Saigon (rapper)
Encyclopedia
Brian Daniel Carenard, better known by his stage name Saigon, is an American
rapper and occasional actor.
Saigon is currently signed to Suburban Noize Records
and Just Blaze
's Fort Knocks Entertainment
record label
. After years of delay due to former record label interference, his album The Greatest Story Never Told
is available now on Suburban Noize Records. He is also known for his street album Warning Shots and Moral of the Story along with appearances in the HBO television series Entourage
.
’s book about the Vietnam War. This book helped realign the content and diction in Saigon's raps, as well as the advice of a prison lifer: "There’s no right way to do wrong." Saigon was eventually released from prison in the year 2000, and immediately recorded mixtapes, with the goal of obtaining a record contract as a means to release a debut album, which he wanted to be titled "The Greatest Story Never Told".
With the help of the underground buzz that he garnered over the years, Saigon signed a record deal with Atlantic Records
in 2004. Despite the co-sign from producer Just Blaze
and collaborations with several acclaimed rap artists such as Jay-Z
, Kanye West
and Kool G Rap
, Saigon's record label repeatedly balked at setting a release date for his debut album. Saigon revealed that he realized as early as two months into his deal with Atlantic Records that there were problems. He later recalled how his early excitement at signing to the same label that "had so much history with black music, like Aretha Franklin
and Ray Charles
" was quickly dampened when they suggested he record a radio-friendly song with the Miami-based R&B quartet, Pretty Ricky
. He also recalled a meeting with an Atlantic executive who told him "We need our three singles, then you can bust your artistic nut on the rest of the album." Saigon however, wasn’t willing to compromise with this request, and only one year after signing with Atlantic, he hired a lawyer to work out a release from his label. He explained "They signed me knowing the kind of music I was making, but then they try and change the direction".
This however didn’t prompt a break from his record company, as they offered a few stipends, leading him and his fans to believe they’d still eventually put the record out. Saigon later suspected that Atlantic wanted to make sure he didn’t take the material elsewhere and benefit from the buzz he’d created. While caught in this issue with Atlantic, Saigon continued to perform freestyles on hip hop radio shows, release mixtapes, and also continued to write and record The Greatest Story Never Told. Despite not having an official album out, Saigon gradually became somewhat of a high profile hip hop artist, as he appeared on the covers of several magazines and had a recurring role playing himself on the hit HBO show Entourage
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rapper and occasional actor.
Saigon is currently signed to Suburban Noize Records
Suburban Noize Records
Suburban Noize Records, also known as "Subnoize", is an independent record label based in Burbank, California that specializes in punk rock and underground hip hop...
and Just Blaze
Just Blaze
Justin Smith, better known as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop music producer from Paterson, New Jersey. Blaze is also the CEO of Fort Knocks Entertainment. He is most well known for producing Jay-Z songs on the albums The Blueprint, The Blueprint 2, and The Black Album. He is also known for...
's Fort Knocks Entertainment
Fort Knocks Entertainment
Fort Knocks Entertainment is an American East Coast hip hop and R&B record label founded in 2004 by record producer, Just Blaze.-History:After his start as a local disc jockey, Just Blaze became a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records. He would mainly produce for prominent Roc-A-Fella artist, Jay-Z...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. After years of delay due to former record label interference, his album The Greatest Story Never Told
The Greatest Story Never Told
The Greatest Story Never Told is the debut studio album by American rapper Saigon, released February 15, 2011 on Suburban Noize Records. The album was initially scheduled to be released in 2007, but experienced numerous delays due to issues with Saigon's previous label Atlantic Records...
is available now on Suburban Noize Records. He is also known for his street album Warning Shots and Moral of the Story along with appearances in the HBO television series Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
.
Background
In the late 1990s, Brian "Saigon" Carenard was sentenced to jail time at Napanoch’s Eastern Correctional Facility, serving a sentence for first-degree assault after shooting at someone in a bar. One day while in the recreation yard, Brian met a fellow inmate named Hakim, who rapped and had a reputation for incorporating positive messages, and heavy use of prestigious vocabulary in his rhymes. Carenard would later state that battle rapping with Hakim would help instigate his personal rehabilitation, as he set a course for redemption through hip hop music. While serving time, Brian named himself "Saigon" after reading Wallace TerryWallace Terry
Wallace Houston Terry, II was an African American journalist and oral historian, best known for his book about black soldiers in Vietnam, Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War , the first chapter of which served as a basis for the 1995 crime thriller Dead Presidents.Terry had a wide-ranging...
’s book about the Vietnam War. This book helped realign the content and diction in Saigon's raps, as well as the advice of a prison lifer: "There’s no right way to do wrong." Saigon was eventually released from prison in the year 2000, and immediately recorded mixtapes, with the goal of obtaining a record contract as a means to release a debut album, which he wanted to be titled "The Greatest Story Never Told".
With the help of the underground buzz that he garnered over the years, Saigon signed a record deal with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in 2004. Despite the co-sign from producer Just Blaze
Just Blaze
Justin Smith, better known as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop music producer from Paterson, New Jersey. Blaze is also the CEO of Fort Knocks Entertainment. He is most well known for producing Jay-Z songs on the albums The Blueprint, The Blueprint 2, and The Black Album. He is also known for...
and collaborations with several acclaimed rap artists such as Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
, Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
and Kool G Rap
Kool G Rap
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson , better known by his stage names Kool G Rap , Kool G. Rap, and Giancana , is an American rapper, from the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew...
, Saigon's record label repeatedly balked at setting a release date for his debut album. Saigon revealed that he realized as early as two months into his deal with Atlantic Records that there were problems. He later recalled how his early excitement at signing to the same label that "had so much history with black music, like Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
and Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
" was quickly dampened when they suggested he record a radio-friendly song with the Miami-based R&B quartet, Pretty Ricky
Pretty Ricky
Pretty Ricky is an American R&B/hip hop group originally made up of Diamond "Baby Blue" Smith, Spectacular Smith, Corey "Slick 'em" Mathis, and Marcus "Pleasure P" Cooper. In 2007, Pleasure P left the group to pursue a solo career...
. He also recalled a meeting with an Atlantic executive who told him "We need our three singles, then you can bust your artistic nut on the rest of the album." Saigon however, wasn’t willing to compromise with this request, and only one year after signing with Atlantic, he hired a lawyer to work out a release from his label. He explained "They signed me knowing the kind of music I was making, but then they try and change the direction".
This however didn’t prompt a break from his record company, as they offered a few stipends, leading him and his fans to believe they’d still eventually put the record out. Saigon later suspected that Atlantic wanted to make sure he didn’t take the material elsewhere and benefit from the buzz he’d created. While caught in this issue with Atlantic, Saigon continued to perform freestyles on hip hop radio shows, release mixtapes, and also continued to write and record The Greatest Story Never Told. Despite not having an official album out, Saigon gradually became somewhat of a high profile hip hop artist, as he appeared on the covers of several magazines and had a recurring role playing himself on the hit HBO show Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
.
Street Albums
- Warning Shots (2004)
- Moral Of The Story (2007)
- All In A Day's Work (with Statik SelektahStatik SelektahPatrick Baril better known as Statik Selektah, is an East Coast-based DJ, Producer and CEO of Showoff Records.-Biography:...
) (2008) - Warning Shots 2 (2009)
Mixtapes
- 2003: Da Yard Father 1
- 2003: Da Yard Father 2"
- 2005: Abandoned Nation
- 2006: Welcome To Saigon
- 2006: The Return Of The Yardfather
- 2006: Belly Of The Beast
Singles
- 2001: "Say Yes"
- 2002: "Do You Know"
- 2004: "Favorite Things"
- 2006: "Pain In My Life" (featuring Trey SongzTrey SongzTremaine "Trey" Aldon Neverson , better known by his stage name Trey Songz, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. His debut album, I Gotta Make It, was released in 2005, while his second album, Trey Day, was released in 2007...
) - 2007: "C'mon BabyC'mon Baby"Come on Baby" is the first official single off Saigon's debut album The Greatest Story Never Told. The song features Swizz Beatz on the hook and was produced by Just Blaze.The song samples The J. Geils Band's "Southside Shuffle". The song was released as a single on July 14th, 2007...
" (featuring Swizz BeatzSwizz BeatzKasseem Dean , better known by his stage name, Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and painter. At the age of 17, he gained attention in the hip-hop world through his friendship with rapper DMX. Grady Spivey and rapper Cassidy helped launch his label Full Surface Records...
) - 2009: "Gotta Believe It" (featuring Just BlazeJust BlazeJustin Smith, better known as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop music producer from Paterson, New Jersey. Blaze is also the CEO of Fort Knocks Entertainment. He is most well known for producing Jay-Z songs on the albums The Blueprint, The Blueprint 2, and The Black Album. He is also known for...
) - 2010: "Bring Me Down"
- 2011: "The Greatest Story Never Told"
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–2006 | Entourage Entourage (TV series) Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons... |
Himself | 4 episodes |
| 2006 | Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the drops | Himself | |
| 2006 | Bring That Year Back 2006: Laugh Now, Cry Later | Himself | TV |
Personal life
- On the night of January 17, 2006, Saigon was stabbed in the templeTemple (anatomy)Temple indicates the side of the head behind the eyes. The bone beneath is the temporal bone as well as part of the sphenoid bone.-Anatomy:Cladists classify land vertebrates based on the presence of an upper hole, a lower hole, both, or neither in the cover of dermal bone which formerly covered the...
with a wine bottle as he left a diner in Chelsea, ManhattanChelsea, ManhattanChelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
, NYC. A man approached Saigon and attempted to steal a chain of his. When Saigon grabbed it back, a fight started. Saigon, bleeding from the head, tried to hail down a taxi, but was unsuccessful. As a result, Saigon ended up driving himself to Bellevue Hospital where he received seven stitches. - On the night of September 19, 2007, after an impromptu performance by Saigon during a Mobb DeepMobb DeepMobb Deep is an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consists of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast hip-hop groups." The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery, as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones...
show, words were exchanged between Saigon and ProdigyProdigy (rapper)Lance Albert Johnson Banks, better known as Prodigy, is an American rapper and one half of the hip-hop and rap duo Mobb Deep....
of Mobb Deep. This escalated into an argument, which resulted with Saigon punching Prodigy twice in the face. Two video versions of the events have since emerged. One version with slow motion footage shows a clear look of Saigon punching Prodigy, while another video being endorsed by Mobb Deep shows Saigon being chased and running out of the club. - On August 22, Saigon was arrested in Manhattan on felony weapon charges. According to the New York PostNew York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, a small knife was found by authorities in Saigon's car after he was pulled over for a traffic infraction. Saigon was released on $1500 bail, and appeared in court on December 5, 2007. - At the end of 2008, Saigon became a father. His daughter's name is Rayne Dior and she was the inspiration for his single "Fatherhood". She also appears in the music video of the song, which was directed by Derek PikeDerek PikeDerek Pike is a 23 year old American music video director and photographer. He is of half British and half Japanese-American descent. In May 2010 Derek graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he majored in Film and Television...
.
External links
- Official website
- Official Label Artist Page on Suburban Noize RecordsSuburban Noize RecordsSuburban Noize Records, also known as "Subnoize", is an independent record label based in Burbank, California that specializes in punk rock and underground hip hop...
- Saigon at MyspaceMyspaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- In Arms Reach charity organization
- Abandoned Nation organization