Saba.
Photo by Dam Dam.
This year's Adult Swim Singles Program has been on a tear, releasing new tracks from Brain Eno & Kevin Shields, Zaytoven, and Tanya Tagaq. Now, there's a new song from Chicago rapper Saba produced by Zack Villere, the producer behind the viral hit "Cool," that's premiering today on The FADER. Saba's raps are unified by an ambivalence within a strong sense of soul – "If I let you pimp my soul / Will my story still be told?" he raps at one point, before Villere's plush dreamland beat helps Saba bloom into some Cudi-esque harmonies on the hook.
Over email, Saba says the song came after he and Zack met each other through Twitter. "It was the most boring interaction, 'hey let's work fam,' some shit like that," he said. "This is one example of Twitter friendships and social media connections turning into real life friendships." Saba stressed his appreciation for Zack's originality as well: "He's very tight, very talented. I feel like his ear as a producer, if you listen to his music, he's not using any of the sounds that anybody else is using, and I think his chords are crazy. And from an artist's perspective, that's the kind of ear that I want to hear my music first."
