Interview: Saigon

Tha Yardfather

Thu 23.08.07

Het debuutalbum ‘The Greatest Story Never Told’ van Saigon laat al drie jaar op zich wachten, maar het lijkt erop dat de door Just Blaze geproduceerde plaat dit jaar dan eindelijk te verkrijgen zal zijn. De verwachtingen zijn er niet minder om: In Europa is hij nog niet zo bekend, maar buiten Europa word hij al een lange tijd als ‘the next big thing’ neergezet.

Als jongetje raakte Brian Carenard al snel in het gangsterleven verstrikt en
het duurde niet lang voordat hij achter de tralies verdween. Daar ontwikkelde  
Saigon zijn talent voor rijm en ontdekte de kracht van het woord: wanneer
hij rapte, werd er geluisterd. Al grindend op de binnenplaats kreeg hij al snel de Bijnaam the Yardfather. Met zijn grote inspiratiebron Malcolm X in het achterhoofd probeert Saigon sindsdien mensen door zijn woord en muziek op het rechte pad te houden.

Ondertussen is er al veel gebeurd: een single en videoclip met Mark Ronson
Nate Dogg en Ghostface Killah. Talloze tracks op mixtapes en een deal bij Just Blaze’s label Fort Knocks op Atlantic Records, alwaar zijn debuutalbum zal worden uitgebracht. met Marc Ronson

Dit album bevat producties van Just Blaze, Kanye West en The alchemist en gastbijdrages: van Q-tip, Faith Evans, Devin the Dude en Jay-Z. Al met al
genoeg reden om Saigons bewering dat het album het beste hiphopalbum
in 20 jaar zal zijn serieus te nemen.

Hij wordt nu al in één adem met de grotere rappers op aarde genoemd. Saigon is het hier Helemaal mee eens: hij is immers naar eigen zeggen de meest relevante rapper ter wereld. Op zaterdag 19 augustus was hij in Nederland en wij mochten hem een aantal vragen stellen:

Pozerscene is the name of the website I’m doing this interview for.
So.. what is a pozer to you?
A Pozer? Somebody that flashes little kids man.. haha. That’s pozing!

Haha come on man!
A pozer is somebody fronting, but we don’t use that terminology. Somebody that’s trying to be something they not. Somebody who is, you know, delusional.

Sounds positive!
It is positive. What I’m saying is positive, but it’s not cool to be a fronting ass person or a pozer, but you know..a lot of times people like to escape reality, because their own life is so boring. That’s why they lie to their selves and they lying to the general public and to everybody else by saying you know..this is who I am, but it’s really the next person. But you know.. to each it’s own.

Let’s talk about you. Who is Saigon? There are a lot of people in Holland that don’t know you (yet). So how would you describe yourself to them?Well, I’m a black man who is trying to just pretty much enlighten the children, the black babies, that who we are, not only who we are as far as history, but who we are as far as our worth to the world. What we mean to the world. You know black men invented the stoplight? Did you know that black men invented the typewriter?

Nope…
See, that’s because they don’t give us these accolades that they give to other people. We never got em, they only talk about Ben Franklin and these other people, but they never talk about all the shit we did. We invented the cotton gin, we got tired of picking cotton and the slaves thought  “we gonna think of a machine to pick that shit for us”. Real talk. Same as hiphop. You say you love hiphop, that IS black music, you remember that. We don’t even get credit for that and I am just here to teach the black babies we have infinite potential and you don’t have to limit yourself to being a drug dealer or being a fucking pimp.

So for you that was the reason to start rapping in the first place?
Yeah, that’s my reason to rap. I wouldn’t rap if I didn’t have something good to say. My mother said, if you ain’t got nothing good to say, then say nothing at all. 

It’s your first time here in Holland right?
Yeah, it’s my first time here, but we just came straight from the airport. So I didn’t get the chance to see much yet, but I like it here. We’re leaving again in the morning, but I’m just trying to make the best of it.

You have been to other European countries to perform, so how you like Europe so far? Is it different from what life is like in the states?
Yes, it is very different and I like it a lot, because they appreciate the artistic part of the music, more so than the image and the marketing dollars spend, how many times your song plays on the radio. They really appreciate the artistic value, the honesty and the good parts of it. That’s why I think I am over here. I didn’t even put out an album yet!

Speaking of the states, there are a lot of people there, like Nas, claiming hiphop is dead. Do you agree with him or…how do you see it?
It’s not dead, but it’s dying, it’s on life support. 

So in 10 years, how will hiphop look like?
If it don’t change, it’s going to be dead. If somebody don’t do something fast.

And that’s why you’re here…
Yeah..I’m coming to do my part, hopefully everybody else do their part, cause..it’s on life support. It’s dying in a fast, fast pace.  It’s not dead yet and it might still be sprung back. Common just had a number one album in the country, which was a good thing for hiphop. Then the next week UGK had a number one album.

What do you think of UGK?
They good at what they do, it ain’t my cup of tea, but I appreciate what they do, cause they are legends. They’re pioneers for the whole Dirty South movement, they pretty much pioneered that, along with the Ghetto Boys and Trick Daddy. What most of you people don’t know, Trick Daddy is a pioneer for Southern rap music.

What about De La Soul? In Holland we have an annual hiphop festival called Meet the Streets and this year De La Soul is performing there.
You guys are lucky for that. You should feel honored to have De La Soul performing, they are pioneers, they are great great great. That’s almost as good as having A Tribe called quest haha. They a little bit under A Tribe called Quest, but its almost equivalent. I love Plug 3, he’s a great friend of mine. I love all them dudes man, them dudes are excellent guys. Regardless of their music, they’re guys and what they did for hiphop is impressive. It’s like good, good, good. You’re lucky to have ‘em and they’ll give you a good show. You’ll be happy.

Now let’s move to your album real quick.  When is The Greatest Story Never Told finally coming?
My album? It’s like a comic, you don’t know when it comes. You will know when the earth gets hit..haha

In earlier interviews you said your album is different from average rappers, because they only talk about problems in the black community, but your album offers solutions to those problems.
Yeah, what are we going to do to fix it?

Do you think you’ve accomplished that with this album?
I know I did. I know I’ve accomplished it, because I tested it. I played it in front of people and I made them cry haha. You’re not supposed to cry, but..thank you. You know what I mean? It’s the honesty in it, it’s the reality, because I see a lot of things that people see and think, but nobody wants to say it.  It’s uncharged water and people be like “naw, I’m not supposed to say that, we’re not supposed to talk about that”. Fuck that! I’m saying something about it! I want the people’s harts, once you get their harts, everything else is routin.

http://www.saigonnation.com/

Interview by: Dday