Saigon's story of major label struggles is a common one in today's rap game. Saigon was an up-and-coming East Coast emcee in the early 2000s who, fresh out of prison, looked ready to conquer the rap industry. His hype even led him to a role playing himself in the HBO series Entourage. However, he parted ways with his label before he could release an album, due to Atlantic Records trying to market him in ways he was unhappy with. After years of releasing mix tapes, he was signed to super-producer Just Blaze's label Fort Knocks Entertainment. Finally, he released his long awaited, shelved debut Greatest Story Never Told.
For this album, Saigon has enlisted an impressive guest list, which includes legendary emcees like Q-Tip, Jay-Z, Bun B and Layzie Bone. This cast, along with the production of Just Blaze, seems like a recipe for a classic. Unfortunately, the album doesn't live up to the lofty expectations its title suggests.
After an intro, the album opens with ""The Invitation"" which includes one of the album's best beats and employs Q-Tip on the chorus. In his verses, Saigon rhymes about street life and criticizes the government and our country's social structure. These continue to be Saigon's main themes throughout the album, and he has a tendency to beat the listener over the head with them. Prime examples are the children sampled in ""Oh Yeah"" as well as the skit ""War,"" which fail to express the emotions of the problems they are addressing and come off as cliché.
The songs that best illustrate Saigon's style are the piano driven ""Enemies"" and ""Better Way"" in which Saigon speaks about his life experiences without trying to be overly political or socially conscious. However, interspersed throughout the album are tracks that are blatant attempts to get radio play. He's been through a lot as an artist, but the issue is that the tracks stand out and do not complement his style as an artist. ""Bring Me Down Part 2"" is one such song. It is a larger than life anthem with a cheesy radio-ready chorus. In the same vein is ""Believe it,"" which features a chorus with Auto-Tuned vocals. These songs do not fit in with the rest of the album and are too polished for Saigon's style.
For most of the album, Saigon's lyrics are positive and inspirational, telling tales of inner city struggles and changes that need to be made in the world. His intentions are noble, but there's a fine line between being uplifting and being sappy, and also between being insightful and cliché. The lyrics often land on the wrong side of these lines. ""Clap"" has the best beat on the album, but ends with Faith Evans wailing away about ""keeping your head to the sky."" It's too over the top and ruins the song. Also, on ""It's Alright"" produced by Kanye West, Saigon addresses single mothers but comes across as preachy and unoriginal rather than uplifting and inspirational.
Overall, Saigon brings us tales of street struggles and societal ills. The problem is, he does nothing to set his story apart as great. He doesn't bring anything new to the table, and his personality is pretty indistinct. He hammers away about the government and the evils of mainstream rappers, but he doesn't convince or hold the listener's interest. His words end up coming off as retreads of common themes and make his story average and forgettable instead of the Greatest Story Never Told.
