Saba, associate and frequent collaborator of now superstar Chance The Rapper, has yet to have his mainstream breakthrough. Following his first recognition for his contributed verse to Acid Rap at 18 years old, his first studio album in 2016, Bucket List Project, was a solid debut for the young MC. In it could be felt endless passion, creativity, and also frustration, but it didn't turn as many heads as perhaps he had hoped. His second album, Care For Me, is a smaller, but no less ambitious statement, and he sounds at home in his own sound, crafting songs with melodic, soft instrumentation.
Relationships of all types are a major theme of Care For Me, opening up immediately on the first verse of intro 'Busy / Sirens' about the lack thereof - "I'm so alone, but all of my friends got some shit to do, yeah /" and "You sad? Tell me, how are you sad? / You got all of these friends, you got all of these fans / I ain't trust nobody new since 2012, I ain't let nobody in". It pictures a man lost without people around him to hold him down, and the person he becomes as a result of this. He follows up on the next track, 'Broken Girls', detailing the story of using empty relationships with girls that are 'broken', like he is, to imitate intimacy when it isn't really there. Another important topic of Care For Me is family, and is discussed fervently on songs like 'Life', 'Fighter', & 'Smile'. Saba writes with the intent to pull the listener right down into his memories, and does so with vivid detail, easily painting a picture inside the listener's mind of his childhood home, his growth into adolescence, and his family. He introduces us to everyone around him, and allows us to understand his connections with them - particularly on 'Fighter', learning of his grandfather's perspective on his music career; "instead you chose to hip-hop / But I know how this is gon' end 'cause I went through this with yo' father". But the biggest, and most poignant topic the consists through the album's ten tracks, is the death of his cousin, Walter. By simply alluding to him on multiple occasions; "Jesus got killed for our sins / Walt got killed for a coat" on 'Busy / Sirens' and 'They killed my cousin with a pocket knife" on 'Life', this fills in the blanks located at the end of the album's penultimate 'Prom / King', Saba's longest, and best, track of his career. 7 and a half minutes in length, uninterrupted by chorus, bridge, or anything, it's reminiscent of Lupe's 'Mural' but far more focused. Saba begins the tale by properly introducing us to his cousin, who hooks him up with a Prom date despite the fact he used to "beat me up and take my sneakers every family visit" - the skepticism melts away and forms a bond by the end of the prom, and they become close friends. Fast forward to 2016, Walter survives death by inches after his car is shot at, and one morning he and Saba were supposed to be recording together, he receives a distressed phone call; the voice says, "Hello, Malik, have you, or Squeak, talked to my son today? He was just on the train" and Saba leaves the song hanging with the two lines "We got in the car, but we didn't know where to drive to / Fuck it, wherever you are my nigga, we'll come and find you...". The song is executed with brilliance - every inflection, tone, and lyric he speaks has a proper emotional impact, and as the song draws to a close, and the situation grows dire, the instrumental ramps up in intensity, and no song has had me clinging to every single panicked word like this has, in a long time. It's a masterwork, and rewards every listener who paid attention throughout the album, leaving the ending unclear only for those who did not. This is easily one of the best tracks of 2018, and a true benchmark of Saba's talent. This being said, Care For Me doesn't come without hiccups. Narratively, it succeeds very well, but some decisions musically aren't as good. His vocals are at their best when energetic and electrified, and suffer when he attempts more mellow styles - the chorus on 'Broken Girls' the first example. He sings a very dull chorus, that tires very quickly, and does the same on 'Smile' and 'Grey'. He saves the latter with a much more satisfying end verse, but his chorus singing does drag the album down in places. Meanwhile, the track 'Logout' while interesting conceptually, fails in execution. The song is meant to warn listeners about the dangers of endless cellphone & social media consumption, but instead tells a short uninteresting story of someone who doesn't want to put their headphones down, tells us that if we press logout that we'll be "forgotten", and Chance The Rapper's feature on this track is so phoned in and inconsequential it may as well have not been there. Ultimately, after his 30 seconds of internet jargon are over; "Don't nobody likes selfies on they own page / I know people with they friend request as their homepage" the song finishes prematurely, feeling unfinished, and doesn't stick around long enough to achieve it's purpose. The instrumental palette of Care For Me has it's moments, but isn't thoroughly consistent. Twinkling pianos and swirling synths are play major roles in the production of Care For Me, soundscaping tracks such as 'Busy / Sirens', 'Calligraphy', 'Fighter', & the closer 'Heaven All Around Me'. The first in particular works very well as an opening track, drawing the listener in with it's colour and warmth (a stark contrast to the downcast, black-and-white album cover) but overall the instrumental highlights aren't as plentiful as I would have hoped. 'Life' features a loud and exciting beat, with bass that booms satisfyingly under Saba's furious vocals, and 'Prom / King' as aforementioned starts smooth and mellow, and switches halfway through to a much more uptempo beat, while the drums get faster and faster as the tone gets more and more desperate. But apart from these, the production isn't always as memorable. The greatest strengths of Care For Me are it's storytelling, and it's narratives. Saba writes with very impressive detail on his second album - it takes very little imagination to feel drawn right into his world, and his stories are clear, concise, and impactful. His songs feel natural when he weaves his youth and his growth into them, and they benefit from it. While not as always as instrumentally sound, his efforts here have yielded one of the best tracks this year, and a solid project that leaves me even more excited for the MC's future. He has yet to strike totally into the mainstream, but I believe with the right production, his both heart-warming and heart-wrenching tales could easily find their way there. 74/100 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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