"The Greatest Story Never Told", will it ever be told?

9:25 PM |

A story of persistence and dedication.

If I were to ask most music listeners if the name Saigon rings a bell I would have to assume that the majority of individuals would respond with “Sai what?”. Saigon boldly entered into the hip-hop industry in 2005 with a two season cameo on the popular show Entourage. Saigon interestingly enough played himself as an up and coming rapper trying to make it big. After his final Entourage appearance in 2006 Saigon decided to take his lyrical skills to the next level by collaborating and pledging his allegiance to super producer Just Blaze. Blaze has been quoted saying things such as, “Saigon is the most talented rapper the rap game has seen since Tupac.” Since 2005 fans and critics have salivated over this rappers unbelievable flow and bold nonchalant attitude.

In late 2006 Just Blaze tickled the hearts of thousands of Saigon fans by informing them that Saigon’s debut album titled The Greatest Story Never Told would release through an Atlantic Records deal in November of 2007.

Now let me take you on a journey, through the four year saga I would like to title “How to never tell a great story”. On June 1st, 2007 Saigon posted a blog on MySpace (yes we were still communicating through MySpace at this point in time) unintelligently informing the world that Atlantic Records did not like him because he was not a “Jingle Writer” and that he was going to release the album independently. On June 14th, 2007 Just Blaze responded on his MySpace telling everyone to settle down and that Saigon’s comment was not only incorrect but also unnecessary and that Atlantic was still involved in the process. Finally, on November 19th, 2007, with anticipation for the album growing, Saigon posted to his MySpace two simple words “I QUIT”. In a statement he gave HipHopGame.com later in the day he said, "This is it. The Greatest Story Never Told...I guess you could say it was prophecy," implying the album would never be released. Exactly one month later on December 19th, 2007 Saigon informed the world that he reconsidered retiring and planned on releasing The Greatest Story Never Told. Well Mr. Saigon it’s now January 19th, 2011 and The Greatest Story Never Told still has not been told. So your probably asking “Will this great story ever be told?”. It’s a long story.

In May of 2008 Saigon was released from Atlantic and received 100% ownership of the album. In February of 2010 Saigon announced via his Facebook (yep were getting closer to the present don’t worry) that he got a new deal with Suburban Noize Records to release the album on February 15th, 2011 (cross your fingers). So it is now less than a month from the release of what some critics are calling, “The most anticipated album since The Carter 3.” and new singles are beginning to drop. The track list has been released, which you can see below, and having heard almost 75% of the album I must say this is going to be an album to remember. Don’t cry you don’t have to wait a month to hear some fresh Saigon. If you’re interested in listening to some of the tracks off the album don’t worry because numerous songs from the album were released over the last half of a decade. Tracks like "Believe It", "Come On Baby" and “The Greatest Story Never Told” (background track for the week) are all great songs to throw on your playlist right now to satisfy that itch. Enough about Saigon the bottom line is mark your calendars for February 15th and cross your fingers for the release of an amazing debut album that has been in the works for six years. Keep it fresh my friends. Dj Dolph