Chicago Heavyweights No ID & Saba Release New Single 'Hue_man Nature'

RIAA gold-selling Chicago rap virtuoso and Pivot Gang leader Saba and GRAMMY® Award-winning super-producer and the “Godfather of Chicago Hip-Hop” No ID serve up a new collaborative single and music video titled “hue_man nature.” It heralds the upcoming arrival of their first joint mixtape From the private collection of Saba & No ID out later this summer via Artium Recordings.

A classy guitar loop encircles a thumping bassline and head-nodding groove on “hue_man nature.” Atop the lively soundscape, Saba darts through the negative space, twisting lines that, on paper, could have been delivered at any point throughout rap’s history (“The mics I’ve touched, they might leave dust”) into new, knottier shapes.

By the track’s end, this insistence on boiling a sentiment down to its essential element helps Saba land some of his most slyly incisive, personal barbs to date: “Damn/I was going through it, didn’t say s/Damn/You was busy asking me for favors.” The stunning music video sees Saba rapping the track in an expansive desert scene, backdropped by cotton-candy sunset skies and sweeping sand dunes in an environment that feels other-worldly.

“hue_man nature” arrives on the heels of their first collaborative debut single “Back in Office.” In addition to praise from Pitchfork, Complex, and more, Stereogum hailed it as “a brash and bluesy new track that merges their aesthetics quite effectively,” and The FADER dubbed it a “Song You Need” and proclaimed, “With a homegrown connection, the two Chicago artists work side-by-side seamlessly to showcase the city’s soulful, effortless groove.”

Both Saba and No ID believe that the way to build a legacy—one that honors what came before while forging new ground—is to worry about being as honest as possible in the moment and let questions of posterity sort themselves out later.

“To be able to have a real career, you have to reinvent your thought process, reinvent your perspective,” No ID explains. “And you can’t do it sitting on the mountaintop, yelling about what you did. You think you know—and then everything changes.” 

Earlier this year, Saba shut down Rolling Stone’s “Future of Music SXSW Showcase” at ACL Live at the Moody Theater with a stunning set. Rolling Stone proclaimed, “The west side Chicago MC is a laidback presence onstage, killing you softly with his understated verbal dexterity.” Additionally, he appeared on Planet Giza’s “WYD” and dropped the acclaimed Few Good Things early last year.

Beyond amassing hundreds of millions of streams, his growing catalog notably includes the gold-certified “Photosynthesis” [feat. Jean Deaux] and the EARTHGANG and J. Cole gold-certified banger “Sacrifices” [feat. Smino & Saba], which graced the tracklisting of the Billboard 200 #1 album Revenge of the Dreamers. Next, Saba gets ready to perform at the 2023 Governors Ball Music Festival on June 9 in Flushing Meadows Corona, NY.  

Continuing an illustrious career as one of the most influential producers, No ID co-produced “Church Girl” from Beyonce’s blockbuster Renaissance, which bowed at #1 on the Billboard 200 and earned him a 2023 GRAMMY nomination in the Album of the Year category.

Stay tuned for more from Saba and No ID soon. Get ready for…From the private collection of Saba & No ID and a new era for the Windy City in the culture.

Photo credit: Mark Peaced

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