Saba

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Jesse Thorn

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2018, the Chicago rapper Saba released the critically acclaimed Care for Me. A frenetic, beautiful album recorded after the loss of his cousin Walter. It brought Saba a lot of attention, and changed his life in ways he couldn't process. Saba joins Bullseye to talk about living up to those expectations, collaborating with No I.D. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and finding peace in self reflection. Plus, he shares some music gear recommendations!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:09.0	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:11.6	Five years ago, the Chicago rapper, Sabah, released an album called Care for Me.
0:17.2	It wasn't budging, I'm bogus.
0:18.7	Let my girl for some show, he's showin' deserve it all that's lonely, you said.
0:22.2	Tell me how and you said, you got all of these friends, you got all of these fans.
0:26.2	I ain't trust nobody, no six, two thousand, twelve, I ain't let nobody in.
0:29.2	Jesus got killed for my sins, Walter got killed for a quote, I'm tryin' to quote.
0:33.2	But it's a part of me gone, in the paramilong.
0:36.2	It's a busy day, I'll reach you back right away.
0:41.2	That's a song called Busy Slash Versirens.
0:44.2	It's the opening track on the record.
0:46.2	His raw and frenzied, he talks about depression and anxiety, meaningless sex, immense loss.
0:54.2	Sabah wrote and recorded Care for Me in the wake of losing his cousin Walter.
1:00.2	He and Walt were close, they were both members of Sabah's crew, Pivot Gang.
1:04.2	Each song is a different story about Walter or about what Sabah dealt with after losing him.
1:12.2	The rapper tells me he didn't even realize he'd written an entire album about his cousin until he was halfway through recording it.
1:19.2	Before Care for Me, Sabah was probably best known as a SoundCloud rapper, or maybe for his work with other Chicagoans like Chance the Rapper and No Name.
1:31.2	But after Care for Me, he was a breakthrough star.
1:35.2	He says that he wanted to follow Care for Me with another hit, few months later.
1:41.2	He'd written that first record quick, so why not?
1:45.2	But you know, that isn't how work works. Inspiration happens when it happens.
	...

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