of 89, based on 13 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim." Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club stated, "Told sometimes feels like too much of a good thing; at 18 furious tracks, it’s overwhelming in the best sense. Saigon’s background as an ex-con lends specificity and direction to his social criticism: He’s a battle-tested survivor singling out the injustices and hypocrisy of a world filled with prisons and traps, real and metaphorical. Told is worth the wait." In his review for The Village Voice, Phillip Mlynar complimented Saigon for his "sincerity" and ability to offer advice to his listeners. Chad Grischow from IGN praised the album's themes and message, and wrote that "it is the balance of uplifting, positive energy and gritty realism that makes this debut work so well." About.com's Henry Adaso gave the album four out of five stars and called it "tight, visceral, consistent." Although stating "there are references to events like Katrina, that, while certainly not irrelevant, are not quite as much in the musical parlance as they were a couple of years prior" and being unfavorable toward several of the songs' long lengths, Marisa Brown from Allmusic extolled producer Just Blaze's contributions, commenting, "Blaze has always been a very involved, musically attuned producer, and his attention to detail is evident here, from the alarm clock motif to the way he transitions between tracks." Brown also applauded Saigon's "intelligent" lyrics and complimented him for his maturity throughout the years while recording the album. Chris Faraone from The Phoenix also complimented Saigon's maturity, explaining "To his credit, the Saigon who emerges here is aeons more mature than the clever criminal who kicked the New York mixtape game in the dick five years ago, or even the MC who played himself on Entourage. The somewhat reformed loose cannon is now a thoughtful class warrior with switchblade skills, whom cats can actually relate to." In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave it an A− rating and stated "this is the Saigon and Just Blaze album I've been waiting for since a student tipped me to them five years ago — heroic post-gangstaism, with the conscious ex-con forthright as rhymer and rapper and the Jay-Z sideman bigging him up with soul singers and cinematic beats (and also with Jay-Z)." Commercial performance In its debut week on the Billboard 200, The Greatest Story Never Told entered at number