Cormega - The True Meaning (June 25, 2002)

Corey "Cormega" Feldman has the act of revenge to thank for his career as a solo rap artist. Why, if it weren't for Mega being forced out of both his Def Jam contract and his rap supergroup The Firm (thanks to former frenemy Nasir Jones), we may have never heard the focused rants of an angry young man, upset that his friend abandoned him but pressing on anyway; instead, we may have only heard The Testament, his shelved Def Jam debut album, which probably would have cemented his place in hip hop as a Nas stan, a rapper who can obviously string words together that rhyme, but sounds extraordinarily ordinary while doing it. 

If The Testament were actually released to the finicky public, he wouldn't have sold enough copies to please Def Jam presidents and accountants (from what I remember leaking from the album, there were no obvious radio singles, except maybe a collaboration with fellow Firm member Foxy Brown, which just sounded sad), which would have resulted in him getting dropped from the label anyway, except he would have been branded as a failure this go round, which would have made it harder for him to secure an indie label home, because even if he was lucky enough to sign to a label and record an album, the Def Jam debacle just proved that he has no fanbase, and Cormega would be forced to support himself financially by working with a catering service that specializes in high-society parties, forced to wear both tails and a monocle, as that was in the poorly-thought-out job description, until that one fateful night when the breathtakingly beautiful Cassandra Leone walks into his life, and onto his flan, and after a torrid lovemaking session involving a battery, some lard, and the entire population of Somalia, he finds himself roped into protecting the President's nineteen-year-old niece from a constant hail of gunfire, causing his past alcoholic behavior to bubble to the surface, to such a degree that he finds himself taking a swig from his flask while dealing with five reanimated corpses who are battling him for the Rutherford files in the very graveyard where his Aunt Esther pretended to be buried for tax purposes, and while beating one of the decomposing bodies to re-death with his/her own arm, has a flashback regarding the secret location of a childhood treasure chest that he and his best friend Parker buried in the backyard of Suzie Korman's house when they were twelve years old, a house which was chosen specifically because every night at nine-o'clock Suzie would undress for bed in front of the window without pulling the blinds, and when he is finally able to kick his alcoholism, marry, divorce, and re-marry Cassandra, and destroy the Baroni Foundation once and for all, he goes back to Suzie's house (and finds that she still changes in front of her window, but as forty years have passed, it is a lot less titillating now) and digs up the hidden treasure, only to find that the sinister CarboMan has gotten to it first, and has left a note and photos proving that he has kidnapped Cassandre and if he ever wants to see her alive, he will have to retrieve the microfiche that is hidden in the peak of the tallest pyramid in Egypt, which inexplicably requires him to travel into the past by walking backward directly into a tornado, and ultimately finding that the leader of the revolution for the creation of the edatate virus is none other than himself, thanks to a paradox that is explained with one line of dialogue. 

 

No, instead Cormega was dropped before anyone really had the chance to hear his music, and the controversy surrounding his departure from Def Jam bade it an impossibility for him not to be set up with distribution deals almost immediately. His debut album, The Realness, put up Jordan numbers (meaning he only sold twenty-three copies), but every person that bought the album went on to create a music blog hailing Cormega as their new champion, so when The True Meaning, the follow-up, was released less than one year later, he was rewarded with critical acclaim, and even received an award from The Source, which is kinda like being told "You rock!" by a two-year-old that just learned the phrase and has been repeating it nonstop all day, but it's still nice to be acknowledged. 

 

Things happen for a reason, kids. 

 

1. INTROSPECTIVE 

Get it? "Intro"-spective? Clever one, this Cormega. Thankfully it's an actual verse and not another self-important skit. 

 

2. VERBAL GRAFFITI 

The beats sound on par with The Realness. I'll leave it to you as to whether that's a good thing or not. Lyrically, I'm thinking that Cormega at least wrote these verses during the sessions for The Realness, since he sounds like he's on about the same level as he was before. 

 

3. LIVE YA LIFE 

What the fuck? Was Cormega going for radio airplay? We don't need no hooks! (I apologize if I offended my two readers by quoting Shaq, but I'm trying to make a point.) 

 

4. AIN'T GONE CHANGE (ACAPELLA) 

I'm still not a fan of acapella rap album interludes. I'm probably not gone change, either. 

 

5. THE TRUE MEANING 

Ostensibly the source material for the title of this very album. While lyrically pleasant, the beat, provided by frequent Smoothe Da Hustler collaborator DR Period, and the sampled hook both sound like ass. 

 

6. A THIN LINE 

If this had appeared on The Realness, I'm sure that everyone would have thought he was talking about Nas. I'm pretty sure Nas wasn't a snitch (as far as I know: I'm not writing his biography or anything), so banish those thoughts from your mind and just listen to the song itself. This aggressive Cormega sounds much better (to me) than the reflective one. Am I the only one that feels this way? 

 

7. THE LEGACY 

Who knew that some guy that was shouted out on Nas's "One Love" would end up actually being a pretty good rapper? He's not at Nas levels just yet, and I doubt he will get there anytime soon, but he clearly has something to say, and an effective way of saying it. 

 

8. LOVE IN, LOVE OUT 

Okay, now this song is obviously about Nas. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to find out later that, by playing the song backward, there were hidden messages disclosing Nas's global coordinates, social security number, and MySpace password. It's interesting to hear Cormega's side of the story. Although the hook is too wordy and awkward, the beat and lyrics pretty much rock. Thanks, producer-whose-day-job-is-being-a-mixtape-DJ J-Love! 

 

 9. THE COME UP (FEAT LARGE PROFESSOR) 

Large Professor, who also supplied the beat, is the only guest rapper to appear on The True Meaning. Although he's not the best rapper either, I prefer LP to Mega on this track, if only because, up until this point, I hadn't heard Large Professor rhyme in quite a while, so it gives me a nostalgic feeling. Also, major shout-out to Extra P, who is the only person on Earth to have input on both The True Meaning and Stillmatic. Well played, sir. 

 

10. BUILT FOR THIS 

Not really feeling the beat for this one. 

 

11. SOUL FOOD 

Now this beat I like. J. Waxx Garfield, who has done beats for the majority of Bad Boy's roster (at the time, not today; I highly doubt he's building instrumentals for Danity Kane to destroy) and Gza/Genius's "Knock Knock", from his Legend Of The Liquid Sword album which I've been meaning to write about for the past month or so, supplies the backdrop for a monologue concerning Mega and a lady friend who is in an abusive relationship with another man. As to why it's called "Soul Food", I must have missed it when I listened to the track the past two times, but that's okay. 

 

12. TAKE THESE JEWELS 

A lot of these songs are less than three minutes long, which is perfect for someone with a short attention span. This isn't bad. 

 

13. ENDANGERED SPECIES 

I love this beat, and Mega is a fucking monster here. Proof positive that the aggressive Mega is the better rhyme-spitter than his better, somber half. 

 

14. THERAPY 

A really boring way to end an album. 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS: The sophomore album is usually the moment of truth for musicians, especially rappers, whose fanbase is by its very nature wishy-washy. By sounding like a natural continuation of The Realness, The True Meaning proves that Mega can roll with the big boys in hip hop. He even tries to broaden his appeal just a tiny bit, with mixed results. The True Meaning went on to sell only a handful of copies, but Cormega is playing to his audience, so I'm sure he's satisfied.  

 

BUY OR BURN? Since this disc is essentially The Realness Part 2, I would recommend a burn, especially since you can't actually buy it anywhere (except maybe used). Cormega himself actually re-released his first two albums in 2004 and titled it Special Edition, and included several bonus tracks that were floating around on the Interweb, and since it is essentially two albums for the price of one, you should buy that instead. I hear that folks that actually bought Special Edition were provided with instructions on how to download an exclusive bonus track that featured Mega and 2Pac rhyming together, but since that collaboration never leaked, I don't know how true that is. 

 

BEST TRACKS: "The Come Up"; "Love In, Love Out"; "Soul Food"; "Endangered Species" 

 

 -Max 

 

RELATED POSTS: 

 Cormega - The Realness