Pivot Gang: You Can’t Sit With Us

Pivot Gang, is a Chicago base Hip-Hop collective that consist of Artist Saba, Joseph Chilliams, SqueakPIVOT, MFnMelo, Frsh Waters, Dae Dae and John Walt (RIP) . This is their first album as a collective, You Can’t Sit With Us. It consist of 13 tracks full of gems and spot on features. The album features, Kari Faux, Smino, Benjamin Earl Turner, Sylvan Lacue, Jean Deaux, Femdot and Mick Jenkins.

The first thing I notice about Pivot Gang is the fact that each of these artists do solo work and all sound completely different. Each artist has their own style and yet they can come together and create a whole new sound. There’s a deep appreciation for Hip-Hop in this album. A very old school feel mixed with new age Black teen angst. The sound is fun though, you can sense this energy of them feeding off each other. Pivot Gang is also serious. They came too far and lost too much to end anything anytime soon.

Their lyricism is dope. The way they build on top of each other. How they each bring their own personal skill together and create such harmony. Some tracks come off a little corny but I say that in an endearing way, showing they can be playful and still have technique. Here are some tracks that I really liked.

Mortal Kombat: First off, I just love the beat and the sound of Saba’s voice is everything to me. “Yeah, I’m from Chicago, not no Chi-raq/ But I respect that, because you know we from the violence.” And I am loving Kari Faux’s new album too so I was so happy to see her as a feature, I love her verse “Excuse me? Are you talking to me? Cause my name ain’t Ayye and my time ain’t free/ Yeah I know you want to fuck but you ain’t qualified.”

Mathematics: This might be one of my favorite songs just because it’s so amazingly absurd. It immediately starts with some classic love notes: “Uh, sit that ass on my face, till I look like an orangutan.” Homies over here sounding real sleek and shit. Another dope verse is by Joseph Chilliams and Femdot, “Came through drippin, I’ma fuck a princess/ my friends call me Ariel/ New shit sound like Tha Carter did/ choppin on the net like Vince Carter did.”

Bad Boys: The beats and instrumentals go real hard on this track. This is your typical brag song but with dope references and sound. “I sleep in a high tower like Steve Harvey Show.” The best verse to me though is by MFnMelo, mf goes hard on it. “And her system feelin solar, that full moon effect/ late night talking, you know bold the texts/ keep it risky, publicly get private kissy/freak on like messy, she just tryna get magoo/safety off, raw form when I shoot.”

This collective is extremely focus and it shows. I’m really looking forward for their future projects and to see what they are doing individually. It’s amazing to see this genre of Hip-Hop where young Black youth can just be themselves without any explanation.

Their album You Can’t Sit With Us is available on all streaming platforms.