As he has described in songs, Saigon spent some of his youth in prison. In an interview on VladTV, Saigon explained the situation that got him locked up in detail.

“What got me locked up was that I was young and I was a gunslinger,” said Sai. “I was playing with them guns. I always liked guns and I was always quick to use my gun. One day, some kid bumped into me, somebody I didn’t know… and I thought he should apologize, and he didn’t apologize, and I shot him. And I ended up shooting an innocent bystander.”

The tragic event left Saigon locked away in prison. “I was about 16 years old, and they sent me away for a long amount of time. That’s where I became the Yardfather, that’s where I became Saigon, that’s why I was like, ‘I can’t keep living like this,’ because that wasn’t my first time. I’d gotten locked up as a juvenile for another shooting.”

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However, Saigon turned things around, because he realized he was headed down a destructive path. “I just told myself, ‘I don’t want to be a career criminal. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison ’til I die.’ So I said, ‘I gotta do somethin’.’ I didn’t have no education. When I went to prison, I had a seventh-grade reading level. …When I was in there, I took the initiative to learn. Started going to the library, because they don’t force you; they want you to be dumb so you can come back. But I said, ‘I’m not comin’ back. Fuck that.'”

Watch the interview below:

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