The Greatest Story Never Told
Encyclopedia
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
. Although primarily produced by Just Blaze, The Greatest Story Never Told features additional production from several renown producers, such as Buckwild
, Scram Jones
and Kanye West
, with guest appearances from Black Thought
, Bun B
, Faith Evans
, Jay-Z
and Q-Tip
, among others.
In its opening week, The Greatest Story Never Told entered on the Billboard 200 at number 61, selling 11,000 copies. In its second week, the album sold an additional 4,800 copies, bringing its total sales to around 16,000. As of March 6, 2011, the album has sold 19,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, The Greatest Story Never Told received favorable reviews from most music critics and hip hop publications, who complimented the album's intellectual lyrics, soulful production, and overall cohesiveness.
’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
.
on his MySpace
stating that he felt Atlantic Records didn't have the desire to release his album because he is a real artist, not a "jingle writer", and they only care about the money, not the music. He stated that the album will be released independently if Atlantic will not release it. Saigon later took down that blog because he thought it offended Just Blaze.
On June 14, 2007, Just Blaze responded to Saigon's comments on his own blog. He stated that he was not offended by the blog but just didn't understand why Saigon would post it now when the only thing holding up the album release is a sample clearance for the single "C'mon Baby
" which Craig Kallman
—president of Atlantic—was personally handling. Saigon then posted an apology to Just Blaze. Just Blaze later posted that all samples had been cleared. The issue has since been resolved.
posted a blog stating he was putting the final touches on The Greatest Story Never Told. He continued to hint that the album may in fact be released. On December 19, 2007, exactly one month from the first blog, Saigon posted another blog stating that he had reconsidered retiring. He also said that the album would indeed be released saying, "My album WILL be released VERY soon". The album's executive producer stated that The Greatest Story Never Told had undergone its final mastering on January 8.
In an interview with hiphopgame.com, Just Blaze explained various reasons behind the numerous delays of The Greatest Story Never Told, the most prominent being that he wished a relationship to be established with Saigon before creating an album. In the said interview he expressed that "...people wouldn't have found out about the deal until maybe a year and a half ago as opposed to three years ago"
Saigon had stated that he planned to release the album by September 30, 2008, but was unable to achieve this.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 89, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "Universal acclaim ". Nathan Rabin of the A.V. Club stated "Told sometimes feels like too much of a good thing; at 18 furious tracks, it’s overwhelming in the best sense. Saigon’s background as an ex-con lends specificity and direction to his social criticism: He’s a battle-tested survivor singling out the injustices and hypocrisy of a world filled with prisons and traps, real and metaphorical. Told is worth the wait". In his review for The Village Voice
, Phillip Mlynar complimented Saigon for his "sincerity" and ability to offer advice to his listeners. Chad Grischow from IGN
praised the album's themes and message, and wrote that "it is the balance of uplifting, positive energy and gritty realism that makes this debut work so well". About.com
's Henry Adaso gave the album four out of five stars and called it "tight, visceral, consistent".
Although stating "there are references to events like Katrina, that while certainly not irrelevant, are not quite as much in the musical parlance as they were a couple of years prior" and being unfavorable of several of the songs long lengths, Marisa Brown from Allmusic extolled producer Just Blaze
's contributions, commenting "Blaze has always been a very involved, musically attuned producer, and his attention to detail is evident here, from the alarm clock motif to the way he transitions between tracks". Brown also applauded Saigon's "intelligent" lyrics and complimented him for his maturity throughout the years while recording the album. Chris Faraone from The Phoenix
also complimented Saigon's maturity, explaining "To his credit, the Saigon who emerges here is aeons more mature than the clever criminal who kicked the New York mixtape game in the dick five years ago, or even the MC who played himself on Entourage. The somewhat reformed loose cannon is now a thoughtful class warrior with switchblade skills, whom cats can actually relate to". In his consumer guide for MSN Music
, critic Robert Christgau
gave it an A- rating and stated "this is the Saigon and Just Blaze album I've been waiting for since a student tipped me to them five years ago—heroic post-gangstaism, with the conscious ex-con forthright as rhymer and rapper and the Jay-Z sideman bigging him up with soul singers and cinematic beats (and also with Jay-Z)".
Sample credits
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American rapper Saigon
Saigon (rapper)
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...
, released February 15, 2011 on 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...
. The album was initially scheduled to be released in 2007, but experienced numerous delays due to issues with Saigon's previous label 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...
. Although primarily produced by Just Blaze, The Greatest Story Never Told features additional production from several renown producers, such as Buckwild
Buckwild
Buckwild is a Hip hop producer hailing from The Bronx, New York. Originally a DJ, Buck began producing after meeting MC/Producer Lord Finesse. He later joined Finesse's super-crew D.I.T.C., along with Showbiz and A.G., Diamond D, Fat Joe, and the late Big L and brought O.C. with him...
, Scram Jones
Scram Jones
Marc Shemer, better known by his stage name Scram Jones, is a producer, DJ and emcee from New Rochelle, New York. He has produced music for the Wu-Tang Clan. Mariah Carey, Jae Millz, Saigon, and Lloyd Banks. As an emcee he has been featured alongside Nas, Saigon, Styles P, Kool G Rap and Immortal...
and 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...
, with guest appearances from Black Thought
Black Thought
Tariq Trotter , better known as Black Thought, is an American hip-hop artist who is the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots and occasional actor...
, Bun B
Bun B
Bernard Freeman better known by his stage name Bun B, is an American rapper and was one half of the southern hip hop duo UGK . He is also a guest lecturer at Rice University located in Houston, Texas...
, Faith Evans
Faith Evans
Faith Renée Evans is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, record producer, actress and author. Born in Florida and raised in New Jersey, Evans relocated to Los Angeles during 1993 for a career with the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al B...
, 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...
and Q-Tip
Q-Tip (rapper)
Kamaal Ibn John Fareed , better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American hip hop artist, producer, singer, and actor from St. Albans, Queens, New York, part of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest...
, among others.
In its opening week, The Greatest Story Never Told entered on the Billboard 200 at number 61, selling 11,000 copies. In its second week, the album sold an additional 4,800 copies, bringing its total sales to around 16,000. As of March 6, 2011, the album has sold 19,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, The Greatest Story Never Told received favorable reviews from most music critics and hip hop publications, who complimented the album's intellectual lyrics, soulful production, and overall cohesiveness.
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...
.
MySpace blog
On June 1, 2007, Saigon posted a blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
on his MySpace
MySpace
Myspace 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....
stating that he felt Atlantic Records didn't have the desire to release his album because he is a real artist, not a "jingle writer", and they only care about the money, not the music. He stated that the album will be released independently if Atlantic will not release it. Saigon later took down that blog because he thought it offended Just Blaze.
On June 14, 2007, Just Blaze responded to Saigon's comments on his own blog. He stated that he was not offended by the blog but just didn't understand why Saigon would post it now when the only thing holding up the album release is a sample clearance for the single "C'mon Baby
C'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...
" which Craig Kallman
Craig Kallman
Craig Kallman is Chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records.Craig Kallman signed the legendary lyricist Percee P and released his sought after 12" "Puttin' Heads To Bed" on his imprint Big Beat in the early 1990s. He joined the company in 1991, when Atlantic acquired Kallman's independent Big Beat...
—president of Atlantic—was personally handling. Saigon then posted an apology to Just Blaze. Just Blaze later posted that all samples had been cleared. The issue has since been resolved.
Retirement rumors
On November 19, 2007, Saigon posted a blog on his myspace entitled "I QUIT" announcing his retirement from the music industry. In a statement he gave HipHopGame.com late in the day he said, "This is it. The Greatest Story Never Told...I guess you could say it was prophecy," implying the album would not be released. On November 26, 2007, Just BlazeJust 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...
posted a blog stating he was putting the final touches on The Greatest Story Never Told. He continued to hint that the album may in fact be released. On December 19, 2007, exactly one month from the first blog, Saigon posted another blog stating that he had reconsidered retiring. He also said that the album would indeed be released saying, "My album WILL be released VERY soon". The album's executive producer stated that The Greatest Story Never Told had undergone its final mastering on January 8.
In an interview with hiphopgame.com, Just Blaze explained various reasons behind the numerous delays of The Greatest Story Never Told, the most prominent being that he wished a relationship to be established with Saigon before creating an album. In the said interview he expressed that "...people wouldn't have found out about the deal until maybe a year and a half ago as opposed to three years ago"
Saigon had stated that he planned to release the album by September 30, 2008, but was unable to achieve this.
Release from label
In May 2008, Just Blaze announced Saigon's release from Atlantic, while acquiring full ownership of the album. Shortly after this announcement, Saigon stated there was a new situation in the works, and that they were getting a new deal and the album would be released in 2011. Saigon claims that he’s never been given a definitive reason why Atlantic refused to release the album, but on the song "Believe It," he raps, "They rather me pretend to be something that I’m not/I’m the new Public Enemy, I’m different than Young Joc".Commercial performance
In its debut week on the Billboard 200, The Greatest Story Never Told entered at number 61, selling 11,000 copies. In its second week, the album sold an additional 4,800 copies, bringing its total sales to about 16,000 copies. As of March 6, 2011, the album has sold 19,000 copies in the United States.Critical response
The Greatest Story Never Told received positive reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 89, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "Universal acclaim ". Nathan Rabin of the A.V. Club stated "Told sometimes feels like too much of a good thing; at 18 furious tracks, it’s overwhelming in the best sense. Saigon’s background as an ex-con lends specificity and direction to his social criticism: He’s a battle-tested survivor singling out the injustices and hypocrisy of a world filled with prisons and traps, real and metaphorical. Told is worth the wait". In his review for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, Phillip Mlynar complimented Saigon for his "sincerity" and ability to offer advice to his listeners. Chad Grischow from IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the album's themes and message, and wrote that "it is the balance of uplifting, positive energy and gritty realism that makes this debut work so well". About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
's Henry Adaso gave the album four out of five stars and called it "tight, visceral, consistent".
Although stating "there are references to events like Katrina, that while certainly not irrelevant, are not quite as much in the musical parlance as they were a couple of years prior" and being unfavorable of several of the songs long lengths, Marisa Brown from Allmusic extolled 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...
's contributions, commenting "Blaze has always been a very involved, musically attuned producer, and his attention to detail is evident here, from the alarm clock motif to the way he transitions between tracks". Brown also applauded Saigon's "intelligent" lyrics and complimented him for his maturity throughout the years while recording the album. Chris Faraone from The Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
also complimented Saigon's maturity, explaining "To his credit, the Saigon who emerges here is aeons more mature than the clever criminal who kicked the New York mixtape game in the dick five years ago, or even the MC who played himself on Entourage. The somewhat reformed loose cannon is now a thoughtful class warrior with switchblade skills, whom cats can actually relate to". In his consumer guide for MSN Music
MSN Music
MSN Music was a part of the MSN web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. In 2004, Microsoft created an MSN Music download store to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store, though its sales in comparison were...
, critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave it an A- rating and stated "this is the Saigon and Just Blaze album I've been waiting for since a student tipped me to them five years ago—heroic post-gangstaism, with the conscious ex-con forthright as rhymer and rapper and the Jay-Z sideman bigging him up with soul singers and cinematic beats (and also with Jay-Z)".
Track listing
(add.) Additional production- Track 4 was incorrectly credited to Scram Jones; actually produced by Just Blaze and Lamar Edwards.
Sample credits
- "Come on Baby" contains a sample of "Southside Shuffle" performed by J. Geils BandJ. Geils BandThe J. Geils Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts, best known for its 1981 single, "Centerfold" which charted #1 in the U.S. in early 1982. The band played R&B-influenced blues-rock in the 1970s before moving towards a more pop-influenced sound in the 1980s...
- "War" contains a sample of "The Golden Apple" performed by Bob JamesBob James (musician)Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...
- "Bring Me Down Pt 2" contains a sample of "Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor)" by John MurphyJohn Murphy-In politics:*John Murphy , American Democratic Governor and Congressman from Alabama*John Murphy , Member of the UK Parliament for East Kerry, 1900–1910*John W...
- "Friends" contains a sample of "Comment" by Charles WrightCharles WrightCharles Wright may refer to:*Charles Wright , American botanist*Charles Frederick Wright , U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania*Charles Wright , Nottinghamshire and England cricketer*C. S...
- "Oh Yeah" contains a sample of Ghetto Life 101Ghetto Life 101Ghetto Life 101 is a 30 minute radio broadcast documentary exploring the lives of residents of the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The documentary was created by teenagers LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman and produced by David Isay for National Public Radio...
- "The Greatest Story Never Told" contains a sample of "B.M.F. Beautiful" by Leon HaywoodLeon HaywoodOtha Leon Haywood is an American funk and soul singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 1975 hit single "I Want'a Do Something Freaky To You", which has been much sampled by Dr. Dre and others....
- "Clap" contains a sample of "Let Me Make Love to You" by Lamont DozierLamont DozierLamont Herbert Dozier is an American songwriter and record producer, born in Detroit, Michigan. Dozier has either co-written or produced several US Billboard #1 hits.-Career:...
- "Preacher" contains elements of "Woe Is Me" by The DynamicsThe DynamicsThe Dynamics were an American R&B group from Detroit, Michigan.The Dynamics formed in the late 1960s, and were managed by Ted White, who married Aretha Franklin. The group released two full-length albums and charted three hits on the U.S...
- "It's Alright" contains a sample of "Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me" performed by Luther VandrossLuther VandrossLuther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
Personnel
Credits for The Greatest Story Never Told adapted from Allmusic.- D. Allen – Producer
- Maki Athanasiou – Guitar
- Adam Blackstone – Bass
- Ariel Borujow – Engineer, Mixing
- David Brown – Engineer, Mixing
- Raymond Brown – Design, Layout
- Buckwild – Producer
- Deniece C. – Stylist
- Sway CallowaySway CallowaySway Calloway, usually credited as Sway, born August 23rd, 1976, is a reporter and executive producer for MTV News. He is also the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show The Wake Up Show...
– Executive Producer - Neysa Camacho – Executive Producer
- Patricia Cameron – Make-Up
- Canei Finch – Instrumentation, Keyboards
- Piper Carter – Photography
- Commissioner Gordon – Mixing
- Jammal Day – Engineer
- DJ Corbett – Additional Production, Producer
- Lorrance Dopson – Keyboards
- Lamar Edwards – Additional Production, Keyboards
- Ricardo Gutierrez – Mastering
- The Hezinators – Mixing
- 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...
– Additional Production, Executive Producer, Producer - Ken Lewis – Instrumentation
- Rich Nice – Executive Producer
- Keith Parry – Assistant Engineer
- James Poyser – Keyboards, Producer
- Red Spyda – Producer
- Saigon – Executive Producer
- SC – Producer
- Spanky – Drums
- Christos Tsantilis – Mixing
- Kanye WestKanye WestKanye 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...
– Producer - Ryan West – Engineer, Mixing
- Andrew Wright – Engineer, Mixing
- Brad "Daddy X" Xavier – Executive Producer
- Young Guru – Engineer, Mixing
- Kevin Zinger – Executive Producer
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
61 |
| US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 15 |
| US Billboard Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004.... |
7 |
| US Billboard Independent Albums Independent Albums The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels... |
9 |
External links
- The Greatest Story Never Told at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- The Greatest Story Never Told at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...