A Conversation with Entourage’s Saigon – HuffPost 3.11.11

Mike Ragogna: Hey, Saigon.

Saigon: Hey, what’s up man? How’s it going?

MR: It’s going okay. What’s up with you?

S: You know, I’m just out here trying to sell some CDs, trying to push this music to the people, you know what I’m saying? It’s a beautiful time for me. I’ve waited a long time for this.

MR: Right, you had a deal with a major label, and then I guess you felt that it was time to take your career in your own hands, and you’ve put this out. This is a really fine record.

S: Thank you, man. It’s doing exceptionally well for an indie. Like you said, I took my career in my own hands because I had something to say. I still have some artistic value and artistic integrity, and I think at the major labels, they just care about the buck, the money, and that’s all they care about. So, you know, it wasn’t a good fit for me. Now, I’m out here doing it on my own, and I’m doing it very successfully so far. God is good, man. Everything is blessings.

MR: There’s a video that you just recently released, right?

S: Yeah, I put out a lot of videos. I’ve put like four or five videos out. I’m just going on a viral campaign, putting out a lot of viral videos. There’s one for “Greatest Story Never Told,” there’s one that’s called “You Make Me Sick,” there’s a bunch of them. I’m just trying to keep my presence up because I have a tendency to disappear, so I’m putting a lot of visuals out there.

MR: Very cool. Now, you got your name from a very particular thing–a novel or book that you were reading.

S: Yeah, it wasn’t really a novel, just a book with excerpts from journals of Vietnam soldiers and things of that nature. So yeah, I got my name from a book by Wallace Terry calledBloods. It’s a good book. If you’re looking at this article, go out there and read it.

MR: You heard the man. Saigon, having been exposed on Entourage as a budding new artist, you must have experienced a lot of fuss over you. What was it like during that period?

S: The thing with Entourage is that it happened at a time when we weren’t ready. It would have been beautiful if we’d had the material ready to strike when Entourage was going on, but we were still in the process of creating an album. Everybody felt like that was my window of opportunity, and it closed, but how is that when I’m not an actor? That was just a plus for me, but my career wasn’t based around Entourage. So, it was more of a gift than a curse, but the downside was that everybody felt like I should have become big because the show was so hot. I just look at it like that’s just extra stuff for the music. Perception becomes reality sometimes, and people’s perception was that I had missed my opportunity. Nobody knew that Entourage was going to be what it was. We did seasons two and three, and we taped it before it even started to air.

MR: The other thing about Entourage is that you were a developing artist at the time, right?

S: I was going through, in real life, what was actually going on in the show. I was looking for a deal, and I had just got a deal, so my album was nowhere near ready to come out. People thought that it should have dropped on that Sunday when my episodes started airing.

MR: Well, now you’ve got your new album, The Greatest Story Never Told. What has been going on in your life just over the last few years?

S: I just became a father–I had a little girl. I lost my mom, so my personal life has had a lot of ups and downs. That kind of took my focus away from the music, but I’ve got my focus back, and I just went in there and polished up the album. This album has been done for four years, so to get the critical acclaim that it’s getting says a lot, you know what I’m saying? I’m happy, I’m blessed, and God is good. God works.

MR: You have some great producers on this album in a addition to some great guest artists. You’ve got Jay-Z, and one of his producers, Just Blaze.

S: He comes from that camp, yeah, Just Blaze. That’s where he got his start at, really. He got a lot of notoriety from doing a lot of Jay-Z stuff.

MR: What was it like in the studio?

S: It was amazing, man. The guy is a perfectionist–it was like being in there with Quincy Jones. I’m blessed as an artist to have such a phenomenal, talented person work with me, see my vision, and make it come to life. I can tell my grandkids about this–I did a whole album with Just Blaze, you know? It’s going to go down in history.

MR: When Jay-Z was laying down his stuff, were you in the studio?

S: Yeah. Actually, Jay-Z works so quick that the day he was in the studio, I ran to the store and came back really quick, but he was gone.

MR: (laughs) What about Q-Tip?

S: Yeah, I was in there with Tip.

MR: What was it like when he put down his part?

S: It was dope because he was in there trying to shout out a bunch of jails, but Q-Tip isn’t really a jail-cat. So, what I did was write down all the jails I know, and we talked about the details of that. It was kind of fun. He’s a great guy.

MR: You start with “Station Identification,” featuring Fatman Scoop, which sets up a theme through the record that sounds like you’re listening to a radio station.

S: He brings me an alarm clock when I’m in prison. So, it’s like I’m listening to this alarm clock and the whole album is a dream, actually. You even hear me do a live song on the album with Bun B, like I’m at an awards show, and then I wake up and this whole album was really a dream.

MR: And there were radio station changing effects on in a couple of songs.

S: Yeah. It’s kind of a two-part concept. It’s like the radio is on, but I’m dreaming like it’s me on the radio, and I’m doing every song.

MR: You’ve also got Faith Evans on here.

S: Yes.

MR: She’s on “Clap,” where did she record that?

S: She actually did her part in California, just went out there to get her verse. I know she brought her energy to it, and she made it an amazing record. I don’t think anybody could have captured what I was looking for better than she did.

MR: MR: By the way, I’ve got to tell you that my favorite song on this new album is “Too Long.”

S: “Too Long” is your favorite song on the whole album?

MR: It is.

S: The producer of that song is DJ Corbett. We flew him in from Cincinnati, actually. He’s an awesome, talented producer, and he also co-produced “Bring Me Down” with Just Blaze. He just flew into New York for the first time, so I’m showing him around. He’s actually right here right now.

MR: Nice. It’s a beautiful track with Black Thought. What was it like in the studio prepping that track?

S: Oh, it was awesome to be in the studio with Black Thought. To just sit there and watch one of my idols in hip-hop go in and rap on the track. I gave him the idea of what it’s about, and he went in there and killed it. He really did his thing on it. That’s another excellent dude. He’s a real, real true guy, and I’ve got mad love for that cat.

S: “Too Long” featuring Black Thought of The Roots, was produced by my man DJ Corbett. I’ve been here for too long. Have you been somewhere for too long and you need to make a change? This needs to be your theme song right here, you hear?

MR: You’ve been described as a street poet. What is your take on what is going on in the street right now, from your perspective?

S: The street is in a free-fall, man. I’ve never seen such disorganization in my whole life–since I’ve been alive. There are no more morals, no more integrity in kids. I feel really sorry for the next generation. With information being so accessible, it’s like we’re overloaded, there’s too much information. These kids growing up don’t read anymore, they don’t even teach handwriting to these kids in school anymore–everything is on the computer. The world is haywire from my perspective, and I feel sorry for the next generation because we dropped the ball as adults as far as setting examples because I see these kids growing up now and they don’t have integrity, they don’t have morals, they don’t have respect for their elders, and a lot of things that we learned growing up, they don’t have. I don’t know who is to blame, but it’s bad. It’s a shame.

MR: It’s like everybody is raising themselves.

S: Yeah, it’s like every man for themselves–that’s the way our community is right now, and it’s sad to see it fall apart.

MR: But you’re not one of those people who are sitting back, watching it fall apart.

S: See, I felt a sense of responsibility with my music. If you’re going to give me a chance to talk to the world, I’m not going to say, “I’m a drug lord, I’m a drug kingpin,” or, “drink some champagne and go party at the strip club.” I’m going to say something that’s going to be potentially beneficial and resourceful for somebody. Especially being black in America, there are people that sacrificed their life for us to live better, you know what I’m saying? We still have to honor those people by living in that vein. These people knew that they were probably going to die by taking a stand for the next generation, and it’s like we’re so complacent and now we’re just content. We don’t breed heroes and warriors anymore, we breed sheep. It’s just a bunch of sheep and no shepherds.

MR: That’s the best line–you’re not a sheep, you’re a leader. Here’s proof. You live in New York, right?

S: Yeah.

MR: And you tried to make a difference by helping out with the Bowery homeless shelter. Tell us about that.

S: New York was very, very cold this one day, and I was watching the news and saw that this one lady had actually frozen to death, you know? That’s sad, man. So, what I did was–my friend has a manufacturing company with an excess amount of blankets. We just went around giving them out to homeless people. We actually gave out around six-hundred blankets in total.

MR: That’s beautiful.

S: Who knows, man. The people seemed very, very grateful, and I could tell that they could use the blankets. I don’t do it for accolades or praise–I do it because I’ve been in a messed up situation before, where I wished that somebody would help me. So, if I’m in a position where I can help, and all it takes is a little bit of my time, effort and energy, then I’m all for it.

MR: That’s great. It seems that over the last few years, there is more of a consciousness about the homeless.

S: I can’t really tell.

MR: Well, Giuliani used to ship them to New Jersey, there’s an improvement right there.

S: Giuliani just wanted to lock everybody up. Everything was jail–“No schools, we need more jails. Build more jails.” That was Giuliani’s answer to everything. The one thing about Bloomberg is that he’s a money guy, so what he’s trying to do is all about the money. We had a lot of snow storms, so now what they’re doing–since they lost so much money because they had to go to alternate street side parking–now they’re just giving out tickets over nothing. You go five miles over the speed limit and it’s like, “Here’s a ticket.” They’re trying to make up the quota, you know what I’m saying?

MR: Man. Where do you see your writing, as far as how you’re saying things versus how other artists are saying things?

S: I just come from an honest place. My music comes from an honest place, and I think that people can tell sometimes, you know? People can tell, so they embrace it. That’s the thing that I have that works for me. I’m not trying to be machismo and act like I’m somebody I’m not, and I’m not trying to glorify the crimes I committed in my life before. My whole things is that I’m just trying to do positive, do right, and do some good things.

MR: Very nice. What are the major differences between Saigon as a kid and Saigon now?

S: Oh wow. Sense of direction–I have a sense of direction. As a kid, I had no sense of direction. I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, and that’s why I was easily influenced by negative people who weren’t the best influences, and it cost me a lot of pain and hardship. Saigon, as an adult, has a sense of direction. I know how to be a leader instead of a follower, you know? I’m more thoughtful of other people than I’ve ever been in my life. I respect people–I have a higher respect for everybody. When I was younger, I didn’t really respect anybody because it was all about me, me, me, and I was selfish. So, that’s a very big difference between now and then.

MR: Looking forward, what do you see for yourself from here on out?

S: I’m probably doing one more album, and then I’m probably going into speaking. I have a message, and right now, I’m still using the music to pull people in like a drum. I want to take away the drum so that people can really focus on what I’m saying.

MR: One last question about your stint on Entourage. Do you still have any relations to this day with those guys, particularly Jerry Ferrara, who played Turtle, your manager, on the show?

S: Yeah, Jerry just did a cool blog for me to help promote my album. You can look it up. He did a little video that’s floating around the internet where he’s helping me promote the album. He’s doing well, and he’s a great guy, man. I loved all of those guys. Jerry and I are very cool, and Mark, Stephen Levinson, and Doug Ellin really gave me a shot. I love those guys.

MR: I think Entourage is one of the best groups that I’ve ever scene assembled on camera.

S: Those guys have a synergy that works really, really well.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

S: Don’t put all your eggs in this music basket. Make this be your Plan B or C, and I would stick with plan C because it’s fickle. The music business changes too much for you to take it serious. Today, whatever’s hot could be cold tomorrow. It’s a fickle business, and it’s falling every day. So, if you’re trying to do it, do it as a hobby, and if it works for you, cool. But go to school and set tangible goals that you can achieve with hard work. I’m a testament to the fact that you can be talented, work very hard at this game, and still not get a break. I’d really set a goal where I can control whether it happens or not, and then I’d go from there.

MR: Saigon, you are the best, and I appreciate your time.

S: Peace and love, y’all. Thank you.

Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney