Saba
West Side Chicago rapper, producer and Pivot Gang co-founder known for the acclaimed concept album “Care for Me” and his 2025 collaborative album with producer No I.D.
Austin and Pivot Gang
Tahj Malik Chandler was born on July 17, 1994, in Chicago and grew up in the Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side. He co-founded the collective Pivot Gang with his brother Joseph Chilliams, his cousin John Walt, and friends including MFn Melo, and released the mixtapes “GETCOMFORTable” (2012) and “ComfortZone” (2014) independently.
Early collaborations
Saba appeared on “Everybody’s Something” from Chance the Rapper’s 2013 mixtape “Acid Rap” and joined him on the 2015 single “Angels,” which the two performed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” He was also featured on “Shadow Man” from Noname’s 2016 mixtape “Telefone,” alongside Smino and Phoelix. His debut studio album “Bucket List Project” arrived in October 2016 and reached No. 50 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Care for Me
In February 2017 John Walt was fatally stabbed in Chicago, and Saba and Walt’s mother established the John Walt Foundation to support arts programs for Chicago youth. His second album “Care for Me” (April 2018), produced largely by Saba with daedaePIVOT and Daoud, dealt with grief and loss. It earned a Best New Music designation from Pitchfork, a Metacritic score of 93, and a place on many 2018 year-end lists. The Pivot Gang group album “You Can’t Sit with Us” followed in 2019.
Later work
“Few Good Things” (February 2022) featured Black Thought, G Herbo, Krayzie Bone, 6lack and Smino. In March 2025 he released “From the Private Collection of Saba and No I.D.,” a full collaboration with the veteran Chicago producer, followed that October by the project “C0FFEE.” He releases music through his own Saba Pivot company.
Watch
