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The debut album from Pivot Gang, You Can't Sit With Us highlights the bond of six lifelong friends that were raised alongside one another and have shared successes, failures, happiness, and pain. From the Westside of Chicago, the group features brothers Saba [instagram.com] and Joseph Chilliams [instagram.com], brothers Frsh Waters [instagram.com] and squeakPIVOT [instagram.com], rapper MFnMelo [instagram.com], producer daedaePIVOT [instagram.com], and fallen member DinnerWithJohn [instagram.com] aka John Walt. Family ties aside, the crew’s bond dates back to their childhood when they began making music together in their early teens with a DIY studio set-up in Saba and Joseph's grandmother’s basement. Pivot Gang recorded You Can't Sit With Us during a retreat to Los Angeles earlier this year, inviting peers that they grew up with in Chicago's open mic scene like Mick Jenkins [youtube.com], Jean Deaux [youtube.com], and Benjamin Earl Turner [youtube.com] to the studio, while also connecting with newfound affiliates Kari Faux, Smino, and Sylvan LaCue. The album, which includes video singles "Mortal Kombat [youtube.com]" with Kari Faux, "Jason Statham, Pt. 2 [youtube.com]," and "Studio Ground Rules [youtube.com]," is their first release together since 2013's JIMMY mixtape [soundcloud.com]. The familiarity and friendship sticks to the forefront of the music, as Pitchfork stated the album "sounds like a bunch of friends at the lunch table trying to out-rap each other for fun." In the time between 2013's JIMMY and 2019's You Can't Sit With Us, Saba has established himself as a rising star and hometown hero with critical acclaim - the Chicago Tribune named him one of their Chicagoans of the Year in 2018 while NPR named his solo album CARE FOR ME their #1 Hip-Hop Album of the Year. Joseph Chilliams was heralded as "Chicago's most charming rapper" by Noisey and he stands out with an encyclopedia of pop culture references and a charismatic delivery as displayed on the Pivot Gang album and his own Mean Girls-inspired The Plastics EP. MFnMelo brings a necessary boastfulness to the group, while Frsh Waters proves to be an anchor with verses packed with wisdom and self-reflection.
