Tag: No I.D.

SABA – “From the Private Collection” review

This is the 4th full-length studio LP from Chicago, Illinois emcee/producer SABA. The co-founder of the Pivot Gang collective a decade back, he broke out in the fall of 2016 off the solo debut Bucket List Project & the follow-up CARE FOR ME was where his potential would be put on a much more broader display. Few Good Things was a better version of Cordae’s sophomore effort From a Bird’s Eye View & after 3 years, he & No I.D. are finally unearthing tracks From the Private Collection.

“Every Painting Has a Price” soulfully kicks it all off talking about it being a lovely day for him to go out of his way & everything being good aside from shit getting ugly whereas “Breakdown” takes the jazzy trap route instrumentally asking his romantic partner what’s really going on. “Crash” gives off a calmer vibe to the beat talking about making time go fast together just before “Woes of the World” brings a trap flare back getting emotional to know what he knows.

The drums get stripped during “Stop Playing with Me” telling everyone that he ain’t wanna be fucked with leading into “Westside Bound 4” featuring MFnMelo jazzily talking about being unstoppable under any given circumstance. “head.rap” samples “No Time to Lose” by Madison McFerrin covering Saba’s hair & it’s continuous changes, but then “Acts 1.5” looks to fuck the street up referencing the baddest man on the planet & WWE Hall of Famer Mike Tyson.

After the “Reciprocity” interlude, “Stomping” boasts that he’s so smooth of a talker to the point where he could convince Jesus Christ to buy an NFT off him while the soulful trap hybrid “Big Picture” talks about considering the broader context, long-term implications & overall goals of a situation. “30secchop” featuring Jean Deaux & Joseph Chilliams finds the trio no longer walking with their heads low while “How to Impress God” delves into the complex relationship between earthly achievements & spiritual purpose.

“She Called It” featuring Frsh Waters nears the final moments From the Private Collection with both of them talking about Pivot being a collective that’s respected as a family refusing to break their balls & their word since those’re the only 2 things they got left while “a FEW songs” featuring Smino finishes with them assuring the listeners of it being ok l to change it all so beautifully, feeling the love & letting it go. The jazzy boom bap fusion “Back in Office” warns his competition to take caution & the other bonus track “Hue_Man_Nature” carries over the sounds of the predecessor putting a conscious spin on it.

SABA’s been teasing this for nearly 3 years now & because of the death of his uncle, the final product underwent a complete change of direction & could very well be the brightest collection of material of his whole career. Arguably surpassing Care for Me as the crown jewel of his discography. No I.D.’s versatile production goes from boom bap to jazz rap, trap, drumless & neo-soul remaining more consistent than Few Good Things providing a little bit of everything & refusing to misuse an opportunity like this coming with fully developed ideas.

Score: 4.5/5

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JAY-Z – “4:44” review

Almost 4 years after the disappointingly mediocre Magna Carta…Holy Grail, renown Brooklyn rapper & businessman JAY-Z is finally delivering his 13th album & he has enlisted No I.D. to produce it in it’s entirety. The opener “Kill JAY-Z” talks about killing his ego over a soulful instrumental & it even addresses his Throne cohort Kanye West’s stage rants from last November. Despite calling him insane, he does assure Ye that he does feel bad for him. The next song “The Story of O.J.” sees JAY getting conscious over some piano keys & a sample of “4 Women” by Nina Simone. Matter of fact, Jigga actually makes a PERFECT reference to the original Nina Simone song during the hook. The track “Smile” talks about pushing through the pain & while I don’t care for the drums at all, the Stevie Wonder sample is nice & I love the background vocals too. Also, the outro from his mother Gloria (whom JAY publicly announces & supports for being a lesbian near the end of the first verse) was endearing. The song “Caught Their Eyes” talks about watching your surroundings over an instrumental with a tropical vibe to it & the Frank Ocean hook isn’t as great as his hook on “Oceans” was, I still liked it. The title track is a sincerely delivered apology to Jigga’s wife Beyoncé & the soul sample on here enhances the remorse that JAY is letting out. Despite the song “Family Feud” being said to be about the recent beef between older & younger hip hop artists, it could possibly refer more to his wife almost leaving him for cheating on her (especially with the line at the beginning of the 3rd verse about telling Becky to let him alone). Also, Beyoncé’s background vocals that can be heard throughout the entire track are just beautiful. The track “Bam” has a braggadocious tone to it lyrically & while I do enjoy the horns as well as the hook from Damian Marley, that one line Rae Sremmurd & Bobby Shmurda at the beginning of the 2nd verse is really corny. However, he does make an interesting reference to “30 Hours” off of Kanye’s latest album The Life of Pablo shortly after. Plus, there’s no denying that the IG pictures line during the first verse couldn’t be any more true The song “Moonlight” is a message to all the new rappers & I absolutely LOVE the “Fu-Gee-La” sample on here. The penultimate track “Marcy Me” is a dedication to the streets delivered over a soothing instrumental, but I thought the reference to “Unbelievable” by Biggie during the intro was just ok. Same goes with the outro from The-Dream. The album then closes out with “Legacy”, where his daughter Blue Ivy asks him what a will is & he responds by talking about his family’s workmanship over some jazzy horns. If any of you were disappointed with Magna Carta…Holy Grail as much as I was, then I can tell right now that this is A LOT better. No I.D.’s production is soul sample galore & lyrically, it could very well be his most personal effort yet. It’s pretty much the male equivalent to Beyoncé’s latest album Lemonade, except I’ll go as far to say that it’s better

Score: 4/5