In this modern day age of streaming music, we are leaving a lot of classics behind. Maybe nobody feels like I do but while we all celebrate the golden era of hip hop and give love to artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Biggie, and Gang Starr, where does that leave a West Coast emcee like Saafir? Maybe I’m just stuck in my Cali bubble but I feel that Saafir’s album Boxcar Sessions might be a classic. Am I biased? Absolutely. But was Saafir pushing boundaries in the rap and hip hop scene in the mid90s? Absolutely. So you have never heard of Saafir? Well now is the perfect time to get schooled! Saafir is from Oakland and came up in the mid90s Bay Area Rap scene. Rap posses were big at the time and he founded the Hobo Junction in 1994. The Hobo Junction actually battled Hieroglyphics on KMEL radio in the Bay Area. The video on that is below… The background on the beef was that Saafir guest featured on Casual’s album Fear Itself but when it was Casual’s turn to return the favor, he no-showed in the studio. So instead of Hobo Vs. Hiero, this was really Saafir Vs. Casual. 2 dope emcees spittin their sh*t!
Saafir gained some notoriety for his role in Menace II Society as Harold but when I think of Saafir I don’t think of Menace. When I think of Saafir I go back to his off-beat ahead of its time bars on his debut album Boxcar Sessions which dropped in 1994. The first song I heard from Saafir was “Light Sleeper” and that song smacked me right upside the head! Saafir was a dope lyricist rapping over boom bap jazzy hip hop beats. He had some verses that I could relate to as well. Here’s “Light Sleeper” for you to peep.
Outside of his solo projects and his Hobo Junction work, he was also a member of the supergroup The Golden State Warriors which included Saafir, Xzibit, and Ras Kass. The Golden State Warriors never dropped an album but they drop a few songs for us to go back and listen to. My favorite is off of Xzibit’s debut album “At the Speed of Life”. Such a good example of three emcees who each killed their verses.
Whether you know of Saafir or don’t, now is a good time to go back and listen to Boxcar Sessions and his features from over the years. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go back to bumpin’ “Light Sleeper” on repeat.