Rating: 6.5 / 10
You know the saying about the dog chasing cars; it wouldn’t know what to do if it finally caught one? Well, Saigon is the dog, and his debut album The Greatest Story Never Told was the car he caught. After much and often delay, the project finally released last year to positive reviews. So when Warning Shots 3 was announced, it almost came as a reminder of his lyrical existence.
Nevertheless, with the mean-mug look, behind the fence artwork, Saigon delivers his usual brand of hardcore rap. “BBB”, “Yeah, Yeah”, “War and Chaos” are all the run-of-the mill Saigon tracks you would expect; hard-hitting, hard-spitting, with tons of curses. However, this proves to become a bit redundant. The majority of the songs here are so predictable as opposed to impressive, that the project beings to glaze over your ears.
The mixtape does coming with its shining moments though; “Bring Me Down, Pt. 3” is a revisit to the album cut, but this time featuring Joe Budden, who adds another flavor of viciousness to the song. “Come Again 2012” is another re-make, and another success for the project, while “Say Yes” is a completely new song with the right bounce for Sai to bruise around.
And when he does try to slow down the tempo, Saigon does so fairly well. Though still filled with angry rhymes, “Hungry” juxtaposes this with a light-hearted, sample based instrumental. “Women are the New Dogs” explores the world of women cheating, and “Learning As We Go Along” is a somber tale of friends and snitching- the deepest song on a mainly shallow project.
But when this project sinks, it plummets. The two least appealing songs are one after the other, putting the mixtape to a complete halt in “Kinky” and “When Did U Get Hot”. The vulgar rhymes on “Kinky” are almost as awkward as the sloppy Rick James sample featured, and the latter of the two attempts to be catchy, but ends up being a quick skip. There are times where Warning Shots 3: One Foot in the Grave works well, but for the most part it’s filled with average, sometimes filler, material. And coming from a spectacular MC like Saigon, that’s a bit of disappointment.
