The Yardfather

Saigon
Brainy New York MC shows he's more than an "Entourage" extra
By CHRISTIAN HOARD

WHO New York rapper who's been called "the next 50 Cent" more times than should be allowed, thanks to his mix-tape notoriety and a long rap sheet. But unlike 50, his music contains plenty of cautionary, socially conscious lyrics. The two rappers do both have new acting careers: Saigon appears on HBO's Entourage, where he plays an up-and-coming rapper named, um, Saigon.
SOUND Saigon's major-label debut, The Greatest Story Never Told, is the rare hip-hop record that offers as much muscle as it does positivity, with world-class beatmaster Just Blaze dropping cushy, club-shaking beats and platinum hooks while Saigon raps in a nimble, Jadakiss-style flow about gats, girls and the sorry state of hip-hop with the street-savvy righteousness of a reformed thug.

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? "The first time I fired a gun, I shot this dog who was always barking at me," says Saigon, a Brooklyn native who bounced between the city and upstate New York as a youth. "I was thirteen." Four years and two (human) shootings later, he was sentenced to six years in prison on a first-degree-assault charge. Once inside he began to turn his life around: "I hadn't read a book since, like, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. But I got addicted to them."

THE YARDFATHER "In prison it's all about your words -- there are no beats to save you," says Saigon, who learned to rhyme while doing time and was known as "the Yardfather" for his pen-rocking flow.

ONE OF THE BOYS On Entourage, Saigon's character hires Turtle (actor Jerry Ferrara) as his manager. "The producers wanted me and Jerry to hang out," says Saigon. "It was crazy: We went out to dinner and chased girls and hung out with some celebrities. This one photographer was like, 'Who's this fuckin' guy with Nicky Hilton?' "

LOOK FOR The Greatest Story Never Told, out in the spring.

Good lookin'...

lol at shooting a dog,nice article though,thx.

Thats a good look for Sai.

"No i ain't no P.I.M.P
But i do got Pistol In My Pocket"

spring?

I can't wait for spring. I've waited long enough. But fuck it, classics take time