Continued from page 18
upholding their end of the deal.” Nejad
explains. “It's a ton of work, obviously. 'Do
everything all the time' pretty accurately
sums up our work ethic.”
That drive carries over to the group’s
ambitious visuals and live presence,
whether performing in an intimate room
like Schubas, or as part of React Presents’
Reaction NYE event, where the duo closed
out the year on the same bill as Skrillex and
Chance The Rapper. “What brings me the
most joy is performing,” Kubley reveals. “I
love being on camera, I love being onstage,
I love creating images...I need there to be a
visual component to our work in order to
truly feel satisfied.”
The end result is an experience that’s
wholly representative of the realization of
Kubley and Nejad’s creative world. “I
think one of the reasons that people are
responding so well to Celine
Neon is because when we
started this band, we were
like, "Okay, our official mission statement/mantra is to
do whatever we want, all the
time,” Nejad affirms. “Fuck
what other people think is
cool, this is what we like.”
release of a new one-off track from Saba
titled “Soap Box,” which finds him going
harder than he has in some time. “It’s a
really rappy song,” Saba confirms of the
track. “I haven’t done that in a while.”
Beyond “Soap Box,” a larger body of
work is on the horizon from Saba this year.
“It’s definitely new, as far as what it
sounds like,” he revealed of his forthcoming project. “We’re getting real creative
with it. Kind of just doing what we want to
do, at this point. It’s not really like we’re
playing by any rules, creatively.” “I think
it’ll be more of a proper introduction,
maybe on a national level,” Saba continues, “Comfort Zone did get some coverage
outside of Chicago. It got a decent amount.
But I think it was definitely still in that
local project kind of realm. So I think moving forward, it’ll basically take that sound
and that idea, and broaden it to a different
audience, a larger audience.”
It’s a bolder direction for the artist, who
a few short years ago lacked the confidence he needed. “I was really shy going
Saba:
Chi But Not Shy
W
hen Chicago rapper
Saba released his
ComfortZone mixtape in the summer of 2014,
the album brought him to the
attention of Chicago industry
and audiences alike. A melodic
collection, the record ranges
Saba
from the gospel-tinged R&B of
“Burnout,” featuring fellow
rising Chicago talent Eryn Allen Kane, to
the sunny pop jam of “Tell You,” to the
smooth as its namesake "Butter," with
Louis The Child
Jamila Woods joining on the track. Now,
the artist who calls the Austin neighborhood home, is looking to capture the attention of a larger audience, beyond those
already in-the-know in Chicago.
It’s a process that’s already started,
with Saba making his late night television
debut this past fall. The artist joined
Chance The Rapper on The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert for an exuberant performance of the duo’s collaborative single,
“Angels.” And just last month saw the
18 illinoisentertainer.com march 2016
into the creation of ComfortZone,” Saba
admits. "I was really to myself. I was really
within my comfort zone. Just as far as not
being really outspoken, and
not being the most outgoing
person,
and
ComfortZone was, for me,
trying to break that mold
and get out of that habit of
being so closed minded and
stuck within myself.”
It’s easy to see it
worked. As evidenced in
interviews and on “Soap
Box,” Saba in 2016 is