Safe (musician)

Saif Musaad (born 30 January 1997), professionally known as Safe (stylized as SAFE), is a Eritrean-Canadian singer, rapper, and songwriter.

Safe
Birth nameSaif Musaad
Also known as
  • Bando
  • Bando416
Born (1997-01-30) 30 January 1997
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
OriginToronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • rapper
  • songwriter
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2015–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websitebando416.com

Early life and career

Saif Musaad was born on 30 January 1997 in Abu Dhabi and is of Eritrean descent.[1] He immigrated with his family to Toronto when he was two months old, and grew up in the neighborhood of The Esplanade in eastern downtown Toronto.[2]

Around grade 10, Musaad began to focus on writing lyrics and recording. At the age of 18, he met Drake's manager Oliver El-Khatib at a video shoot and then got a job at the Toronto pop-up store for Drake's brand OVO. With encouragement from El-Khatib, and from his fellow members of two local rapper collectives – 878, also called Halal Gang (a group of Muslim rappers), and 176 – he continued to record, and to collaborate with artists including Bibi Bourelly, Ramriddlz, Eric Dingus, and Smoke Dawg.[3] In 2015 he began uploading songs to SoundCloud, and "Feel" became a hit[1], receiving 4.15 million plays over four years. That same year he released his first EP, Stay Down.

In 2017 he moved to New York,[4] from where he continued to release singles including "No Diamonds," which criticized the ostentatious display of the trappings of wealth, and premiered at Vice on 24 September 2018[1], and "New Regime," whose accompanying video depicted the seamy side of his hometown and his reasons for leaving.[3] In 2018 he was deeply affected by the 2018 murder of his close friend Smoke Dawg[5].

During the same period, Safe's vocals were featured on a number of other artists' tracks, including the September 2018 single "Listen Closely" from fellow Canadians DVBBS[6] and the track "Don't Pretend" from Khalid's 2019 album Free Spirit, and YG's track "Play Too Much" on album 4REAL 4REAL.[7]

In May 2019, Safe released his debut studio album Stay, on RCA Records. It contains 12 tracks that were characterized by cool R&B with elements of dancehall and afrobeat. QUIN and Playboi Carti were the only featured artists.[8]

Discography

Mixtapes
  • Stay Down

Studio albums

Compilation albums
gollark: Wow, that link caused me to see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Haf4e7AfGmc again. How nostalgic!
gollark: I hope you didn't step on it.
gollark: Oh, that one destroys the server.
gollark: The buttons on my melon vending machines no longer work because I can't set them as rightclickable.
gollark: A lot of claim-related permissions were removed a while ago. I don't know why.

References
  1. Witmer, Phil (24 September 2018). "SAFE Left Behind the Bullshit to Make Himself Better". Vice. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  2. Rosen, Dean (13 January 2016). "How SAFE Came from Nowhere to Capture Drake's Attention". Vice. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  3. "Toronto Rapper SAFE Drops Dark New Visual for "New Regime"". The Hype Magazine. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  4. Pierre, Alphonse (5 April 2019). "The Ones: SAFE's "Paid in Full" [ft. Playboi Carti]". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  5. Mallenbaum, Carly (1 July 2018). "Smoke Dawg, rapper and Drake tourmate, shot to death in Toronto". USA Today. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  6. Maduakolam, Emmanuel (28 September 2018). "DVBBS and SAFE Extend the Summer With "Listen Closely"". Hypebeast. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  7. Chin, Mallory (4 April 2019). "Khalid Is Holding out for Love in "Don't Pretend"". Hypebeast. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  8. A., Aron (10 May 2019). "SAFE Unleashes His Latest Project "STAY" Ft. Playboi Carti & QUIN". Hot New Hip Hop. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
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