Black August 2007: Interview with Saigon

Scheme Magazine had the opportunity to cover the 2007 Black August Benefit concert which was headlined by Mos Def and Talib Kweli, but featured guests performances by Common, DJ Scratch, D-Nice, DJ Evil Dee, Queen Godis and many more more up and coming acts that were all present at the Nokia Theatre to support the Hands of Assata (Shakur) Campaign. Hosted by Lyrics to Go the 2007 Black August was one to remember between backstage and in the press rooom Scheme will present interviews all week from this event, we start off with the controversial, passionate and focused Saigon.

Scheme: What made you get down with Black August?

Saigon: Well I’ve been getting down with Black August every year. Getting down to the basics, it’s about the Black and Latin culture man and anything that’s gonna help my people and my community I am down to support. If it were Black, January, February, March, April, May it doesn’t matter I will support it. I love my people, my community and my culture so it’s a way for me to give back.

Scheme: If you had to pinpoint one major thing that’s keeping our communities separated, what would you say that is?

Saigon: I think it’s the media. Whatever they portray in the media we start to believe the hype. It’s hard for us to unify when we are believing what others are telling us instead of paying attention to our own communities ourselves. It’s crazy how the elders will see me coming with my pants sagging or my hoodie on and automatically I’m the gangsta because of what they see on TV in the videos. That’s one of the biggest weapons they have against us that is separating us and making us weaker.

Scheme: You’ve been on both sides of the fence in various ways; from the trouble you got into in your younger years that lead to you being incarcerated to being in the music industry and then working on the other side of entertainment and doing some Hollywood work you have seen a lot of situations. What is one of the biggest things you’ve learned from being in those positions that keeps you motivated everyday.

Saigon: Really; going through all those situations and seeing the process the thing that really keeps me going are the children man. Every time I go to the hood, any hood, I like to be around the children. Like the song “Children are the Future”, if they are our future I want to see what they are up to and how their mindframe is holding up in this society. I try to give them motivation that I’ve been through so much drama and made it through to be in a position to help myself and help others. I’m proof that it can be done. When I go back to the ghetto I want to cry sometimes because I can tell whose gonna go to jail or whose gonna be the deadbeat father when they are only 11 or 12. I feel like the generation before me kind of dropped the ball so I want to be part of the generation that gets us back on track and I can do that by sharing my experiences. That’s what motivates me to make the music I make and to do what I do on a daily basis. I could easily make one of these ring tone songs or make some bullsh*t records for the club but I don’t because I have to look at myself in the mirror. If I made these songs talking about flipping birds or moving keys or even my real life with guns and shooting people I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing that it’s influencing these young kids. That would be like the older guy giving the kids alcohol. I reference things I’ve done in the past but in the sense of teaching and saying “hey, I been there and it’s not the route to go.”

“…I had one executive tell me that this couldn’t be played in a club and was worthless. I had to respond with “Do you think our lives only revolve around partying?”

Scheme: It reminds me of a conversation I had with Chuck D a few weeks ago and he said that as an older dude, if you can’t drop jewels then you’re worthless.

Saigon: Worthless, exactly. It would make pretty much everything I went through in vain because if I can’t share that experience with my people and give them a shot at making better choices by learning from my bad choices what good were my experiences? If I can’t teach others, what did I really learn? Knowledge is only good if you can use it and teach it.

Scheme: As you said, you could have easily made a bullsh*t record for the club or ring tones but instead the first single you pushed was “Pain in my Life” and you also followed it up with a video. How much of a struggle was that with your record label to get that out to the public?

Saigon: It was a big challenge, without a question. They only gave me $18,000 to shoot that video. They wanted to play me and have me make a YouTube video. That’s crazy because the song was getting a lot of love, it got added to New York radio which is a hard thing to do in itself and my record label dropped the ball because they figure that everyone wants to party and we don’t want to listen. I had one executive tell me that this couldn’t be played in a club and was worthless. I had to respond with “Do you think our lives only revolve around partying?” With as much sh*t as we go through as a people, partying is a fragment of our everyday existence and the majority of it is struggle. It was a hell of a struggle; they did nothing for that record. Everything that record did was on the strength of the music and the grind me and my team put behind it.

“We need to take this concept of being unified and apply it to our everyday lives; it takes a village to raise a child. If someone’s child is doing wrong, whether or not their parent gets mad I’m gonna check them. We as African Americans have lost that sense of community I think.”

Scheme: It’s a great thing that all of these people come out to support the cause at Black August and that it’s a great night for the culture but when the mics are turned off and the venue is cleaned up and we are back to regular life, where do we go tomorrow to keep the movement that Black August stands for going?

Saigon: I know that me myself, I can’t speak for everybody, but I will continue to move on with the struggle and spread the word. It’s possible for us all to be in the same room, the same space and have fun and enjoy ourselves for a positive cause with meaningful music. The media and the executives will tell you otherwise but I will continue to spread the message as I know the other brothers and sisters who supported tonight will do. We need to take this concept of being unified and apply it to our everyday lives; it takes a village to raise a child. If someone’s child is doing wrong, whether or not their parent gets mad I’m gonna check them. We as African Americans have lost that sense of community I think. When people from Jamaica and Haiti move here they still keep a strong sense of community. Some people say I’m rich and f*ck everybody else and that’s how a community breaks down.

Scheme: I know recently you’ve had some issues with the law. From what I’ve been reading, each time the story switches up and I think that most of the media is not portraying the true story or they don’t know the true story. What’s the deal with that situation?

Saigon: Basically I got pulled over by the cops and they found a knife in the car, not on me but in the car. There were four dudes in the car and being that I’m the one with a criminal history and a convicted felon and my current status they pinned it on me and I go to jail for a little ass knife. The crazy thing is that for all they knew we could have used it to eat an apple earlier but the hip hop police want to turn it into a big fiasco, it’s bullsh*t man.

Scheme: Lastly, what should the people look for from Saigon?

Saigon: The album is getting ready to drop, The Greatest Story Never Told at either the end of the year or the top of the New Year. Also look out for the pre-album The Moral of the Story, keep in tune with the Saigon singles and mixtapes and always take time to check for the truth!