“I smoke when I wanna smoke/ Drink when I wanna drink/Fuck who I wanna fuck/Stick who I wanted stuck,” Saj (pronounced “Sage”) boasts in a pinprick of a voice that cuts through the chaos of Word. Divided into an album side and a mixtape side, the disc boasts an overwhelming 44 tracks. It could use some pruning — of some of the many skits, as well as some of its 10 different producers, who craft a wild array of jagged beats that keep the disc from feeling cohesive. But then, Word is intended more as a showcase for one of the city’s most promising MCs than a fully realized album. And with Saj breathing fire alongside guests like Ghostface and Jadakiss, this disc is sure to open, and blacken, some eyes.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2005.