Art imitated life on the Aug. 21 episode of HBO series “Entourage” when up-and-coming rapper Saigon was introduced on the show.
Saigon is in fact a star on the rise. The New York-based rapper, who recently inked a deal with Fort Knocks/Hip Hop Since 1978/Atlantic Records, is working on his debut effort, tentatively titled “The Greatest Story Never Told.”
So how does a relatively unknown MC without a major-label release snag a role on one of the hottest shows on TV?
“It’s good to have friends in high places,” jokes G. Roberson, one-half of Hip Hop Since 1978, Saigon’s management team.
Roberson, who with his partner, Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua, also manages Grammy Award winner Kanye West, brokered the deal through Doug Ellin, one of the show’s creators.
“They told me that they were looking for someone who would be the next artist to really change the game and be able to grow with the show,” Roberson says.
Ellin was looking for a rapper who had not yet made it, but had the talent to do so. “As we were writing that script, we thought it was going to be a nightmare if we didn’t find anyone,” says Ellin, who quickly fell for Saigon’s demo, and then Saigon. “We loved his charisma and personality.”
Going to extremesIn the show, Saigon plays a struggling rapper who steals a car that he believes belongs to Interscope Geffen A&M head of sales and marketing Steve Berman. He leaves his demo in the CD changer, hopeful that it will result in a label deal. When Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), the car’s owner and one of the show’s main characters, recovers his car, he instantly becomes a fan and embarks on a mission to find Saigon and become his manager.
Luckily for Saigon, he did not have to go to such extremes to get signed in real life. After releasing a few popular underground mix tapes, he caught the attention of producer Just Blaze, who then inked him to his new Fort Knox imprint.
Though no release date has been set for Saigon’s major-label debut, he and Roberson are hopeful that his role on the show will translate to success on the charts.
Roberson says he hopes the rise of Saigon’s career on the show will coincide with his rise in real life.
That would be fine with Ellin, as well. Saigon is slated to appear on the current season’s last two episodes and return next season. “We’d love to be a breeding ground for new music,” Ellin says. “I’m hoping that Saigon becomes a big star in the next four months. If he wants to come back, we’re definitely going to bring him back.”
As for Saigon, he says he is thrilled at the opportunity to be on “Entourage” but knows success may take time. “After the show aired, I went to the mall to see if anybody would recognize me,” the rapper says. “One guy did.”