S. Samuel
With summer just weeks away, Brooklyn rap veteran Saigon recently hit up SOHH and heated things up on his own by questioning the mindstate of hip-hop fans these days.
*Editor’s Note: Saigon has since denied making these remarks prior to SOHH including the actual audio.*
Singling out mainstream stars Rick Ross and Big Sean, the “Yard Father” detailed his problems with what’s currently viewed as relevant in hip-hop.
Why ya’ll supportin’ a n*gga that promotes the destruction of our community? Why are you doin’ that? Why would you let this n*gga thrive and we don’t know where our next jobs are coming from? He’s rapping about selling kilos of cocaine and selling drugs. This is what he’s about, this whole lifestyle saying he’s so rich and he eats shrimp every night, and ya’ll support this sh*t?,” Sai told SOHH, referring to Ross. “Ya’ll broke and poor and your family’s about to get kicked out. That’s our hit son! That’s his hit. Nobody knows the words to this song, all they know is “ass, ass, ass, ass, ass, ass, ass” [background noises]. We don’t care about “ass, ass, ass, ass,” but this is the society we livin’ in right now. So it’s like alright.” (SOHH)
In February, fellow New York rapper DMX also called out Ricky Rozay over his musical content.
“Rick Ross ‘looks’ more like Biggie,” X said, speaking to “Breakfast Club” co-host Charlamagne Tha God. “[He’s got lyrics?] Well I guess, I guess, I guess. I’m just not impressed, man. I’m not impressed. … He’s aight, man, he just talks about eating, girlfriends too much. How much can a n*gga eat? How much weed can you smoke? Like, aight. Let’s talk about something else. I know you got the Maybach, the Ashton Martin, OK. Good for you, d*mn. Come on. I see a whole ‘nother side of the coin, son.” (“The Breakfast Club”)
Last year, deported rapper Shyne got on Ross due to his past employment as a correctional employee.
“The difference between me and everybody else, I was talking to Fat Joe the other day when he was like, ‘Yo, it’s entertainment,’ and I was like, ‘That’s the difference between me and a former correction officer or any of these other dudes.’ It’s not entertainment for me. You dig? Whatever I give you, is me…[I’m definitely talking about] Rick Ross. Absolutely. He’s the only officer I know that’s a rapper. I don’t know anybody else that used to be a cop that raps…Hip-Hop comes from the gutter, it’s from the struggle, from the dudes that’s in prison so for a dude that used to lock dudes in, for the dude that used to be like, ‘Yo, on the wake up! You got a visit,’ for that dude to turn into the biggest gangsta rapper is like shocking to me. I don’t even understand that. That makes no sense to me…” (Superstar Radio)
Known for speaking his mind, Sai previously gave an opinion on the struggle Big Apple emcees encounter in terms of blowing up onto a mainstream level.
“It’s much easier for somebody from a smaller market where you’re the local hero, we New Yorkers and we got to get our records played against Jay-Z, Nas, Busta Rhymes, the biggest artists in the world. When you’re a new artist it’s not easy to break in New York, it’s easy to break in Atlanta, it’s easy to break in Chicago even because they support their local artist, but our local artists Jay, Nas, Busta, 50 Cent, and we gotta compete against them. Who’s gonna get the spot, immediately at the beginning of the discussion somebody like me would get knocked off. I love being from here but it’s hard to break here. The last artist to break from here really was 50 Cent because all the stars lined up for him, [Eminem] co-signed for him.” (Q The Question)
Check out Saigon’s interview below:
