allhiphop.com interview Saigon

[UKnowWhatItIs: welcome to my traps....game over]

Saigon: Bad Intentions

By Houston Williams

Saigon is one of Hip-Hop’s most promising talents, but his rise was nearly cut short by a pair of assailants that stabbed the rapper in the head with a broken bottle. Still, the rapper aims to stay on course as The Greatest Story Never Told, his forthcoming Atlantic Records debut album, prepares for release. Click here to get the intimate details of Saigon’s brush with death and how he intends to move forward.



THE INTERVIEW:

AllHipHop.com: Hey, I heard you had a situation the other day.

Saigon: No. I'm okay. A little something... a little mishap...little fa**ot ass trying to act on the kid. You know what I mean? I’m the one. I fight back, though.

AllHipHop.com: What happened?

Saigon: F**ker was coming out of Chelsea Diner, man. You know. I seen the other media screwed up a few facts on it, but I was coming out of Chelsea Diner during the night. I seen him with my little man. My little man is small little n***a, B. You know. Okay, well I seen the kid inside the diner, but I didn't pay any no attention when I came out, right? And then he came up behind me - like, walked in front of me. I thought maybe you know the whole Saigon s**t. [He] snapped my chain off my neck. So, I snatched it back. When I snatched it back and my man caught him. Bing. My man catches him [with a punch]. The n***a falls. So, he starts stompin’ on this guy. I'm lookin’ like this n***a's retarded. I’m like I think I really thought he was gonna come at me, but I ain't seen his man come from the back. His man came from the back with a bottle and s**t. And the s**t stabbed me in the artery and cut a artery in my temple. And you know I lost mad f**kin' blood all over. Like mad man blood ‘cause I was up there still fightin these n***as.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. Yeah.

Saigon: My man got cut, too. So you know my stupid ass not wantin’ to f**k up my car, my little man was trying to get a cab. We tryin’ to get a cab. I’m like f**k it man. F**k the car. So, I jump in the car. We flyin’ to f****n’ Bellevue Hospital. I don't know why Page Six [of The New York Post] said something about St. Vincent. I ain’t going to St. Vincent. I went to Bellevue. They patched the kid up. Gave me a little blood transfusion. But I lost so much blood. [A relative interrupts]

Relative: [Sobbing] How are you doing?

Saigon: [To relative] Don't cry, man. I’m all right. What are ya cryin for? I’m all right, ya know. I’m good.

Relative: You better not wear that [chain].

Saigon: I’m good, ya know. Hey, you know. I got, you know, they just patched me up. You know. [back to AllHipHop.com] And I’m takin’ pictures. I still got both of their phones, B. I got the n***a phone right in my pocket. I got both of their phones. They’re both off right now, but they turned their phones off. While we was fighting, they just dropped their phones. Like a**holes. F**kin’ amateurs.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. That’s crazy.

Saigon: I didn’t know I was this important. You n***as need to follow me around more.

AllHipHop.com: Remember, you had that scuffle last year at the AllHipHop.com Breeding Ground event.

Saigon: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The SOB's joint.[Laughter]

I got a little piece of the glass in my head now. That’s the worst part of the s**t, man. I still got a little like chips of glass in my head. I got my cousin trying to pick the s**t out with pieces. That s**t hurt more than the f**kin' stitches, man. Getting’ the scar.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. What did Just Blaze and your crew say?

Saigon: You know everybody was just happy I was all right, man. You know, they was like, you can’t be walkin around like that. My man put it the best. He was like, “Man the economy too bad, man. Economy, they were just hungry in the street.”

AllHipHop.com: What’s your family saying, man? Like I’m -

Saigon: You know man, they heard. They happy I’m alive. They happy I’m okay. Everybody like once they seen it. Once they seen me and they see I can walk and talk. I mean everybody’s happy. But they was worried at first. You know my Mom told me. My mom seen the chain first. I just got the chain for Christmas.

AllHipHop.com: I’m looking at the Ill Community message board and they wanna know why you didn’t file a police report regarding the assault.

Saigon: I ain’t no f**kin' rat. I ain’t no rat. I don’t get down like that. We don’t play those games. I mean, I grew up in prison. We don’t do that s**t. I got the n***as' phones, both of them. I’m telling [one of the men’s girlfriends] what happened and she just kept saying, “Wow.” Now, I’m like I’ll give you five G’s if you can tell me who this n***a is.

AllHipHop.com: [Laughter]

Saigon: She says, “Sorry, I can’t do that. Wow, can’t.”

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right.

Saigon: I never had no expensive jewelry like that ever 'cause you know. But the chain, you know, its like 39 karats. Got a lot of diamonds and all that s**t in it. I’m not really even into s**t like that.

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right.

Saigon: More like for a gift from somebody else than myself. You know what I mean?

AllHipHop.com: What’s on the chain?

Saigon: Huh?

AllHipHop.com: Is it like Abandoned Nation [his crew’s name] chain or what?

Saigon: Nah. It’s just a cross with like yellow and white diamonds in it. I’m bloody and I’m still fightin’ these n***as. And you know what’s f**ked up about people. All those mother f**kers was in the diner, looking at us. Nobody came outside try to help us or nothing. They was at the glass looking. All this happened in a matter of, no bulls**t, like four minutes, B

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right. Okay. Any lessons learned or I mean?

Saigon: Yeah man. Survival is the lesson learned. I didn’t realize the economy [is this way]. Like my man said the economy’s f**ked up man. N***as still f**ked up on the street, and, the n***a thought I was fooled, man. I been on the other side of the game, so, I understand. You know what I'm sayin’? Then I think they’re looking for [income] so. I understand the game, so, it ain’t like I’m bitter about it. I just gotta move more cautiously, because, number one, I got a lot to lose, man. I could of died out there and s**t.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah.

Saigon: I mean, he coulda had a knife. He coulda punctured my lung. He coulda had a gun. You know what I mean? I was flippin’ like a motherf**er. So, I gotta move more cautiously especially walking around with a expensive piece of jewelry like that. N***as hungry in the street, man.

AllHipHop.com: You gonna write a rhyme about this?

Saigon: Oh yeah. Of course. I’m gonna address it in a rhyme, man. I ain’t gonna dwell on it and make it like a publicity stunt. I’m going to talk about it. A n***a stabbed [me] in my f**in' temple.

AllHipHop.com: No doubt.

Saigon: You know. I’m happy. I’m happy that I’m feelin’ good. I’m alive, and, you know, I still got my chain.
AllHipHop.com: Okay. Now you know of course we gotta talk about what’s the holdup on the album. Everybody’s waitin’.

Saigon: You know, it’s not so much a hold up as it’s like, you know. It’s Hip-Hop [A&R] and G [Young Guru]. They did it so many times with Jay-Z. They did it with Kanye, so. They know like your set-up gotta be right for you to be successful. I mean if I were to put out my album last year, I wouldn’t sold no records. Know what I mean?

AllHipHop.com: Right.

Saigon: Entourage. That was before Entourage and all that. Entourage has helped me dramatically. You know what I mean? And, you know, now I got a commercial that runs on MTV. So, now more and more people are getting to know me than last year when I wanted to put my out. I was mad. I’m like, “Yo, put my album out this year.” But it wasn’t time. [They] kept telling me you know be patient, be patient, be patient. My dude be patient. You know? And plus, you know, the album’s 80 percent. We got like over 40, 50 records [finished] already. So, you know, I want the set up to be right. And I think more and more people, even a little s**t like this happen, and, more and more people find out about me. And you know, hopefully, when it comes down for the album to come out, I’ll be more anticipated, than even now. But it ain’t the music, man. It ain’t movin there. The creative aspect, if you’ve got joints. You got strong, strong, strong, strong joints.

AllHipHop.com: Timing is a lot.

You know New York is hurtin’ right now, too. But, you know, like none of us is ready to come out. I’m probably more ready than anybody to come, but, if anyone of us if, were to come out like now, we wouldn’t do nothing right now. You need a good set up nowadays before you come out. If you wanna make any kind of impact. You know?

AllHipHop.com: Overall, what do you think New York needs to do right now?

Saigon: Need to start comin’ with some f**kin’ better records, man. Stop tryin’ to copy motherf**kers, B.

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right.

Saigon: Thing with us is, we copyin’ them now, B. Like we call the fronts, grills. We copyin’ Down South. We copyin’. It’s like when I mention that, everybody’s like, oh, you tryin to diss the south. I ain’t dissn' the south. If anything, I just sayin’ we need to step out. We look like a**holes, not them. We copyin’ them. Nelly just now makin’ a song. Nelly got a song called “Air Force One” that came out like last year. And I've been wearin’ that s**t since I was a kid, man.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. No doubt.

Saigon: I was, we callin’ ‘em Uptown’s. They was doin’ up’s. Know what I mean? It’s like we don’t start no trend. Everybody think everybody wanna man with a red bandana in their pocket. Talkin’ about these sets. A set is a West Coast thing. We never called each other a set. We called it my click, my crew, my posse.

AllHipHop.com: It’s a money thing? People just take the money?

Saigon: Yeah. Exactly. N***as take the money, and, they just don’t care about the artistic value of the music, because, it’s so corporate now. That’s why you see Chevrolet commercials with rap, and, McDonald’s and Pepsi and Coca Cola. Every big major American Corporation uses hip hop to endorse their product. This s**t [Hip-Hop] started in ghettos everywhere. N***gas rapped about the f**ked up conditions we was livin’ in – tryin’ to escape the harsh realities of our situation. It wasn’t about motherf**kin’ party everyday, and, just party your life away. And have fun, and, then go to the club and shake you’re ass and booty clap like it is now. S**t is f**ked up, man. I ain’t even gotta say names. Those n***a know who they are. And all they gotta do is look at the big artists in New York. The ones that’s effective right now. And ask yourself why they effective. Cause, they really, ‘cause, they copyin’.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. Is there a solution to this? I mean, obviously, we can’t control what other people do.

Saigon: Yeah. We can’t control it. I mean, only thing we can do is, man, like artists like myself. I’m like the sacrificial lamb, man. I’m gonna have to come in and be the one to say, “Yeah man, we gotta stop this s**t, and start makin New York records. Start makin dope songs and s**t again. Dope beats. We need to bring [DJ] Premier back. We need to do all that s**t man. We need to get these n***as dust off the MPC’s and come back and bring the slam back.

AllHipHop.com: Looking at the future, I heard you and Tru Life were real, real close. Is that true?

Saigon: Yeah man. It’s like my brother, man. Like my brother right there. Like we’ve been friends for like 12 years. Before the rap s**t. It’s true. Like the first n***a to put me in the studio like yo, son. Know what I mean? I’d die for that brother right there. He got a good album, too, man. I heard his album, man. Dudes gonna be surprised, man.

AllHipHop.com: There has been press on you hatin’ on the South or sayin’ you're dumbing down Hip-Hop. Things like that. I’m sure you’ve heard about it. Like what are your thoughts on that?

Saigon: Some miscellaneous website took the interview I did like last year. And being that I did a tape with [DJ] Drama, you know. And a lot of people felt some kind of way about that ‘cause you know Drama the hottest DJ down South right now. You know they felt like, “Oh, this guy was trying to get this south. He said the South was slow. People in the South was slow.” And they took my words and they took it out of context. I said the South was always considered slow compared to other [regions]. That’s just history. If you look at the history. The Industrial Revolution started in the North. Slaves was wanting to come North. My mother and my whole families from down South. So why would I say down South people was dumb like they try to say. I said, “No, the South was always considered slow compared to New York. New York was always fast and fast paced. And that’s the truth.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the deal with you and Abandoned Nation? Are you still cool with Gotti? I heard –

Saigon: Yeah, still cool with Gotti, man. Me and Gotti we had our little differences like everybody else, but, you know, that’s still my boy. Know what I mean? He still around man, makin’ things happen. But you know Gotti go through these little emotional [periods], where he just want to disappear and nobody can get in touch with him. Certain times like we need you around. Like he does that at the wrong time sometimes. We have our ups and downs but that’s still that’s my boy. You know I mean? That’s my boy to the grave. I love Gotti to death. Know what I mean?

AllHipHop.com: Back to the album, how much of your so-called conscious side is gonna come out on the album?

Saigon: Oh, 85 percent man. The next paycheck when I do the gangster record that was just to get peoples attention, man. Now that I’m startin’ to get the ear, I’m ahead. I’m gonna wire what I really wanna say. You know what I mean? I thought if I just came at em all the way conscious from the jump, they would of just. I would have just chased them away. Nobody like to be preached to, man.

AllHipHop.com: What about Jay-Z, the new Cam’ron diss record? Any thoughts on that? Saigon: It’s crazy right there, man. Yeah. I don’t know about that one. I’m dyin’ to see how this plays out right here, man. ‘Cause, I wonder if Jay-Z’s gonna respond, B, ‘cause, I think Jay would be helping Cam by respondin’. I like to see what’s gonna happen, man. A good battle is always good for Hip-Hop, man. Jay should just retire and enjoy my girl, man. If Jay would get out the game like he said he gonna do. The game just keep pullin’ him back in, you know? He’s. It’s like a person who wanna get out the street, but, they want to come back to the block every now and then and s**t. Jay-Z Without “Oh Boy” and all that, who knows where these n***as would be at right now. Cam didn't credit Jay with that. Without Jigga, there'd be no Roc-A-Fella.

http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1307
http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1309

[CRAFTY]

Thanks for the link.
I just wanna hear his album, that's all I really care about.

[AZ§o§a]

i cant believe his boy 125lbs.. clocked that fool.... its sad he doesnt get realized by the media til a near death incident