Care for Me is a gorgeously sad project. Saba skillfully deals with grief, fear, insecurity and troubled relationships throughout the ten tracks. The opener, "Busy / Sirens", is an early standout track filled with hazy guitar chords. Saba uses the "Busy" half to tackle the loneliness that has come with the loss of his best friend ("Jesus got killed for our sins, Walter got killed for a coat/I'm tryna' cope, but it's a part of me gone and apparently I'm alone") coinciding with his growing success as a rapper, and the fake friends that come with this rise in status ("Niggas askin' me how tour was/Knowin' I been home like two months"). In "Sirens", he tackles police brutality, delivering a line that succinctly sums up their relationship with Black America ("They don't know me but they fear me") with a smooth, melodic flow and a simple, but effective chorus ("Sirens on the way, ayy/Now you're lying where the angels lay").
Saba revisits social commentary on "Life", opening up the track with another hard hitting line on his country's relationship with black people, this time taking aim at the prison industrial complex ("They want a barcode on my wrist/To auction off the kids that don't fit their description of a utopia (black)/Like a problem won't exist if I just don't exist"). The song features the rapper switching between a slower, more measured and at times half-sung flow to a more rapid pace. The production here is at times a bit minimal - when the bass is the main focus the song comes off as more spacious than the more lush moments of the record, which include the jazzy ending of "Grey" and the beautifully sung hook of "Smile."
Care for Me proves that Saba has grown lyrically and emotionally, but a trio of stellar tracks, "Fighter", "Prom / King" and "Heaven All Around Me" show that the Chicago emcee's best aspect may be his story telling. In "Fighter", Saba gives the listener vivid poetry that focuses on two types of battles - physical and emotional. The first verse and a half tackles childhood neighborhood fights, with the latter half of the second verse addressing his fraught relationships after dropping out of college to focus on rap music. One of the most powerful moments of the song comes through a conversation with his then girlfriend, where he raps from her perspective and dives into the lack of communication, acknowledging his shortcomings ("You say that you care, well show it, I'm not askin' a lot/I know you think you listenin' but you just waitin' to talk'/My fault").
"Prom / King" is arguably the most moving moment of Care for Me, with Saba going into detail of how he met and developed an irreplaceable bond with his late cousin. It may be a bit early for statements like this about the young emcee, but it's hard to see a world where "Prom / King" doesn't go down as one of the essential songs of his career. The song opens up with how Saba first formed a friendship with Walter, by Walter getting him a prom date, and eventually moves into the beginning of their hip-hop career in the "King" half. From a gripping, frantic conversation about how Walter narrowly avoided death ("Give him sympathy, another case of mistaken identity/The news prolly' gon' run this, as two gangs from different streets"), to the friends' first attempt to get featured at an open mic ("We signed our names on the open mic list and then they skipped us/And then they skipped us again like a week later/Like, obviously this fuckin' host can't read the paper"), the song is consistently engaging and is more than worthy of its over 7 minute run time.
Care for Me closes out with "Heaven All Around Me", which serves as the somber ending to the story that abruptly stopped with Saba looking for Walter after receiving a call from Walter's mom in "Prom / King." Aided by gorgeous keys and horns, Saba raps from the perspective of his cousin, heartbreakingly describing Walter processing his own death. As a ghost, he yells to no avail ("Yellin' at my brothers like, "I know that I'm here"/Regardless how loud, they don't hear"), watches onlookers mourn ("Walkin' through the crowd, they share tears") and refuses to accept his own death ("I know I did not disappear"). "Heaven All Around Me", with its moving and infectious hook ("No, I can't feel no pain and I can see the stars/No, I ain't leave in vain but I know we with God") is a fitting conclusion to Saba's sophomore album.
By the end of an attentive listen to Care for Me, it's impossible not to have a strong impression of what Saba has been going through since the completion of Bucket List. Full with personal narratives, hip-hop has always been a genre where the line between entertainment and reality is often a bit hazy. However, with storytelling this rich, detailed and emotionally compelling, there is no questioning that Saba is telling his truth throughout Care for Me - his best project yet.
Saba revisits social commentary on "Life", opening up the track with another hard hitting line on his country's relationship with black people, this time taking aim at the prison industrial complex ("They want a barcode on my wrist/To auction off the kids that don't fit their description of a utopia (black)/Like a problem won't exist if I just don't exist"). The song features the rapper switching between a slower, more measured and at times half-sung flow to a more rapid pace. The production here is at times a bit minimal - when the bass is the main focus the song comes off as more spacious than the more lush moments of the record, which include the jazzy ending of "Grey" and the beautifully sung hook of "Smile."
Care for Me proves that Saba has grown lyrically and emotionally, but a trio of stellar tracks, "Fighter", "Prom / King" and "Heaven All Around Me" show that the Chicago emcee's best aspect may be his story telling. In "Fighter", Saba gives the listener vivid poetry that focuses on two types of battles - physical and emotional. The first verse and a half tackles childhood neighborhood fights, with the latter half of the second verse addressing his fraught relationships after dropping out of college to focus on rap music. One of the most powerful moments of the song comes through a conversation with his then girlfriend, where he raps from her perspective and dives into the lack of communication, acknowledging his shortcomings ("You say that you care, well show it, I'm not askin' a lot/I know you think you listenin' but you just waitin' to talk'/My fault").
"Prom / King" is arguably the most moving moment of Care for Me, with Saba going into detail of how he met and developed an irreplaceable bond with his late cousin. It may be a bit early for statements like this about the young emcee, but it's hard to see a world where "Prom / King" doesn't go down as one of the essential songs of his career. The song opens up with how Saba first formed a friendship with Walter, by Walter getting him a prom date, and eventually moves into the beginning of their hip-hop career in the "King" half. From a gripping, frantic conversation about how Walter narrowly avoided death ("Give him sympathy, another case of mistaken identity/The news prolly' gon' run this, as two gangs from different streets"), to the friends' first attempt to get featured at an open mic ("We signed our names on the open mic list and then they skipped us/And then they skipped us again like a week later/Like, obviously this fuckin' host can't read the paper"), the song is consistently engaging and is more than worthy of its over 7 minute run time.
Care for Me closes out with "Heaven All Around Me", which serves as the somber ending to the story that abruptly stopped with Saba looking for Walter after receiving a call from Walter's mom in "Prom / King." Aided by gorgeous keys and horns, Saba raps from the perspective of his cousin, heartbreakingly describing Walter processing his own death. As a ghost, he yells to no avail ("Yellin' at my brothers like, "I know that I'm here"/Regardless how loud, they don't hear"), watches onlookers mourn ("Walkin' through the crowd, they share tears") and refuses to accept his own death ("I know I did not disappear"). "Heaven All Around Me", with its moving and infectious hook ("No, I can't feel no pain and I can see the stars/No, I ain't leave in vain but I know we with God") is a fitting conclusion to Saba's sophomore album.
By the end of an attentive listen to Care for Me, it's impossible not to have a strong impression of what Saba has been going through since the completion of Bucket List. Full with personal narratives, hip-hop has always been a genre where the line between entertainment and reality is often a bit hazy. However, with storytelling this rich, detailed and emotionally compelling, there is no questioning that Saba is telling his truth throughout Care for Me - his best project yet.
