Coming hot off the heels of a near classic debut, The Greatest Story Never Told, Saigon kicks of 2012 with Warning Shots 3, a collaborative effort hosted by TGSNT producer Just Blaze. Built around a fictional radio station called, uh, One Foot In The Grave (is that on Shade45?), the album suggests it is merely the playlist for this rough, rugged, and raw radio station.

But Just’s endorsement is a bit deceiving, as the famed producer only lends his name to one track, “Bring Me Down Part 3/12″, a Joe Budden featured remix of the track as featured on The Greatest Story Never Told. So in essence, there is not one new Just Blaze beat on this release. Hey, it’s free. Quit your bitching.

Like most “mixtape” or “street LP” releases, Warning Shots 3 is a bit of a burial ground for the tracks not strong enough to make the artist’s actual LP. Pretty much everything included on here is of quality – even if nothing here tops his last album – and there is an element of cohesion here like on Story. As somewhat of a pistol-packing street preacher, Saigon gets topical on “Another Man Down” and “I Am For Real”, yet spends a little too much time spewing vitriol at women on the trilogy of “Women Are The New Dogs”, “Kinky”, and “When Did You Get Hot”. Other times, Saigon channels his inner-50 cent on “Yeah Yeah” and “Where To Find Me”, for better or for worse.

While The Greatest Story Never Told had some eight years to marinate and mix to perfection, Warning Shots 3 is clearly somewhat of a drop off in quality. Still, Saigon’s scraps are better than pretty much any “hit single” you’ll hear on the radio, so for a dry month like this, a Warning Shots 3 keeps those winter months a little bit warmer.