Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
For years, Saigon was hailed as the man who would inherit the legacy built by Jay-Z. He came from a similar background and he had a unique flow. But, Atlantic Records made sure his movement was held back for a few years. In the meantime, Jay-Z continued to build upon his legacy.
Saigon has always said he looks up to Jay-Z more than anyone else in the game. Jay-Z's producer, Just Blaze, signed Saigon as the first artist on his Fort Knocks label. Because of this affiliation, Sai has had many chances to record with Jay-Z. But, the only difference was Jay-Z releases albums.
With his album finally set to be released, Saigon has opened up on a few things. He has become the latest rapper to accuse Jay-Z of swagger jacking. Ever since Nas called him out on "Ether," rappers have accused Jay-Z of stealing rhymes and other styles. Jay-Z admitted to sampling rhymes and he admits he gets his style from a mixture of other people. But, Jay has never been accused of beat jacking.
In 2006, while recording The Greatest Story Never Told, Saigon said Just Blaze would send him several beats. From time to time, Jay-Z would come into the studio to see how things were coming along. When it was time for Saigon to record, he would notice some of the beats would be missing. Among the missing beats ended up being Jay-Z's title track single off his 2006 album, Kingdom Come. Each time Saigon would be ready for a beat, his team would call a meeting to say Jay-Z would be using that beat.
Saigon said this happened four or five times and that "Kingdom Come" was supposed to be his song. The issue was called even when Jay-Z dropped a verse on Saigon's "Come on Baby." While he recorded on the song for free, Saigon said he had planned to take that beat. Jay-Z recorded one verse to the song, but did not like it as his own song, so he gave it back to Saigon. He went on to say Jay-Z cannot be bought because he is richer than every other rapper.
In the end, Saigon avoided dissing Jay-Z by giving him credit for his business acumen.