Why Saafir’s ‘Boxcar Sessions’ is one of the greatest albums of all time

Episode notes

Last year bay area rapper Saafir died at the age of 54. If you’re a hip-hop fan, maybe you saw a headline about it, maybe you missed it. 

But you’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard much beyond that about Saafir. He wasn’t E-40, Too $hort or Tupac, though he was roommates with the latter.

Saafir put out just four full length albums in his career. He was on a major label run by Quincy Jones, but signed during a time when frenzied A&R guys were handing out contracts to independent MCs like they were show fliers. He never really became super famous.

Saafir also didn’t make commercial records. He almost never used hooks and the beats were off kilter most of the time. And he had a flow that some have described as impenetrable.

On this episode, we’ll be talking about why Saafir’s debut record – 1994’s Boxcar Sessions, deserves to be inducted into the Canon of great pop culture albums.

To induct Boxcar Sessions into the Canon is writer Andrew “Noz” Nosnitsky. Noz is an Oakland based hip-hop writer. He’s got bylines in Pitchfork, Wire, Fader, NPR, and, more recently, his great newsletter: Light Sleeper. Named after a song by the one and only Saafir.