Cormega

All Music Guide:

An underground and critical favorite, Cormega was the rare hardcore rapper to win praise from all directions, and while he never quite crossed over like some of his New York City peers, he maintained a respectable independence over the years nonetheless, self-releasing his work on the Legal Hustle label. Born Cory McKay, Cormega grew up in the same Queensbridge housing projects that were home to a generation of rappers, most notably Nas, Mobb Deep, AZ, and Tragedy Khadafi, and a previous generation that famously included Marley Marl and the Juice Crew.

Following some early guest appearances on releases by DJ Hot Day (e.g., "Set It Off" on PHD's Without Warning, 1991), Cormega did time, which put his rap career on hold for a few years. In 1994, Nas mentioned him by name on Illmatic, on "One Love" ("And night time is more trife than ever/What up with Cormega, did you see him, are y'all together?"), and upon Cormega's release from jail in 1995, he was featured as a guest on Nas' second album, It Was Written (1996), on "Affirmative Action" with AZ and Foxy Brown. Plans were made for a group -- named the Firm, led by Nas, with production by Trackmasters and Dr. Dre -- that would reprise the collaborative nature of "Affirmative Action" over the course of an album. Cormega was excluded from the project, however, replaced by fellow Queensbridge rapper Nature. A rift between Cormega and Nas resulted, leading to some bitter exchanges over the years (the two later patched up their differences, reuniting to perform "Affirmative Action" with Foxy Brown live on-stage in December 2006).

Also upon his release from jail, Cormega signed a recording contract with Def Jam that seemed promising at the time. During 1995-1996, he went about recording his debut album, The Testament, with such producers as Sha Money XL, Havoc, Jae Supreme, and Hot Day. Def Jam never released the album, unfortunately, and Cormega was forced to wait out his contract, which didn't expire until 2000. In the meantime, he made rare appearances, including features on the How to Be a Player soundtrack (1997), Mobb Deep's Murda Muzik album (1999), and Nas' QB Finest compilation (2000). Finally free of his Def Jam contract, Cormega founded his own independent label, Legal Hustle, and, via a partnership with Landspeed Records, released his debut album, The Realness (2001), comprised of newly recorded material. The album was critically acclaimed and peaked at number 111 on the Billboard 200 (more tellingly, number four on the Top Independent Albums and number one on the Top Heatseekers charts). A second album followed, The True Meaning (2002), and was likewise critically acclaimed, earning Independent Album of the Year at the Source Awards in 2003. The album cracked the Top 100 of the Billboard 200 (peaking at number 95).

Cormega then took some time off to raise his daughter, born in November 2002, before he resumed music operations. In 2004, he returned with Legal Hustle, a collaborative album, and Special Edition, a two-fer including both The Realness and The True Meaning. In 2005, he released The Testament, his unreleased Def Jam album from ten years prior, to which he had recently secured the rights to the master tapes, and in 2006 he was co-featured on My Brother's Keeper, a collaborative album also billed to Lake, a fellow Queensbridge rapper of some renown. In 2007, Cormega released Who Am I?, a DVD documentary covering the time period of 2001-2005; a CD soundtrack comprised of newly recorded music was included as well. Also in 2007, he released Got Beats?, an instrumental show featuring an impressive roster of producers, including DJ Premier, the Alchemist, Ayatollah, and Ski Beatz.

Wikipedia:

Corey McKay (born April 26, 1970), better known by his stage name Cormega, is an African-American rapper best known for his narratives about inner-city life, having been born in Queensbridge, Queens. McKay is notable for consistently producing as an independent artist, refusing to go mainstream.

== Early life Cormega was raised in Long Island City, Queens, forming childhood friendships with future rappers such as Nas, AZ, Nature and Capone-N-Noreaga. When he was 4, he witnessed his mother's murder. After that, he moved in with his father and stepmother who had recently returned from Dallas, Texas and moved back to New York City.

Lyricism

Cormega is known and praised for his intricate, complex, multi-syllabic lyricism and raw, straight delivery. Despite being an underground artist he has gained considerable acknowledgement in the rap community and is regarded as one of the best lyricists to grace the mic. McKay often reflects about the hardships of inner-city life and succeeding in a world where we are very much on our own.

Lyrics from "Journey"

Lyrics from "The Saga"

Career

1980s

He was featured on Hot Day's "Going Straight Up" from his album "It's My Turn". He was also featured on Blaq Poet & DJ Hot Day's track "Set It Off" from their album "Without Warning" in 1991.

1990s

Cormega was sentenced to 5–15 years in prison for armed robbery in 1991. Despite his incarceration, Cormega gained some attention following a shout-out from Nas on his song "One Love", from the critically acclaimed Illmatic album.

Cormega was released from prison on appeal after serving almost 4 years in New York's Mid-State Correctional Facility. Following his release in 1995, Cormega became determined to pursue rapping. Nas let him guest on a song entitled "Affirmative Action" for his second album It Was Written. The song also featured AZ and Foxy Brown, and became The Firm's first appearance. Based on his performance, he was signed to Def Jam and recorded an album called The Testament. Based on the buzz from "Affirmative Action," Nas, his manager Steve Stoute and producers Dr. Dre and Trackmasters joined to produce The Firm. Cormega was replaced with another artist, Nature, because either he would not sign a contract with Stoute or Stoute felt Nature was a better rapper. This led to an alleged altercation between Cormega and Nature. Cormega's dispute with Stoute also ended his friendship with Nas. Following the end of his membership in The Firm, Alex Trojano contributed in producing his album The Testament. Meanwhile, following a falling-out over creative differences with his manager Chris Lighty and Def-Jam imprint Violator Records, his debut album The Testament was indefinitely shelved. During the recording for The Testament Cormega responded to Nas' "One Love" in the form of a letter also entitled "One Love".

2000s

In 2000, he was released from his contract and he started his own record company, Legal Hustle Records. Cormega vented his disappointment with Nas and The Firm in a mixtape song titled "Never Personal".This song was never directly pointed to Nas, but the media made it look like that. In 2001, he released his new debut album, The Realness, which was acclaimed by critics. Many of the songs share a theme of betrayal. Nas responded to Cormega on his song "Destroy and Rebuild" from his album Stillmatic. Cormega retaliated with more mixtape tracks, "A Slick Response" and "Realmatic". His follow-up album The True Meaning won the Source Magazine's prestigious Underground Album of the Year Award. In 2004, he followed up with Legal Hustle (a compilation album showcasing his label's artists) and other talented hip-hop lyricists such as Ghostface Killah, Large Professor, AZ, Kurupt, Jayo Felony, and several others. This album is considered by some as more of a project than an actual solo album; nonetheless it was well received. In 2005, he was able to release The Testament on his own label, which saw good reviews and sales and featured the original banned version of "Dead Man Walking" as a hidden track.

In early September 2005, Cormega posted a statement on his website that he and Nas had spoken and ended their feud. Cormega explained that their conversation had come about due to the death of Cormega's grandmother. Both rappers have stated the possibility of a collaboration. On December 22, 2006 at the Nokia Theatre Times Square, Cormega appeared on stage at a Nas concert and went on to perform with Nas (and Foxy Brown as well), further evidence that their feud is over.

The feud was settled in Cormega's home in early December 2005, when Cormega and Nas realized that it was destructive for each of them. It is not known who was responsible for their meeting but both artists are now working alone. In the mid 2000s Cormega helped produce a few albums and was featured on several songs with The Jacka and the Mob Figaz.

An album collaboration with Lakey The Kid entitled My Brother's Keeper was released independently on August 22, 2006. On November 20, 2007, Cormega finally released his DVD in-the-making Who Am I?. The DVD took over four years of filming of Cormega in all aspects of his life and what others thought of Cormega, unedited. The DVD was released as a soundtrack plus DVD. Cormega intended to release an album which was to be entitled Urban Legend before T.I.'s album of the same name was released (Cormega mentions this on the Who Am I DVD, dated circa 2003); the new title is Born and Raised. The album was released October 20, 2009. The first single is called "Journey."

Following his latest project's release, the MC has already announced his next album, tentatively due out summer of 2011. Cormega has already begun work, having recorded collaborations with one of the Wu-Tang Clan and a Queensbridge MC. As for further features, he has stated his desire to work with a variety of artists including Scarface, Lauryn Hill, Slick Rick, as well as past collaborators M.O.P., Mobb Deep and tha Dogg Pound.

Following an interview with Mista Montana on the highly respected, Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Cormega recently made great efforts to increase peoples awareness of the 2010 flooding tragedy in Pakistan, adding images and video clips to his official site. It has been confirmed that his next album will be entitled 'Mega Philosophy' & that it will be entirely produced by frequent collaborator Large Professor.