Jay-Z Used To Jack My Beats, Says Saigon [Video]

Written By S. Samuel

New York rapper Saigon has discussed his past studio sessions and revealed how rap mogul Jay-Z ended up stealing multiple beats from him.

Jay-Z
1.6k Views Comments Off on Jay-Z Used To Jack My Beats, Says Saigon [Video]

Recalling past music sessions with Just Blaze, Sai explained how he got a free verse from Jay-Z for their “Come On Baby” remix collaboration.

“Jay-Z was jacking for beats baby,” Sai revealed in an interview. “We were working at Baseline [Studios] and we’re like a close family. Jay would come around, pop up every now and again and me and Just [Blaze] were in there working hard. Just would give me a gang of beats at a time and every now and again one would come up missing. One I’d write to or really loved then the next thing you know, there’d be a big meeting and they’d say, ‘Sai, we need to talk to you. You know that beat we had? The one you were loving? Yeah, big homie’s got that now.’ And you know big homie’s Jay-Z. He did that to me about three or four times. ‘Kingdom Come’ was mine. Actually, two didn’t make his album. ‘Come On Baby’ was mine, he took it, did his thing to it and then gave it back because he didn’t want to use it. So he gave it back to me but was like, ‘You can keep the verse I left on there.’ So I was like cool, you know what I mean? That was a big homie move because you can’t buy a Jay-Z verse. You can’t go to Jay-Z and say, ‘Hey, we got a hundred thousand for you to get on the record.’ He’d wipe his a** with a hundred thousand dollars. That’s why he said that line, ‘You wanna be in the public, send your budget,’ that means your whole recording budget. That means if you get him, there’s no money for producers, studio time, nothing. Send your budget.” (The Urban Daily)

Around the song’s release in 2007, Jay gave his reasons for contributing to the record.

“I met Saigon before,” Jay explained in an interview. “He’s a cool guy as well. But Just Blaze … that’s his artist. So we had records and work like that. It’s in-house. Big fan? Of Saigon? Yeah, he’s good…But I wouldn’t have did it … to be honest with you. I like Saigon. If I don’t have a relationship with the artist, I’m not just doing it for the sake of doing it. If you look at my past record, I’ve done records because of relationship, not ’cause this guy’s good or whatever.” (MTV)

Outside of Jay-Z memories, Sai is currently preparing the release of his new album, Greatest Story Never Told.

The greatest story will finally be told. After nearly half a decade of delays, Saigon’s official debut album, The Greatest Story Never Told, will finally be hitting shelves on February 15, 2011. Set to come out on Suburban Noize Records, the project will see Just Blaze, Sway Calloway and Rich Nice serve as executive producers. “I got everything planned out; it ain’t no more starting and stopping,” said the former XXL Leader of the New School cover subject. He also gave a few details on the album, telling XXLMag.com, “It’s been a long journey. We just tweaking The Greatest Story Never Told–updating it. Put a few [new] records on it. Black Thought just got added to the album.” (XXL Mag)

Last March, Sai blamed contractual obligations to Atlantic Records for holding up his LP.

“I just got my release from Atlantic yesterday, literally,” he said in an interview last week. “I got my release, a good release, a fair release from the record company yesterday and moving forward, I’m not gonna position myself to be somebody’s artist to where they can just have me sitting around and not putting out music — I’m gonna play the game by my rules. That’s what I meant when I said I was quitting — I was quitting playing it their way, I’m doing it my way from now on. I love hip-hop…I own my masters now, I own Greatest Story Never Told, I own the masters. it was worth the wait…I’ve been trying to leave Atlantic since ’06. It’s the contract you sign [that’s so difficult.] The contract is 82 pages long.” (Soul Culture)

Check out Saigon’s interview below:

Comments Off on Jay-Z Used To Jack My Beats, Says Saigon [Video]

Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

Waka Flocka Flame On Lyricism: “I’m Not In The Booth Trying To Godd*mn Rap Big Words”

Diddy

Dirty Money Explain Diddy Going Ghost On “Last Train To Paris” Cover