Five years after signing with Atlantic Records, Saigon has not yet managed to release his highly anticipated debut album: the label would like to water him down with an endless series of commercial pop rap singles and ridiculous guests, as if he were a random Yung Joc. Saigon, unlike many, doesn't give up and, at the time of the release of this record with Statik, he got out of his agreement with Atlantic a little less than a year ago and was taken under the protective wing of Just Blaze.
The one released in collaboration with Boston-based producer Statik Selektah then becomes the first official studio album for the rapper from Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY. It's a project of ten cuts + a bonus, and about half an hour, in which Saigon proves to have an excellent flow that slips away smooth and rough, as well as having a good vocabulary, however he fails to create particularly inspired or originals songs. The cause is partly attributable to the production chosen by Statik Selektah: the decision to make the entire product in just 24h (hence the title of the album), doesn't reward quality in the long term, most of the rhythms have a generic sound, while staying true to the East Coast scene.
The first three cuts work pretty worthy, with a heavy jazzy boom bap, soulful rhythm and a great soulful heavy beat for "The Rules", where Saigon is smooth as vinegar, but after the third track the record starts to wane of quality, and the remaining beats look like Statik b-sides or experimental productions set aside at first moment. Section 4-5-6 is hard to digest musically, the tape picks up with "Lady Sing the Blues" sort of half-rnb production with a mesmerizing jazzy soul rhythm by Statik and good delivery by Saigon. Anticipating the eighth choice, "Lose Her", track for women, good bouncy soulful rhythm, perfect background with Statik sampling Billy Stewart's "Cross My Heart", Just Blaze will have more luck using the same song for "Exhibit C" by Jay Electronica. The last three choices keep a light soulful sound, but they're much poorer and cheaper than the previous ones: Saigon delivers tired and dull in "Goodbye", in "The Reason" he has an almost annoying sample and the rapper partially saves the track, before bouncing back on the beatmaker's alternate production on the bonus track, on a controversial beat.
Decent album, if you are a Saigon fan you may also be disappointed by the production which is objectively not up to the name that Statik had made in previous years within the underground circuit, here there are neither bangers nor classics, so you can go directly to "The Greatest Story Never Told", which yes, finally saw the light.
Rating: 6/10.
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