12/06/2012
Flamazide
Album Review: Saigon-
The Greatest Story Never Told Chapter 2: Bread And Circuses
Artist-
Saigon
Year-
2012
Rating-
8/10
In
2011 New York rapper Saigon released the critically acclaimed album
The Greatest Story Never Told. The album was well received and
praised for it's conscious content all throughout sky rocketing
Saigon to the ranks of the top current artists in Hip-Hop. A year
later Saigon releases his sophomore album bringing the listener that
same social awareness with the right mix of grittiness Saigon is
known for.
The
entire album has original production with not a single sample
anywhere on it which is extremely rare for rap in these time, it
actually may be the only album to do so this year. As expected Just
Blaze lends his talents holding a few producer credits, but DJ
Corbett produced the majority of the album. Sonically the beats have
a more accessible mainstream feel to them, but wouldn't exactly be
categorized as “pop”. The sequel has far more features than the
first album with Styles P, Chamillionaire, Sticman from Dead Prez,
and the returning Marsha Ambrosius providing vocals alongside others.
The
intro “Plant The Seed” sets the tone for the album nicely. It
touches on how if you were to listen to the music being promoted at
this time to try to get a gauge on what is going on in real life at
the time you would be completely misguided, a recurring theme
throughout the album. The subject of the illusions Hip-Hop gives the
listeners is further delved into with the second track and my
personal favorite “Rap vs Real” in which Saigon examines the
lines between entertainment and real life. “Let Me Run” is one of
the aforementioned mainstream accessible songs that I can see being a
hate or love song. Somehow the transition from this song to the more
street orientated “Not Like Them” feat Styles P, an artist Saigon
shares many parallels just feels natural which I find a welcome
change from the last song.
Saigon
goes back to depicting a portrait in the world we live in today with
the following song “Brownsville Girl” which explores scenarios of
black on black violence that is all too common in today's youth.
Saigon then takes the time to reflect on his musical career with “The
Game Changer” stating his purpose as an artist and how the
direction he chooses to take with his music has hindered his progress
as an artist on the way to stardom. He takes it a step further with
his next song “Blown Away” about how influential people in life
have their lives stolen from them and alludes to his fear of sharing
the same fate. His thoughts culminate to speculation of whether in
his death he will find the appreciation he deserves in the first
verse of the song “When Will You Love Me”. Saigon trades bars
with Lecrae over the topic of finding salvation and appreciation in
religion on probably the best produced track on the album “Best
Thing I Found”.
The
flaws of the album are Saigon's attempts at singing that he should
really leave to his features and the fact that a few of these same
features add very little to the song in some cases. Saigon's attempts
at crossing over also leave a bit to be desired on more than one
occasion, but even with these problems the album still manages to be
one of the better releases in an already stacked 2012.
The
topics on the album are all very diverse ranging from religion,
addiction, black-on-black crime, to child care. Pretty much
everything that needs to be said right now, but no one puts in their
music. If you're one of those people that is looking for an album
that could be considered a reflection of the times we live in now,
Bread And Circuses is exactly what you're looking for. Some people
may criticize Saigon for being simplistic lyrically, but there is
more to bars than your syllable count or your punchlines. When you
can make a song with a clear message, and make it a good song at
that, you're doing something right lyrically. Saigon holds a mirror
up to our lives and shows us how things really are past all of the
illusions and misdirections other artists try to feed us. There
aren't many albums that I would call a classic, but I would go as far
as to say that this should be remembered as a classic if only because
of how well Saigon depicts life in the black community for this
generation. Years from if you wanted to show someone what we had to
show for this generation, pop in The Greatest Story Never Told
Chapter 2 and use it as an audio movie.
