Saigon is easily Hip-Hop’s best-kept secret. For over four years now he has been assaulting the streets with fire, most notably through his many appearances on Mixtapes from the likes of Kay Slay, Whoo Kid and a host of others. His collaborations with the Alchemist produced a string of bangers that, once circulated, had the streets poppin’ and the industry taking notice. His rugged style of prison-life narrative and straight gangsta-ism is pure NY Hip-Hop, and his lyrical tenacity is rooted in the street life that he lived before his incarceration. It was prison that turned him into the hungry MC that, upon his release, dedicated himself to using the experiences of his life to teach and uplift anyone close enough to listen. Prison not only gave him the knowledge to become one of the most gifted lyricists Hip-Hop has seen since Nas or Rakim (he credits his intellectual awakening and lyrical abilities to the endless time he spent reading while locked up), but it also provided the battleground for him to test his skills as a rapper. Saigon’s earliest battles where not held in the safe havens of Open Mic Night clubs or Freestyle Battles hosted by local radio. Saigon proved himself inside the narrow, claustrophobic settings of the prison yard. By destroying any and all comers, he earned himself the title “Yardfather.” It was during his stay in upstate New York’s Napanoch prison that he began to realistically consider a career in Hip-Hop.
Warning Shots is the official and formal jump-off for Saigon. It is a collection of those early tracks that are destined to be labeled “classic” as soon as time has stamped its official seal of heritage on them. As an album, it plays itself in the mixtape format; with Sai himself as host and hype man, and he brings heat right from the start. “Favorite Things” (produced by Sai) is poetic genius set to a piano-heavy re-working of the old standard. His vocal rhythm and verbal meter are sloppily perfect, while the words themselves are beyond clever. In it Saigon recites a lilting litany of all the things in his life that have significance: “…Me when I’m rhyming/remarkable timing/shorties with brown eyes that sparkle like diamonds…us in the park when we played on the swings/these are a few of my favorite things…” The body of the verses are constructed in a Q & A format that allows the author a certain amount of back-and-forth wordplay. Saigon covers everything from his favorite fighter (“Roy, it used to be Mike ’til he got knocked out by old boy…”) to his favorite singer (“Alicia…her and this other chick in my hood named Tonisha…”) to his favorite drug (“Weed…indeed…like Jay said that’s all I need…”). The Alchemist-laced “Pop Quiz (Contraband)” is another heater that again displays the range of Saigon’s lyrical ability. Again, using a question and answer pattern in an SAT-friendly format of multiple choice, Sai confronts the fake gangsta by testing him: “…First question for motherfuckers spittin’ this type of thug shit/You claim you blew out a nigga’s brain: what color was it? /A: Reddish? Like the dark shade of oxygenated blood? /B: Brownish, like water that’s mixed with dirt to make mud? /C: Whitish like the man that created the virus to slay us/or was it D: Grayish, like a gloomy and rainy day is?…” In a later verse he spits: “…The fourth question is a question that’s still in me/Who do y’all niggas think it was that killed Biggie? /A: South Side Crips cause Puffy owed them a grip? /B: Some crazy Pac fan that flipped and unloaded a clip? /C: Missiles from pistols of government officials? /D: The same cat that came back and sang I miss you?…” Sai is not afraid to bring it explicit, either. He portrays his life on the streets with stunning visual imagery, vacillating easily between the literal and the figurative while maintaining a balance with social commentary (check “Kiss the Babies” or “Shok TV”) and razor-sharp wit. His delivery is cold and menacing, his slang is thorough, and when Sai is combined with some bomb-ass tracks he is unstoppable.
Warning Shots delivers a clear view of the overwhelming potential Saigon contains. These tracks serve as an introduction to those who have been sleeping on what the streets have been feeding. Even though at times there is an undeniable rawness that comes through, Saigon positions himself as a gifted writer on the rise with a vast array of creative talents at his disposal. As an album Warning Shots is a perfect primer for what is to come.
