The *real* greatest story never told

"It seemed like the value of his beats were worth more than my rhymes so we couldnt just keep working. Which is understandable, he’s Just Blaze…Im just Saigon the mixtape rapper." - Saigon, the lowly mixtape rapper

According to a few people who have heard it, Saigon's The Greatest Story Never Told really is the best rap album since forever. Legendary hater that I am, of course I'll believe that shit when see (er, hear) it. Either way, the back and forth between Saigon and Just Blaze re: the album's ridonkulously lengthy postponement could very well end up more entertaining than the album itself, regardless of how good it is.

Last week I brought you 'bags the story of how Saigon has been complaining to the media about how Atlantic Records isn't bothering to release his album because it has basically no commercial prospects, and how Just Blaze ate up all of his recording budget, so he couldn't record a hit single now even if he wanted to, and how he's threatening to leak the album to the Internets himself, even if it means him being dropped from Atlantic like a female rapper or a bad habit.

Just Blaze responded with a rather lengthy, if not particularly informative blog post in which he explained that the release of The Greatest Story Never Told has been held up for two years now because there was an issue with a sample and sometimes a sample really does take two years to clear. Unless you're Jay-Z, in which case a few phone calls are made and your shit's in stores pretty much the next day. Also, he's upset that Saigon would run to the media with this issue, though Just Blaze couldn't be bothered to actually give Saigon a call himself and tell him this. I guess he was too busy putting together YouTube videos mocking yours truly.

Not to be outdone, Saigon responded to Just Blaze's blog post with a blog post of his own in which he pretty much calls Just Blaze a liar and a douchebag - though in not so many words, lest his shit get pushed back even further. According to Saigon, Just Blaze is driven by his lust for the almighty dollar rather than any genuine love for hip-hop as an artform. If he wasn't, the two of them could just sit around in the studio all day and create great rap music to give away for free over the Internets, since there obviously isn't much of a commercial market for great rap music.

So yeah, this is obviously one of those cases where both sides of the argument are full of shit. Saigon, for his part, was probably right in the first place when he suggested that the real reason his album has yet to be released is because hardly anyone would cop that shit anyway. He isn't winning any points though with all of his talk about how he's only in this for the love of music and all of his bullshit threats to leak the album to the Internets. Again, I'll believe that shit when I see it.

And Just Blaze is obviously gonna come up with any reason why the album has yet to be released other than the fact that he's already made his money off the project and hence could give a rat's ass one way or the other. As a label exec, not to mention the album's producer, I suppose I can appreciate the unique nature of his position in this matter. And I'm sure having Saigon air out all of his business via MySpace isn't helping matters either, though so far I'd say it's been pretty good entertainment for the rest of us.

Granted I'd rather have a great rap album than a story about a great rap album, but shit. These days I'll take what I can get.