!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on Baby!
~~~
Saigon: the future gets trapped in the past
There's this guy, see? He's great at everything he does with this rap crap. Speaks REAL street knowledge ('Contraband' Parts 1 and 2). Been to jail, and learned his lesson in there, plus taught a few other cats some necessary lessons as well ('Pain In My Life'). He's made some heartfelt odes to the ghetto which capture many people's thoughts and feelings ('Say Yes'). He's made controversial songs with amazingly insightful lyrics ('Shok TV', one of the best rap songs ever made. EVER. Seriously.) He's made some hilarious songs about some crafty women ('Shot In My Booty'). He's even said things about the police, the system, and America in general that are soooo brilliant that they should be bronzed and bolted to the front of any major social institution in North America (once again, 'Shok TV'. Memorize it. Oh yeah, and memorize the genius of 'The Color Purple' while you're at it.).
He's the shit, as they say.
Thing is, he's also STUCK IN SHIT.
Who is he? His name is Saigon, and here's a message from his myspace page, describing the hold up he is suffering under at the plantation known as Atlantic:
SAIGON vs ATLANTIC RECORDS Round 1
pleassssse dont believe that the hold up of my album has ANYTHING to do with me or my work ethic or my rate of producing GREAT music...If you go to YOUTUBE and type in JBTV Saigon you will hear snippets of my album that Atlantic doesnt seem to have the desire to release...I just think the once great Atlantic Records has been belittled down to a home of ringtone making artists, like they sign the great jingle writers and real artist like Myself dont get a chance to showcase my musical abilities...I feel like Tupac now...Its me against the world.. Thank God artist such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin (Atlantic artist) werent signed in this day in time.. They wouldve never seen the light of day..not to worry though, my fans WILL hear my entire album very soon whether they put it out or not.. If they donnt I will and let yall be the judge of if the music is GREAT or not....I am putting out a brand new song right here Titled What A Life feat. Tre williams from Ill WILL RECORDS AND YOU CAN HEAR IT FIRST HERE ON MYSPACE...Look foward to hearing more exclusives from me...Im beginning to think that being my album is geared toward the betterment and not the destruction of my people the powers that be dont wanna release it...cause I know its not the skills...i am the MOST RELEVANT RAPPER in THE WORLD by far when it comes to my people..Unfortunately..They only care about $$$$...Oh well..Welcome to America... Greatest Story Never Told coming this Summer...regardless....
and there you have it.
The beautiful irony is I just did a great phone interview with T.I. this morning, and he mentioned how Atlantic is supporting HIS album great, and how he's got so much opportunity they are giving him to spread his wings and grow and make whatever music he wants. It's in stark contrast to the situation that Saigon (and my homie APATHY THE ALIEN TONGUE!!!) is in with the supposed second-best major label to dominate hip hop since Def Jam's glory years with Red and Meth, DMX, Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, Keith Murray, EPMD, Onyx and all those people who were on the label in the late 90's.
Saigon has the potential, desire, the skills, the depth, and the wisdom to actually contribute what's sorely needed to this materialistic, dim-witted, hyper-sexualized and sexist subculture affectionately known as MODERN hip hop.
but Atlantic has held him and his super-producer Just Blaze from dropping his over-two-years-in-the-making album "THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD", as he said... but why?
Cause he's too real. Too true. Too Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men:
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!
[:@][A][:P]
seriously, read these lyrics and let me know how dope they are... this is real talk at its finest.
SHOK TV:
I said listen, I'm a n!gga on a mission
Do what I gotta to get my people in position
Help 'em envision a better living condition
Stop putting so much trust in your religion
They couldn't conquer without division
Boy you still Black, I don't care if you Catholic or Christian
Police will still fuck you up, young buck
Bust you in your head, leave your body by the dump truck
Revolution got me pumped up
But it's still a fact: Black people still think so fucked up
How they got money to go war with whoever wrecked the buildings
And none for African-HIV infected children
That mean the money for a life they can save
They rather use it to send a life to a grave
And that's not righteous ways
That ain't even half, my real-a-real
I could write for days, but I don't know how they might behave
You seen what they did to the 'Pac's, Martin's, and Marvin Gayes?
Could you picture the Black Panther Party today?
Usin' hip hop to say the same thing Marcus Garvey would say?
Imagine Malcolm X over a beat
Tryin' to rally up the troops and take control of the street
Still in the window holdin' the heat
But now we got soldiers on the corner like police patrollin' the beat
Fuck G.E.D.'s, n!ggaz need DP CD's
We don't need PCP; we don't need flat screen TV's and DVD's
We need more knowledge of who we be
[Chorus]
Do we really know where the guns come from?
Do we really know where the drugs come from?
How come it only affects us and not them?
How come Jesus Christ has still not come?
Why am I wrong if I kill a n!gga that punch me?
But it's alright for you to blow up a whole country...
word life.
I mean, I don't like his usage of the 'N-word', but besides that, it's allllll good.
and if anyone at Atlantic Records is reading this, or if you are a second-cousin twice-removed from Craig Kallman and/or anyone who makes any major decisions at Atlantic, tell them loud and clear:
HIP HOP CULTURE IS DYING TODAY BECAUSE OF POLITRICKS AND BULLSHIT LIKE INEXPLICABLY DELAYING SUCH AN IMPORTANT ALBUM LIKE 'THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD'!
SO DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT!!
and keep saying it until they are so annoyed with you that they HAVE to drop it next Tuesday.
but first, MAKE SURE you tell them to put a muffin-sucking decently budgeted video to go with it!!!!
[8-|]
I need to learn some more HTML so I can express myself more maturely. I write passionately, but I don't want to overkill the exclamation mark, LOL.
So yeah... Saigon For President in 2007. He's probably the best new MC this year. Seriously.
Well, we will see what agwan from here and now... Atlantic Records probably isn't happy about his myspace account right now!
Fuck it.
You know why?
BECAUSE RAP IS OUTTA CONTROL!
I love you all.
If you have a suggestion of something for me to explore, or have a comment, please don't hesitate to speak up! Seriously, that thought in your head where you said "hmmmm, I want to say this... but should I?" Tell that thought to SHUT UP, and let your original thought emanate from your aura with the child-like wisdom of Jesus the Christ Almighty (not Bruce or Evan :)
Amen.
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