Cormega

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Cormega
Background information
Birth name	Cory McKay
Origin	Long Island City, Queensbridge, New York
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Years active	1989–present
Label(s)	Def Jam Records Landspeed Records Legal Hustle Records Koch Records
Website	http://www.cormegasite.com/ (Currently down, see "Cormega's Website")

Cory McKay (April 27, 1973), better known as Cormega, is an American rapper noted for his street topics and style representative of Queensbridge. He is also famous for his hip-hop feud with childhood friend and fellow rapper Nas, with whom he has now settled his differences.

1 History
2 Cormega's Website
3 Trivia
4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 Compilations
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cormega grew up in the Queensbridge Housing Projects in Long Island City, Queens, forming childhood friendships with future rappers such as Nas, Mobb Deep, Nature and Capone-N-Noreaga. When he was 4, his mother was murdered; he then moved in with his father and stepmother. Cory's stepmother insisted that he read one book a week, which he credited with getting him interested in writing.[1] He became a rapper well-known in his projects, though by his later teen years, he was in jail.

Along with fellow QB-native Tragedy Khadafi, Cormega is perhaps most respected for his candid and often poignant rhymes which characterise inner-city living without ever seeming verbose. Despite never garnering the mainstream appeal of contemporaries such as Nas, Mobb Deep and Noreaga, he remains respected as an emceee's emcee who tells it as it is without glamourising the world of crime as many other emcee's are known to do. Cormega recorded an album as MC Cor with Marley Marl in the late 80's, due to an unknown incident he ended up in jail and the album shelved. Later, he was brought to the hip-hop world's attention in 1989. 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.

In the early 90's, like fellow QB-native Lakey The Kid, despite still being incarcerated, Cormega gained notoriety following a shout-out from Nas on the Q-Tip-produced "One Love", from his critically acclaimed Illmatic album. Coupled with Cormega's already established rhyming prowess this created considerable street buzz despite an obvious lack of outstanding material.

Hence following his release from prison 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. 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.

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 (Fuck Nas N Nature)". 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 followup albums The True Meaning and Legal Hustle (a compilation album showcasing his label's artists) were also well-received. In 2005, he was able to release The Testament on his own label, which saw good reviews and sales.

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 Nas' mother, Ann Jones, a woman who Cormega had known as a child. Both rappers have stated the possibility of a collaboration.

Currently, Cormega is working on an album which was to be entitled Urban Legend before T.I.'s album of the same name was released; the new title is; The Inevitable^[1]. An album collaboration with Lakey The Kid entitled "My Brother's Keeper", was released independently on August 22nd, 2006.

On December 22nd 2006, Cormega appeared on stage at a Nas concert and went on to perform with Nas, further evidence that their fued is over^[2].

Cormega will also be releasing a mixtape entitled The Prelude, featuring production from Large Professor, The Heatmakers, and Emile. It will also feature appearances by Nature, Styles P., and Dipset member Juelz Santana. It is to be released in early 2007. [2]

[edit] Cormega's Website

Cormega's website was recently hacked. In addition to this, the forum was trashed to the point that closure was necessary. While it is possible that the website will be back up, it is just as likely that it will be hacked again.

[edit] Trivia

Cormega has said that if he "didn't know how to rap, [he] would definitely be a pro boxer right now."[3]
According to Red Cafe, Cormega was an undefeated boxer while serving his prison term at Riker's Island.[4]
Cormega witnessed the murder of his mother as a four-year old child.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album cover	Album information
	The Realness Released: July 25, 2001 Billboard 200 chart position: #111 (473,672 Copies Sold as of May 28, 2006) R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #24 Singles: "You Don't Want It", "Get Out My Way", "R U My Nigga?"
	The True Meaning Released: June 11, 2002 Billboard 200 chart position: #95 (456,488 Copies Sold as of May 28, 2006) R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #25 Singles: "Built for This", "The True Meaning", "The Come Up"
	Legal Hustle Released: May 25, 2004 Billboard 200 chart position: #174 R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #22 Singles: "Let it Go", "A Beautiful Mind", "Tony/Montana", "The Machine"
	The Testament Released: February 22, 2005 Billboard 200 chart position: - R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #76 Singles: "One Love", "Testament", "Angel Dust", "Killaz Theme", "62 Pick Up"
	My Brother's Keeper (with Lakey The Kid) Released: May 23, 2006 Billboard 200 chart position: ? R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: ? Singles: "The Oath", "QU Side", "Dirty New York"
	The Inevitable Released: TBA Billboard Chart Position:TBA R&B/Hip-Hop charts position: TBA Singles: "Dirty Game"