The Greatest Story Never Told

a musical album

The Greatest Story Never Told is the debut studio album by American rapper Saigon, released February 15, 2011 on Suburban Noize Records. The album was initially scheduled to be released in 2007, but experienced numerous delays due to issues with Saigon's previous label Atlantic Records. Although primarily produced by Just Blaze, The Greatest Story Never Told features additional production from several renowned producers, such as Buckwild, Scram Jones and Kanye West, with guest appearances from Black Thought, Bun B, Faith Evans, Jay Z and Q Tip, among others. In its opening week, The Greatest Story Never Told entered on the Billboard 200 at number 61, selling 11,000 copies. In its second week, the album sold an additional 4,800 copies, bringing its total sales to around 16,000. As of March 6, 2011, the album has sold 19,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, The Greatest Story Never Told received rave reviews from music critics and hip hop publications, who complimented the album's intellectual lyrics, soulful production, and overall cohesiveness.

In the late 1990s, Brian "Saigon" Carenard was sentenced to jail time at Napanoch's Eastern Correctional Facility, serving a sentence for first degree assault after shooting at someone in a bar. Saigon later took down that blog because he thought it offended Just Blaze. On June 14, 2007, Just Blaze responded to Saigon's comments on his own blog. He stated that he was not offended by the blog but just didn't understand why Saigon would post it now when the only thing holding up the album release was a sample clearance for the single "C'mon Baby", which Craig Kallman — president of Atlantic — was personally handling. Just Blaze later posted that all samples had been cleared. The issue has since been resolved.

On November 19, 2007, Saigon posted a blog entry on his Myspace entitled "I QUIT", announcing his retirement from the music industry. In a statement he gave to HipHopGame. com late in the day, he said, "This is it. The Greatest Story Never Told I guess you could say it was prophecy," implying that the album would not be released. On November 26, 2007, Just Blaze posted a blog stating that he was putting the final touches on The Greatest Story Never Told. He continued to hint that the album may in fact be released. On December 19, 2007, exactly one month from the first blog, Saigon posted another blog stating that he had reconsidered retiring. He also said that the album would indeed be released, saying, "My album WILL be released VERY soon." The album's executive producer stated that The Greatest Story Never Told had undergone its final mastering on January 8. In an interview with hiphopgame. com, Just Blaze explained various reasons behind the numerous delays of The Greatest Story Never Told, the most prominent being that he wished to establish a relationship with Saigon before creating an album. In the said interview he expressed that " people wouldn't have found out about the deal until maybe a year and a half ago as opposed to three years ago." but was unable to achieve this.