Few Good Things - Saba

REVIEWED: April 5, 2022

Saba comes back stronger than ever on his third studio album. The last time we heard from him was back in 2018 with CARE FOR ME, and he has had significant artistic growth since then. This is evident on tracks like Fearmonger, where he takes on a more experimental and unique stance. On this album, Saba takes on a more extroverted persona than on his aforementioned album, CARE FOR ME, which was driven by a sense of introversion and had a more dreary overtone. This allows him to take on beats with a faster tempo and branch out to a new subsection of alt-rap compared to his norm. The track Come My Way remind me of past summers when I would hop in the car with my dad and drive around town while the sun set. It has that nostalgic feeling and brings you back to your childhood. I also love hip-hop songs that have an R&B or melodic chorus, and many songs on Few Good Things deliver this. Over these past few years, it is evident that Saba has been busy making connections. This is seen by features from 6LACK, G Herbo, Krayzie Bone and Black Thought. It is truly difficult to deny his diversification in sound, and the splash he is making in the rap game. There is an accompanying short film to watch with the album, and I believe this is just one of the many aspects that makes this project so memorable. There was not a huge rollout when compared to albums like Donda by Kanye West or After Hours by the Weeknd, but the heights of Saba's storytelling make up for this. There is a new level of engagement with the sound, and that is what listeners remember--what they felt. Saba's sing-song rap style on various tracks elevates a style that Drake has been bringing into the mainstream for a while now, and makes it his own. I really enjoyed this project from Saba. He opened up 2022 strongly, and I look forward to what he delivers in the future!