Saigon had a period from like 2002-2007 where he was easily top 5 dopest MCs in the game to me. The man had a slew of bangers and dope ass freestyles. I used to be a huge Saigon fan, was really hoping he had next. But label issues, his own bad decisions, and never really being able to find a marketable niche (he seemed to always straddle the lines between super goon thug rapper, conscious MC, and trying to capture the lane that 50 Cent already occupied) kinda nosedived his career.
"Stocking Cap" and "The Color Purple" were teo of my favorite songs of the 2000s, and the first Yardfather mixtape was one of the best "albums" of the decade. Plus his ear for production was crazy. He was getting heat from some underground heavy hitters like Alchemist, Just Blaze, EZ Elpee, DJ Honda, Agallah, etc.