extremely present. But it also works because of his impulse to show things from multiple sides, like this song empathizing with artists having to deal with labels, and then spending the next verse empathizing with execs sharing their wealth with artists who might remain in a lower class otherwise.

 sitter want to be walker and walker want to be drivin'

Then it ends with the first and only I'm Fucking Awesome rap verse on this entire album, but it happens over a bebop swing jazz coda/? comeaaaaan just amazing

)))))))

PROM/KING

Saba manages to reveal so much intimacy and admiration for his cousin.

I gave him 30 on the porch, he never went insideHe tell me, "Thank you, " then he walked back home with a smileHe tryna hide it, but I see his dimpleI'm thinkin', "Damn, that transaction was simple"

Some of the depictions of male friendship are so distinct and vivid. Reminds me of the movie Didi dir. Sean Wang I saw recently. Also very painful, sometimes heartwarming, nostalgic in small ways, very masculine.

I'm talking shit, I know he hoop,I'm like, Aye, where the rim, bro?He like, Tomorrow, if you free, you prolly weak as shit, tho.I know my brother notSo all 3 of us went to the park and ran some n***s off the court

The insane drum break at 6 min while Saba raps about everything being perfect indirectly communicates so much anger that this period of time was forced to end.

So powerful to leave the ending of the story out. Just letting us non-linearly infer the rest. Keeping the key moment to himself. Choosing to depict mourning, instead of screaming pain.

HEAVEN ALL AROUND ME

It's almost twisted to make the 'happy ending' of the story from the perspective of a soul going to heaven. But it makes me weep to think this is what moved through Saba. A lot of faith? Acceptance? Love. A lot of love. You can feel the love.

.

..

...

Did you listen? Did you like? What touched you?

Files

Saba - SIRENS ft. theMIND (Official Video)

Few Good Things, a short film: https://youtu.be/bkI_5ouHUFI CARE hat and CARE FOR ME vinyl available for limited time at http://sabapivot.com "SIRENS" ft. theMIND (Official Video) Director: Reed Jackson Director of Photography: Frank Turiano Video Producer: Max Gardner, A+M Productions Editor: Collin Davis Music Producer: Saba, Daoud, daedaePIVOT Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpnyV4h2tmp7G_mwyjrUMg?sub_confirmation=1 More music videos from CARE FOR ME: Watch "BUSY" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeLs6lfokwQ Watch "LIFE" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6F2OrOjexs Follow Facebook // http://facebook.com/sabapivot Instagram // http://instagram.com/sabapivot Twitter // http://twitter.com/sabapivot Apple Music // https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/saba/1140260329 SoundCloud // http://soundcloud.com/sabapivot Spotify // https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Hjbimq43OgxaBRpFXic4x?si=c0TxYxaRQ1iLEzRBw0cMGA Tidal // https://listen.tidal.com/artist/8031942 Saba Pivot, LLC

Comments

Kenya Joy Ford

I listened to PROM/KING and came out a different person. it felt like I lived a whole life within it.

Emi P

I listened a lot. I really like this album! I love how they made the vocals sound there’s something in the production that makes them feel filling but also distant and mellow, I don’t know If that make sense. Busy and heaven all around me really touched me. I feel so much and so when I feel alone I really feel alone and when I feel beauty I really feel it and I think the arc of the album really makes you go trough a lot. Okay that’s all

Puzzled Potter

"My best friend obituary really hang on my wall, by the dresser I'm tryna see it a life lesson No time for mourning on my schedule" This broke me a little bit. It brought to mind a friend who died when I was a senior in high school, whose passing I now realize I never fully processed. This isn't the forum for me to figure my shit out about that though, so I'll have to bring it up to my therapist. "And I'm surprised, too; my family knew, kept this a secret Me and Cuz stayed down the street, living different lives Every day, he on the bus; me, I get a ride" This jumped out at me on my first listen as well. I can't directly relate to it, but the idea of living so close to family and having no idea brought tears to my eyes. Overall I found the listening experience of this album to be sublime. I'm a newcomer to the world of hip hop and this album made me contemplate my childhood and teenage years in a whole new light, while illuminating some darker corners of my memory that have gone ignored for so long. I'm so glad I chose to participate and give it a listen. Thank you for introducing this work into my life, CJ.

Uncle Jam

One of the things that stood out to me about hip hop in 2018 was this wave of rappers getting serious and honest about mental health. This was also the year of Royce da 5’9”’s Book of Ryan, Sylvan LaCue’s Apologies in Advance, Earl Sweatshirt's Some Rap Songs, and there were songs on albums by Tierra Whack and even cupcakKe. But CARE FOR ME stood out the most. Part of it's the aesthetic. I love that mellow soulful jazzy sound a lot of the indie rappers in Chicago were exploring at the time. (Telefone by Noname comes to mind, though granted that might be because Saba's on it.) Part of it is, obviously, the intimacy and emotional devastation of the writing, as well as the range. There are songs that will shatter you, and there are also songs that will build you back up. But for me, a lot of it comes from the fact that I dismissed Saba's first album Bucket List Project. I don't even remember why I didn't like it. I probably just said it was another Chicago rap album or something like that. But the fact that this rapper I blew off for (probably) dumb reasons came back and hit me with an album that cut me to my core just goes to show that art is one of the few spaces where being proven wrong can feel actively joyful. But yeah, I remember when I was listening to this album, I was in an anxiety pit. Then I listened to this album that talked about some of the stuff I was going through and I felt better. Art is good.

Isaiah G

There are few albums as permanently etched in my memory as this one, especially because I lived in Chicago when it dropped. It’s just the complexity of life after death laid plan. Broken Girls was a welcome self-own, Smile and Heaven all around me perfectly capture rediscovering positive emotions, and obviously Saba is a pioneer in melodic writing. I would gladly talk about this album for hours with anyone fr

yennik arual

saba has a very immersive presence and this goes hand in hand with his very immediate style of writing lyrics, like on PROM/KING. some To Pimp A Butterfly residuals murmuring all around CARE FOR ME but it never takes away from saba. he definitely feels like he comes into his own here. also the croissant line made me guffaw irl. laugh out loud uno. managing to fit in a space for humour despite how heavy the rest of that song gets and it *working* is really impressive. ///////// GREY's subject matter stuck out to me, mainly because i'm super into studying it anyway so was kinda hyped to see some explicit discussion on artifice and moron money in a rap song. i am also turning 24 soon. will my own GREY come i wonder. or am i just the walker if i say that . and missing an open door to the front seat, distracted in false hopes and overplanning. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm _ _ but for real thank you for choosing a hip-hop album this month. i used to talk abt them with my blog friends quite a lot but we've expanded into other genres and have lives and jobs so *discussion* is never really as thorough anymore. the only person i have to talk about it now is with my brother, which is a nice bonding exercise (if he has anything unique to say i might come back and add his thoughts here), but is limited in scope and overral shared knowledge. a lot of public forums and stuff are very Review Brained and i grew out of the whole conclusive rating stuff when i started uni. idk why this is the case for hip-hop more than for other genres (might just be because it is generally more popular?). so reading these comments has been and will be nice. >> has anyone enjoyed any hip-hop albums from this year? there have been soooo many releases in 2024 it has been difficult to keep up ><

azalea water

I’m amazed by how lyrically spacious this album feels. It’s only 44 mins long, but in that quarter-hour Saba is able to cover so much ground. “BUSY/SIRENS” is an incredible example – swinging between bars about being an insecure teenager to these lyrics about dipping your toes into a new relationship, all the while maintaining a consistent tone. “Now we don't speak, we just walk past If my past could talk It'd probably reply to the missed calls after all 'Cause the friendships that I can't recall Done turned my heart into camouflage” The tone of the album feels like a breath after a long marathon or like you’re looking through a clear glass floor on the empire state building. It’s undoubtedly mellow: reverse guitar and soft, crackling pianos scuttling around the mix. But at the same time, there’s so much tension and hindsight wrapped into every bar – you can’t escape it. “LIFE” hurls itself at you with that discordant double-blass line and brutally honest lyrics about police brutality and your own existence catching up to you. Each second feels like it's wiggling inside of the song, burrowing through your earphones with nothing but pure, unadulterated anger. Then a song like “SMILE” comes along. One of my favourite tricks you can do with lyrics that you can’t really do with any other medium is play with words and their relationship to the beat. If you’re not careful, you might miss that little “I’ll” before the main refrain. It completely recontextualises the song to be about the joy in a hypothetical move. And it stings when you hear how softly Saba sings that refrain. You can hear his smile as he says it. “All that I am is my family, mistakes Moment of madness I can't seem to evade More than a canvas, you carry me these days Practice, I'm trying to remember, remember” Absolutely beautiful. I’m taken aback at how humble of a rapper Saba is. Even when he’s involved in the story he’s telling or the subject of his verse, he’s never the main focus. “BROKEN GIRLS” is more about both his and his girlfriends’ inability to help one another than his love life. “CALLIGRAPHY” might focus its verses around Saba using rap as a means of escape, but again it's more about the art itself than the person creating it. As CJ mentioned, the only real time he kicks out the IM A FUCKIN BADASS verse is at the end of “GREY” – which also happens to be (for my money) the best verse on the album. “Care for me, carefully, back with more clarity Back like consecutive I told you motherfuckers, like Oedipus Heather B, "Sway in the Morning" Painting that paint like a portrait Action, I ain't for the talking Ain't for the fame, but the fortune cool Altering the altitude Offering the thought for food Authoring that art that move, mm” I want this verse injected into my bloodstream. I’d be remissed for not mentioning “PROM/KING”, which I think we can all agree is a fucking masterpiece. The beat change, the climax with those mad kick drums, the lyricism and emotional potency of the story with that heartbreaking “Fuck it, wherever you are, my n—a, we'll come and find you” at the end – everything works in tandem like clockwork. There are a couple rap songs that follow the same pattern as “PROM/KING” (JID’s “2007”, Kendrick’s “Sing About Me” and Kanye's “Devil in a New Dress” being the ones that come to mind). They’re all these very lyrically dense songs about very troubled and human stories. And with the lyrical density hip-hop offers, those stories are flushed out in a way a simple retelling couldn’t do justice. “Heaven All Around Me” might be a perfect closer. It’s so soft and simple, with that long choir ending that just throws you into itself. After the emotional gut-punch of “PROM/KING”, a breather was needed. But the heartache of that track lives through the song, like its shadow. It sends you out with this cold, hollow feeling. And yet, it isn’t hopeless. I’m not sure a song about passing on to the afterlife could be.

COLORMIND.

**For context: I fuck with Saba. This album is more responsible for my continued existence and any self-inflicted attacks on it than I care to unpack. I own the care for me vinyl and used to put it in my videos in the background. I have a signed care for me hoodie from the 2018 tour, and I wore it for each and every one for my grad school exams as a good luck charm. I just wanna talk about 1 song; the song I want to talk about is not on Care for Me.** I know yall remember the Saba Tiny Desk where he did the solo version of LOGOUT then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTzmjU8aOR4 As CJ pointed out, LOGOUT is out a great song with a great chance feature (no bullshit) but, respectfully, the NPR version is the One True Song, for me. Everybody insecure, especially people with everything Why else you think they got everything? How else you think they got ev—, ooh Everybody insecure, especially people with everything Why else you think they got everything? How else you think I got every—, look In 2018, I had lost 50 pounds through disordered eating masked as gym grind culture, I was being paid to play shows across the DMV and even got a song on a spotify curated playlist; I graduated from my top business school program and accepted an internship with a big company in my field that most of my classmates got rejected from. And I wanted to kill myself. I didn't like my major. I didn't like my job. I definitely didn't like that I had gotten cheated on in my last relationship. The boy was down tremendous. But I looked great. And people like me more than that ever had before. So That last refrain, Why else you think they got everything? How else you think I got every—, look; that shit hit. I felt so fake and fragile, like my whole like was a performance that I was getting better at, but it required so much energy. It didn't feel like I had a body made to run this type of con for that long. I truly remember giving it to 25. And then Saba comes to DC with his Dad and the MIND. and says this to me? *If you're lonely you're far from alone (Ayy, ayy) If you're lonely you're far from alone (Ayy, ayy)* At that moment of my life, thats what I needed the most. A reminder that I'm lonely but not the only one. That this dread around me is less about me and more about the world around me, and its not an uncommon reaction. I'm not alone. Someone else understands. And I guess that's all I needed to keep going another day; a shared worried is a lighter load type blah blah bullshit. Yeah u get it I fucks with Saba.

squeebert

this album is like a weighted blanket to me. i love the production (and the fact that he did it himself) and his honesty and self awareness of his own shortcomings is so refreshing. having experienced significant grief for the first time recently, his lyrics about walter hit home on a whole other level. especially the way he illustrates the absence of your loved one is scattered all over your life, in ways you even start to forget about over time. so exciting to see it discussed! you and the community you foster are so great at articulating feelings i have about art but couldn't exactly reach the right words myself.

zooey

man I am not good at expressing my feelings on music at all yet, I love how interconnected the melancholy of this album is, its so good, really reminds me of what 2018 felt like for me personally. the instrumentation and melodies express some low feelings that I think can only really be shown through song, it represents the feelings I love to to heard, I wish I knew of more artists with this level of indulged melancholy. again I have no idea how to express my thoughts on this in a deeper way, it just reminds me of a lot, alot of art that that hit me right in the emoshios. it feels like the culmination of everything I like about the artform of music, I aspire to create melodies like the ones contained in this album. the song on internet culture is also quite appreciated, I feel like it was a bit more uncommon to see that level of critique of the internet pre-pandemic, although im probably wrong on that. idk, im excited to talk at the town hall tomorrow after school tho!

tobyzooey

I cant say how much the messaging is still hitting for me after many repeat listens, its so applicable to the way my family dynamic hits me on the daily, I wish I could say more cuz I have so many underdeveloped though on this whole album. I feel like I might have more nuaced thoughts in this later, but its kinda still processing as raw emotion. ill probably be listening to this and the lst album of the month for awhile... "how could you not be moved? I dont give them an option to."

tobyzooey

I love LOGOUT, it goes so hard into the dehumanizing factor of social media and the intense dissociation from culture it has bred, I really hope (and know) that CJ will do more videos on this topic cuz it effects so many of us, and most ppl don't even know how much it has fucked our psychology into the dirt.