Brooklyn, New York emcee Saigon finally releasing his 6th studio LP entirely produced by Buckwild under It Goes Up Entertainment distributed by Strange Music & Virgin Music. Breaking out in the early 2000s off his debut mixtape Da Yardfather, it wouldn’t be until 2011 when he would make his full-length debut by dropping The Greatest Story Never Told under Suburban Noize Records. The album would spawn a sequel to fulfill his contract with the Spade the following year & then a final installment on his own imprint Squid Ink Squad Records in 2014. He returned from a 6 year hiatus in 2020 by signing to It Goes Up/Strange & dropping the STREETRUNNER-produced EP 777: The Resurrection & fulfilling that deal on Pain, Peace & Prosperity the next spring. Following a quick trip back to The Jordan Era under Payday Records last spring, Da Yardfather’s linking up with Buckwild to Paint the World Black under It Goes Up Entertainment alongside Strange Music & Virgin Music.
“Yardfather Talk” after the “Over the Break” intro opens up with some horns & a guitar talking about his music being too analytic for critics while “Write Back (Hear Me Now)” after the “Dear God” skit working in some sampling to acting the exact same things he did last time. “Well Wishes” fuses gospel & boom bap talking about wanting nothing but the best for those who turned on him leading into the “Meet Raymond Riches (Fame & Riches)” skit.
We get a soul sample chopped up on “Whose 4 da Young?” providing words of wisdom to the youth & Saigon doing this music shit for them prior to the passionate “My Child” pleading God for him to let his kid grow up in the world due to the state it’s been at these past 8 months. “No Witness” featuring Benny the Butcher hooks up a dope flute sample throughout talking about being O.G.s on the lowkey while “2000Now (Crowd Go Wild) starting the 2nd half by showing us how he likes hip hop to sound.
“Toxic Love Story” blends pop rap & R&B together for a look at a relationship where he & his girl are constantly arguing with each other over & over again but after the “187.4 FM DJ Titty Toucher” intermission, “Bare Necessities” talks about his altruism contrasting the greed that these so called “ballin’” artists are so overcome by & “Dying Never Goes Outta Style” tells the story of a child running wild.
After the “Let’s Talk About Love” skit, “Any Love” winds down the last few minutes of Paint the World Black observing a whole lotta jealousy these days asking if there’s any love left in the hearts of the population & the closer is a sequel to “Yardfather Talk” talking about opportunity knocking at his door. Only for it to be Raymond Riches, who introduced himself during a skit midway through.
The Jordan Era was a big improvement over Pain, Peace & Prosperity as a love letter to the mid 80s/late 90s except Paint the World Black raises the stakes exactly how I thought he would because it moves 777: The Resurrection behind itself for the right of becoming Saigon’s best project of the 3 he has put out since signing to the It Goes Up Entertainment subsidiary of Strange Music. From the lyricism to the production, he & Buckwild are merely doing what they felt was normal to them & pulling it off excellently.
Score: 9/10