Saafir 'Good Game: The Transition' album

He never thought he’d walk again, let alone record another album, but after a seven year hiatus recording artist Saafir returns a changed man on Good Game: The Transition, his new album debuting on Halloween.

Teaming up with Oakland based independent record company ABB Records, Saafir aka “Shaft Sizzle” gets a rare opportunity to make a second first impression with his new album. “As the title Good Game: The Transition implies, this isn’t about a comeback for Shaft, he never left, but rather progressed as an artist and a man” says ABB president Beni B. “Something very few artists do today.”

A testament to his personal and artistic evolution, Good Game: The Transition sets his life to music through a blend of honest songwriting and thoughtful production. “This record is the kind of record where either you gonna be with me or you’re not. It ain’t gonna be no in between” says Saafir. “The album is really about the transition from ignorance to understanding, from darkness to light.”

The majority of the album features production by Los Angeles producer Josef “JL” Leimberg of Snoop Dogg fame and a special guest appearance by vocalist Mike Marshall, best recognized for his chorus on the Luniz’s smash hit “I Got Five on It” to name a few.

Saafir has been steadily making music since the early 90’s when he banded with local hip-hop collective, Digital Underground. With three full length albums, including the 1994 instant classic Boxcar Sessions (Qwest Records), and several television and film appearances, most notably his memorable performance in the 1993 Hughes Brothers film, “Menace II Society,” Saafir has always put all of himself in everything he does. But sometimes life doesn’t work out the way you expect.

A string of professional and personal maladies, including surviving a lengthy battle with spinal cancer, slowed the once spirited emcee down, forcing him to take inventory of his life over the last several years. During this period of self-reflection Saafir discovered THE ONE GOD; turning to the Islamic faith in search of the spirituality he found lacking.

With a newfound faith and a second lease on life, Saafir is more than ready to take on the music world one more time. “This music is my first love, so I gotta move something with that” says Saafir. “I’ma always do that – God willing.”

Biography

From living with Tupac, surviving a plane crash, to becoming a devout Sunni Muslim, Oakland’s Saafir has been through a set of life-changing experiences that few rappers can feature on their resume. It’s even harder to set this life to music and make it sound good, but through the right mix of sincere songwriting, soulful collaborations and crisp production, the job has been accomplished on Saafir’s fourth solo album, Good Game: The Transition (ABB Records, in stores Oct. 31).

On the 17-track collection, the once-Saucee Nomad a.k.a. Mr. No No is more introspective than ever and exceeds the gems in his own catalogue: the underground classic Boxcar Sessions, the sophomore Trigonometry, and the most recent, The Hit List. Whether bringing listeners aboard the TWA Flight 841 crash landing on New York’s JFK Airport runway, on “One of the Hardest” or clarifying the meaning of an internal struggle with “Jihad,” Saafir is at top of his form. On “Devotion,” featuring crooner Mike Marshall of the Luniz’ smash hit “I Got Five on It,” he speaks with depth and conviction that can only come from unique set of experiences. The majority of the songs are produced by the jazz- and funk-influenced Josef “JL” Leimberg, a Los Angeles producer who has produced tracks for Snoop Dogg and G-Unit to name a few.

Early in his career, Saafir was part of the Bay area hip-hop scene that launched many careers. With much work in the streets and behind the mic since the early 90s - when he joined the rap game alongside the Bay’s Digital Underground - he met film directors the Hughes Brothers. You might remember Saafir’s memorable appearance as Cousin Harold in their film “Menace II Society.” Hollywood didn’t exactly call on Saafir from that point and vice versa, so he stuck to his rhyme regimen which included perhaps his best known collaboration, “Three Card Molly,” a super-group collaboration with Ras Kass and Xzibit as the short-lived group Golden State Warriors.

An artist of Saafir’s caliber found it tough to appeal to the pop-oriented music market of the late 1990s and early 2000s and had to survive by any means available. Always a bar spitter, he soon found himself behind a different set of bars but the experience proved to be anything but extraordinary. During this period, Saafir discovered Islam turning to the faith in search of the spirituality he felt lacking in his life.

Rededicated, he recorded Good Game: The Transition in mid-2005 in his hometown of Oakland, CA as a testament to his evolution. He best sums up his outlook on life on “In My Own Words”: If you worship money you’re a kafir, that’s a nonbeliever, I was that, slash a bastard.

There are numerous examples of introspective rhymes blended naturally with Saafir’s recognizable cadence and delivery throughout Good Game: The Transition. Away from the recording booth, he also gives relevant advice: “There’s two things that in this world that can send you to the hell fire the fastest - and that’s what’s between your jaws and what’s between your drawls.”

Now that’s Good Game. Get it on Halloween.

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Saafir - Good Game: The Transition