After working with famed Chicago producer No ID over the last few years, independent rapper Saba has come to a realization.
“There’s a lot of stories that I haven’t told yet. There’s a lot of beats I haven’t rapped to,” says Saba. “There’s a lot that I haven’t gone after yet in my career. What I’m experiencing now working on this collab project is that I’m able to challenge myself to write in ways that I haven’t, and tell stories that I haven’t, and really explore myself and the stories that I would even want to tell.”
The rapper and producer duo are releasing their long-awaited collaborative album, “From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID,” in June. Following the release of two songs last summer, the pair have just released the latest single from the forthcoming album, “head.rap.” “I was in the studio and everybody that was in the studio had dreadlocks. We started talking about our hair journey, that captured the energy,” says Saba of the joyful song, which is accompanied by a music video and visual celebration of Black hair. “I just wanted to put out something where I knew who would be on the receiving end of it.”
The joint album started out as a “tour mixtape” of songs created while Saba was on the road, and evolved into a more deliberate project. “I enjoy working with an artist who wants to talk about things that are specific and personal to their life, which usually translates to being personal in other people’s lives,” says No ID, who’s produced for Common, Kanye West, Jay-Z and J. Cole. (On “Back in Office,” their first release from the project, Saba raps over a beat originally pitched to Cole back in 2009.)
“I think with Saba being from a totally different generation than me, we meet at a unique place creatively, which gives the best of both worlds — two time periods of hip-hop,” adds No ID, who is 52, describing the album as “feel good, fun, unique and a breath of fresh air.” “The music we’re creating feels nostalgic, but also new and fresh. Nothing sounds forced in either direction.”
The forthcoming album follows his third solo album “Few Good Things,” released in 2022 on his independent label. The rapper’s work, anchored by introspective writing and lyrical dexterity, is consistently lauded by critics, often landing on year-end “best-of” lists. He connected with No ID in 2018 after the release of his second album, “Care for Me,” which dealt with the grief and aftermath of the murder of his cousin, who was also a member of the Chicago-based musical collective Pivot.
Saba is the front man of the family-and-friends collective, which was named for a scene in “Friends.” In addition to members of Pivot, other musicians Saba has collaborated with throughout the years include fellow Chicagoans like Chance the Rapper, Twista and Mick Jenkins, as well as seminal artists like Krayzie Bone and Black Thought.
“I’ve always loved working with people that I love in real life,” says Saba; No ID is also a longtime friend of his father, also a musician. “When I think of my favorite people to collaborate with, it’s always people that I’ve been collaborating with. It’s the community of artists that are from Chicago,” he adds. “Maybe the favorite collaboration will be something in the future that I haven’t even experienced yet. But the answer that I have right now is Pivot, Noname, Mick Jenkins, Chance, Smino — all of the people who were in Chicago during those really early years and helped to build all of our careers.”
While much of his past work has been informed by grief, moving forward in his career, Saba’s interested in continuing to shape his own story as an artist, guided by the question: “What music do you make when things are actually fine and things are going well? What music do you make?” he says. “So it’s been a nice — one, change of pace for me — but two, the first music where I feel really in control in terms of the messaging and what I want to say, and how I want to be seen.”
“Music comes from so many places, but this has been a nice growth phase for me.”
