Saba On “Few Good Things”: “Our Culture Is Not Clickbait”

Written by Morgan Ciocca on February 4, 2022

“I am more than my trauma and I offer more than these stories. I’m just honest about them. Transparent. Open.”
– Saba

Acclaimed Chicago rapper and member of Pivot Gang collective Saba released the highly-anticipated Few Good Things on Feb. 4 — his third album and first full-length release since 2018’s CARE FOR ME. Here’s what he wants you to know before you listen.

The morning of Feb. 3, Saba released a statement to read before listening — a message to keep in mind his work is more than the sum of collective trauma, and to recognize the work as an expression of the full spectrum of Black emotion.

“For so long, I’ve waited for people to understand our place in this industry, our art, and what we represent,” his statement begins. “I’ve realized now after being ‘here’ for almost 10 years that I should have just defined this shit for you.”

“It’s not that I feel completely misrepresented, it’s that I want to create space for myself and this experience to be represented wholly.”

Before you listen, pic.twitter.com/ofOHrz03KZ
— SABA (@sabaPIVOT) February 3, 2022

“In fact, if all you hear is death, it’s an indication of your own resistance to the complexity of your own human experience.”
– Benjamin Earl Turner, quoted by Saba

“I challenge you not to compare me to people who are not doing what I’m doing,” Saba continued. “I challenge you not to use headlines you’ve read about the friends that I lost to invent storylines that aren’t there.”

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Few Good Things addresses sensitive subjects — and Saba acknowledges he’s never shied away from expressing the pain and fear that goes with them. But present also are the joys and celebrations. With features from G Herbo, 6LACK, Smino, Black Thought, Eryn Allen Kane, fellow members of Pivot Gang and others, Few Good Things is nothing short of monumental, finding moments of respite and happiness in the face of trauma and suffering. It belongs in college courses, in museums, at full volume in traffic.

Few Good Things: The Short Film will be released on Saba’s YouTube channel Thursday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. CT. It was directed by C.T. Robert, who also shot the album’s cover art. Watch the trailer now above.