West-side hip-hop crew Pivot Gang have long described themselves as a boy band. When they headlined Vocalo’s Summer Finale at Pritzker Pavillion in September 2024, Saba, Joseph Chilliams, MFn Melo, Frsh Waters, and Dae Dae moved onstage with casual professionalism, occasionally breaking into unison dance moves worthy of a pop vocal group. I’ve thought a lot about Pivot Gang’s boy-band presentation while listening to Coffee!, a nine-track project that Saba self-released the day before Halloween. The sleek, compact songs on Coffee! favor supple melodic production—they’re in character with Saba’s growing catalog of richly detailed tracks that lean on R&B suaveness and backpacker cool, but they push deeper into pop territory. These songs are also fun, with a light step that feels freed from heavy expectations. It sounds like Saba recorded them while goofing off with friends in the studio.
Coffee! follows the March release of From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID, a years-in-the-works collaboration between Saba and the legendary Chicago hip-hop producer. This album feels joyful too, despite the weight of its history-making partnership: In the early 90s, No I.D. helped propel Common into the pantheon of great Chicago artists, and Saba is a gifted younger MC whose career, much like Common’s, has proved impervious to the ebbs and flows of trends. Saba’s work on Private Collection is some of his best, in part because he draws on his own history. “Westside Bound Pt. 4” is a great follow-up to one of the standouts on 2016’s Bucket List Project (“Westside Bound Pt. 3”), likewise paying homage to the west side and the way it’s shaped Saba and his friends as artists. No I.D.’s big, declarative production gives Saba room to show off, and he repeatedly switches up his flow. Then he hands the mike to MFn Melo for one of the best cameos on an album packed with big guests (including Raphael Saadiq, Madison McFerrin, and Kelly Rowland).
Melo, Saba, and the whole Pivot Gang crew are back together in town for the first John Walt Day since 2022. The event honors Pivot Gang member John Walt, who was murdered in February 2017. John Walt Day has also become a homecoming for a crew now split between Chicago and Los Angeles. I’m glad to see that, even as Pivot Gang’s star has risen internationally, they’ll still play a midsize venue in Chicago. I’m particularly excited to get another chance to see Pivot Gang perform the funny and ferocious 2024 single “Who at the Door?,” which they debuted at Pritzker Pavilion last fall.
John Walt Day Saba headlines with Pivot Gang. Fri 11/28, 7 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, advance tickets $47.94, all ages
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