Hip-Hop Heavyweights No ID & Saba Release New Single 'Woes of the World”

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 treat listeners to their newest collaborative single, “Woes of the World,” out now. Following October single “How to Impress God,” the powerhouse duo continues to embark on a new era laying the foundation for their highly anticipated joint album From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID — out soon via ARTium Recordings/Pivot Gang Records, LLC. 

“Woes of the World” is a mellow, expressive track that gives listeners another captivating taste of From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID. The single serves as a further testament to the power of the duo’s collaboration, spotlighting Saba’s inimitable wordplay against No ID’s sleek production. Clean, layered beats compliment Saba’s contemplations as he admits in the chorus, “It makes me emotional to know what I know.” 

The track follows on the heels of previous singles “Back In Office” and “hue_man nature,” as well as “head.rap” and most recent offering, “How To Impress God.” These tracks, as well as the album, are the result of Saba and No ID spending the second half of 2023 in the studio, reimagining their album from the ground up, resulting in a project more nuanced and expansive than previously imagined.

For Saba and No ID, the process of making From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID was long, involved, and not always linear. Beginning life as a mixtape, it entailed mountains of demos, months of reconsideration, and even a hard reset. Yet when the time came to push the button, there was no hesitation. From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID is the sort of record rap fans across generations adore: technically dazzling but thematically dense, irresistibly kinetic even as it dives deep into Saba’s psyche. A year ago, the duo thought they were finished with the project, but Saba losing his uncle forced him to reevaluate. “He’s the person who made me fall in love with hip-hop,” Saba says. “It made me want to re-approach things; I had to have a lot of conversations with myself that I hadn’t had to have in a long time.”

In the midst of working on the project, the two artists earned a number of notable individual accomplishments. Earlier in 2024, Saba released “Don’t Check 4 Me,” with Nascent and Duckworth, right after hopping on Valee and Harry Fraud’s “Watermelon Automobile.” Meanwhile, No ID has continued to solidify his status as one of the most influential producers in the game, co-producing “American Requiem” from Beyoncé’s latest cultural phenomenon COWBOY CARTER alongside Jon Batiste and a plethora of genius hitmakers. He also executive produced Killer Mike’s sixth studio album MICHAEL, snagging a Best Rap Song GRAMMY Award for his work on “Scientists & Engineers.”

About No ID:

Super-producer, songwriter, and sometimes exec No ID (aka Dion Wilson) earned the sobriquet “Godfather of Chicago Hip-Hop” due to his early work with—and mentorship of—Kanye West and other Windy City icons. But he's also helmed Grammy-winning work by Jay-Z and Nas and collaborated with the likes of Drake, Rihanna, John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, J. Cole, Killer Mike, Big Sean, Common, and Bow Wow. He ran West’s G.O.O.D. Music Label and was EVP & Head of A&R at Def Jam while running his own imprint, ARTium Recordings (which has since gone independent). Under the leadership of No ID, ARTium has served as the home for breakout stars including Jhené Aiko and Snoh Aalegra.

About Saba:

A successful independent artist, Saba has rooted his career in an authenticity and musicality that’s made him one of his generation’s most important and unique voices in rap. Saba’s most recent career highlights include performing at the United Center arena for Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap Anniversary, playing two weekends at Coachella, and touring the US, Europe and Africa in support of his album Few Good Things. This year, Spotify named Saba’s critically acclaimed CARE FOR ME album amongst its “Spotify Classics: Hip-Hop & R&B Albums of the Streaming Era” campaign (which includes Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator and more) with billboards across LA and NYC.

Saba began making music at age 9 and was writing and producing songs by early adolescence. Building a recording studio in his grandmother’s basement on the west side of Chicago, he and a group of neighborhood friends formed their Pivot Gang collective. In 2019, J. Cole tapped Saba for the Dreamville collaboration album Revenge of the Dreamers III, in which Saba earned his first RIAA Gold certification for the song “Sacrifices.” That same year, Saba, Noname, and Smino announced the creation of their Midwest super-group Ghetto Sage with the release of their debut track “Häagen Dazs.” 2022 marked Saba’s second RIAA Gold certification – this time for his own 2016 single “Photosynthesis.

Photo credit: Laiken Joy

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