A Reader's Gut Reaction: Cormega - Mega Philosophy (July 22, 2014)

(To capitalize on its recent release, today's Reader Review discusses Cormega's latest album, Mega Philosophy, which is notable as having been produced in its entirety by Large Professor. Shoe-In takes a break from all of that Hit Squad stuff to lend his thoughts: leave your own comments for him below.)

Cormega - The Testament (released February 22, 2005; originally scheduled for release in 1998)

We've spoken in the past about how the debut album from Queenbridge-based rapper Corey McKay, who only answers to the name "Cormega", was shelved by his first record label, Def Jam, as a result of some poor business decisions and a plunge in Mega's stock after he was dropped from the hip hop supergroup The Firm, which featured AZ, Foxy Brown, and his former friend and ringleader Nas.  Cormega was famously replaced in the crew with some dude named Nature, whose mainstream debut was essentially The Firm's first (and, to date, only) collaborative project; Mega channeled his rage into recording his own debut album for Def Jam entitled The Testament.  Not that it really mattered much, though: after hearing the final product, the label locked The Testament away in its vaults, never to be heard from again, and quietly booted Mega from his label home.  Corey later rebounded, forming his own imprint, Legal Hustle, and made his comeback on the independent scene with The Realness, but there was always that question lingering in the background: What if The Testament had actually been released?  Would things be different for Corey?

That question was answered with a resounding "Not really" in 2005, when Cormega purchased the masters for The Testament back from Def Jam and released it himself on his own label.  

For hip hop heads, this was exciting for two reasons.  For one, it was an attempt at a return to form for Mega, whose last project, 2004's Legal Hustle, was more of a label sampler than a solo album (and a not very entertaining one at that).  But more importantly, it was a peek into a world that most music nerds don't get to see that often: a shelved project unleashed upon the public by the original artist in its original form.  Fans sat around listening to The Testament and pretended it was 1998 all over again, as Mega's crime tales and existential woe played through their collective consciousness, not unlike how all rap fans used to do in the mid-1990s, back when mp3s didn't really exist and we actually bought albums and sat around and listened to them in order to figure out what was good and what sucked balls.  (Kind of like what I do with this blog, you see.)

That last paragraph contains one small item that isn't wholly true, so I'm going to get that out of the way right now: the version of The Testament that finally hit store shelves isn't quite what Cormega had intended it to be back in 1998.  There is at least one song included that would have been left on the cutting room floor otherwise, and at least one track, released as a single back in the day, is missing (more on that later), and I'm sure there are a slew of other songs that Corey felt weren't good enough to include on The Testament properly.  But what we have in our hands today is close to what was advertised in The Source and on those Survival Of The Illest promotional CDs, which is much more than what we could have asked for fourteen years ago, anyway.

1.  INTRO

Although Mega does drop a quick verse, this rap album intro is more spoken word poetry than actual rap song, and should be avoided accordingly.  Surprisingly, former Bad Boy Hitman Nashiem Myrick produced this shit: given his track record, I feel that this should have sounded much more cinematic and, I don't know, song-like, I guess.

2.  62 PICK UP

The "courtroom as framing device" theme has been done to death in our chosen genre: the fact that Cormega recorded "62 Pick Up" back in the late 1990s doesn't change the fact that it sounded cliche even back then.  Over a middling self-produced piano-based loop, our host burns through a one-verse wonder that gives off sparks of the detail-oriented Cormega that we're all familiar with today, but his lack of experience (at that point in time) gives him away, thanks to his non-compelling performance.  The audience is left not giving a fuck that our host is handed two concurrent prison sentences at the very end of the track.  However, that last tidbit does tie in nicely with the next song, so there you go.

3.  ONE LOVE

On his we're-not-arguing-about-this-as-it-is-an-undisputed-classic debut album Illmatic, Nas recorded a song where the verses were composed as letters to many of his friends locked up in the system.  Cormega was mentioned during one single bar, mainly because he was actually locked up at the time of the song's recording and Nasir was trying to be accurate, but that's it: one single bar.  The song was not written as a letter to Cormega.  A lot of hip hop fans and rap scholars seem to forget this fact: all Nas does on the song is basically ask his boy how Corey is doing.  That's it.  One of the most trumped-up moments on The Testament has always been Cormega's version of "One Love", which was advertised as a response to Nas's original song and as a subtle dis track, and now that it's available for everyone to actually pay attention to, let me shatter your illusions a little bit.  First off, this is not a dis track; Corey doesn't say a single negative thing about Nasir Jones on here.  "One Love" is merely intended to be a companion piece to Nas's "One Love" and nothing more, which is evident by the fact that Corey takes some of Nasir's original talking points and expands upon them with his own perspective on the situation.  Also, if this were really a dis track, wouldn't Mega have swiped Nasir's original Q-Tip-produced instrumental, as opposed to commissioning one that sounds okay, but nothing like Kamaal's track?  Secondly, this song also isn't really about Nas, just like the how the original track wasn't about Cormega: Nas simply earns a mention at the very beginning as a way to place the listener into a specific time period so that Corey can lay out his story.  I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, but "One Love" is in no way controversial: it's simply Cormega getting his Creative Writing 1302 on.  As for the track itself, it's okay, but the inclusion of a goofy chorus makes me long for Nas's track more.  It is what it is.

4.  INTERLUDE

...

5.  ANGEL DUST (FEAT. HAVOC)

Although Havoc is the only credited guest on "Angel Dust" (performing on the chorus only, so don't get too excited, kids), I'm pretty sure that his Mobb Deep partner-in-rhyme Prodigy pops up at the very beginning, twisting some of his lyrics from Nas's "Live N---a Rap" into the retroactive Cormega shout-out that it never was.  Anyway, Mega Montana loses points for having the first of two tracks on The Testament to feature Mobb Deep members not be produced by Havoc, but rather by Sha Money XL, who laid down this beat long before becoming involved with Curtis Jackson and his G-Unit cohorts.  And I have to say, the instrumental is okay, but it could have been so much more.  Corey gives the listener three quick (and decent enough) verses and ducks the fuck out of the studio to pick up some milk and a dime bag, while Havoc sounds entirely unconvincing on his overly-wordy chorus.  "Angel Dust" couldn't end soon enough for me.

6.  DEAD MAN WALKING

Ah yes, the infamous "Dead Man Walking", the single-verse revenge tale that supposedly was banned in the United States because of its graphic depiction of violent acts (or not, as you'll read later on), and yet the average hip hop head's first exposure to the stark Hot Day and Jae Supreme-looped up sample (taken from Stanley Clarke's "Got To Find My Own Place") was during the rap album intro-slash-Def Jam 'Coming Attractions'-type opening track on Foxy Brown's solo debut Ill Na Na.  The hell?  This is pretty much the point where The Testament starts picking up, as Mega wastes no time on this track, spelling out for the audience exactly what happened to him (he was robbed, shot at, and left for dead), and then jumping right into exacting his revenge.  Having listened to gangsta rap for fucking years at this point (and I'm talking about in 1998, not 2012, mind you), I didn't find anything particularly objectionable about "Dead Man Walking": on its surface, it's a standard eye-for-an-eye tale (except Mega ends up killing two people, but whatever).  However, Corey's attention to detail and his ability to force whatever it is that he's thinking at the time into a coherent rhyme scheme is commendable, and the brief length of the track makes the pseudo-reality of the situation that much more dark: the dude doesn't fuck around, and when it's over, he moves on, like a true heartless killer would.  I'm glad this song finally received a proper release, because it fucking rocks, even though Jay-Z stole the thunder right out from under Corey with his own "Lyrical Exercise", which utilized the same sample.  Hova and Corey are entirely different artists, though, so it's possible to like both tracks, as I do.

7.  MONTANA DIARY

Now this is the Nashiem Myrick I'm used to: the guy who crafts cinematic street tales for his collaborators to roll around in, not unlike Scrooge McDuck in his bank vault full of loose coins.  The drum selection is a bit off, as though Myrick hadn't quite ditched the Puff Daddy influence, but the rest of the instrumental is a banger, with Corey providing three entertaining verses (and a meh chorus because of course it would be) extolling the virtues and benefits of the criminal lifestyle.  These bars don't really read like diary excepts, though.

8.  TESTAMENT

The title track, presented in both of its incarnations on this version of the project, features Mega rocking two verses over a dimly-lit Dave Atkinson instrumental.  It isn't bad by any means, but it doesn't exactly feel strong enough to be the title track to anything.  The first time I heard this song was on one of the bonus discs Def Jam released during their Survival Of The Illest promotion (I'm fairly confident that The Testament was originally intended to be the fourth component of that campaign, seeing that Cormega was featured on the Survival Of The Illest live album and all), and I have to admit that it holds up well enough.  The bars are all generic street hustler piffle, with the art of selling drugs acting as a metaphor for whatever the fuck you want it to at any given point, but Corey sounds good while delivering them, which counts for something.  If you have never heard the original take on this song, though, it's hard to appreciate the actual skill Cormega has with the pen and the pad.  Luckily, he presents the listener with that very opportunity on the very next track.

9.  TESTAMENT (ORIGINAL VERSION)

I highly doubt that Cormega had intended on including both versions of "Testament" on the original tracklisting of The Testament: I'm pretty sure that the inclusion of this early version was a response to Foxy Brown not signing a release for Corey's collaboration with the troubled rapper, "Slow Down", to be included, and he had to fill the space somehow.  This first take is infamous for including a sly dis aimed at Nasir Jones, and unlike "One Love", Corey actually did intend for Nas to take offense; however, his attack is limited to just a single line, "Indeed it was written that you would one day betray me", meant as a commentary on his ouster from the supergroup The Firm.  Dave Atkinson's instrumental is basically the same as it was on the remake, albeit without some of the polish, and the verses start off the same, but veer off into entirely new territory.  The reason why I believe that Cormega's writing skills deserve praise is because both tracks, each with two verses, have a similar theme and structure around the bars themselves, but the actual words are entirely different, conveying an experience that is at once familiar and fresh.  In short, the redone "Testament" is sort of like an alternate-universe "Testament", covering the same ground in different ways.  This is made all the more evident when you pull up the lyrics for both tracks and read along with them.  Neither version is better than the other; I believe that this version is a bit too lackluster to have been considered a title track, too.  But both songs work.  It's hard to explain, but they do.  (Speaking of "Testament", am I hallucinating, or wasn't there an official video shot for the song featuring Mega rapping in front of a fountain late at night or something?  I can't find the video on YouTube.)

10.  EVERY HOOD (FEAT. FATAL HUSSEIN & NIKO)

Mega Montana calls upon 2Pac's best-known weed carrier, Outlawz member Fatal Hussein (or Hussein Fatal, which he calls himself on alternating days) for a collaboration, and his guest responds in kind by making this sound like a phony Firm reunion.  How so?  Because Fatal Hussein sounds different on here than I remember: in fact, he sounds exactly like AZ over this R&B-laced Suga Bear track.  Which would be unsettling had this song been any good, but alas, it's merely a bit of trivia that will cause "Every Hood" to receive just a few more spins than it rightly deserves.  Probably would have interested me more if the "Niko" performing guest vocals on the hook was actually the German singer Nico, but I don't think that anybody else would respond to that imaginary collaboration as well as I would.

11.  COCO BUTTER

The closest thing to a love rap that The Testament includes features three Cormega verses that lay the similes thick, since back in the late 1990s Corey was incapable of straight-out telling a female acquaintance how he felt.  Then again, there are a lot of allusions to weaponry on here, so he may just be singing to his favorite gun.  Either way, this track was slight: inoffensive, but not really something that you would want to listen to a second time.

12.  KILLAZ THEME (FEAT. MOBB DEEP)

The finest track on The Testament is so good that Cormega couldn't keep it locked up in the vaults: in addition to twelve-inch singles being pressed up, he also included this as a bonus track on his actual debut, The Realness.  Havoc steps behind the boards to lend the entire project some much-needed credibility (and some threatening chants, offering to kill every single listener for undisclosed reasons), while Cellblock P spits a verse that is guaranteed to both get you amped and make you visibly upset that he doesn't sound like this anymore.  Cormega slides right into place as if he were the third member of the crew, riding the ominous instrumental on cruise control, which is somehow a good thing, and Havoc, although the weak link lyrically, also provides a standout performance.  This song is the tits and deserves to be on every reader's Mobb Deep iTunes playlist.  You know the one: you created it shortly after the release of the Mobb's Blood Money as a way to highlight the duo's best tracks while erasing the memory of all of their recent shit.  Or was that just me who did that?

13.  LOVE IS LOVE (FEAT. TIFFANY)

Producer Nashiem Myrick closes out The Testament with a familiar-sounding instrumental, one that uses the same sample as Killah Priest's "B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)" and a terrible-sounding hook performed by Tiffany (not the chick that toured the country's malls in the 1980s, although that would have been pretty impressive).  Corey utilizes the beat in much the same way that the Wu-Tang affiliate did a few years prior: he lays down his mission statement, shows love to his fans and his friends, and essentially declares that he isn't going anywhere in this rap shit, vowing to remain in the streets as long as they will have him.  "Love Is Love" isn't a bad way to end things, but it sounds a bit weird placed here right after "Killaz Theme".  Still, I liked it overall.  If someone could get me a version with Tiffany's atrocious vocals erased from it, I may like it a lot more, though.

The final song on The Testament is labeled as a hidden track.

14.  BONUS SONG (a/k/a DEAD MAN WALKING 2)

Although there appear to be conflicting reports online, this specific track is allegedly the version of "Dead Man Walking" that was once banned in the United States due to its graphic depiction of violence.  Which makes absolutely no fucking sense when you actually sit down and listen to the record, given that you've all heard and seen much more violent acts played out in movies and on television.  Unless what Def Jam and its censors were really reacting to was Cormega's complete and blatant lack of remorse: this sequel-slash-remix-slash-original take-slash-whatever the fuck this is supposed to be is fucking cold, and I mean that in the best possible way.  Mega picks up right where the first "Dead Man Walking" ended, using the same Hot Day and Jae Supreme-produced loop to explain to the guy who tried to take him out, who our host has just killed, just how he failed and why things went down the way they did, and then he even takes shit to the next level by attending the guy's fucking wake and talking shit to the fucking corpse.  (Okay, that last sentence makes it sound much more hardcore than it really is: it's not like Corey yanks the body out of the casket and performs his interpretation of Weekend At Bernie's or anything.)  Mega Montana's lyricism, which isn't exactly underrated but hasn't ever received the acclaim that it deserves, is top-notch on this track, especially when he rationalizes the entire situation to his deceased foe: "Your own gun created your death / Look at you now, a reminder of consequences / In the street, but loyalty is nearly non-existent."  I could have done without the tacked-on "That's deep" right after that last line, since its subtlety bashes you in the face with a hammer of justice, but otherwise this song is the shit.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Although it starts off slow, The Testament ultimately sounds like a project that could have and should have slid onto store shelves seamlessly in the late 1990s.  Its overall sound is one from a bygone era: while none of the instrumentals stand out as among the best ever produced or anything, the tone of The Testament is mostly consistent, and Cormega's lyricism shines more often than not.  The conscious decision to not bog down the proceedings with multiple guest stars helps Mega Montana get his point across, and the listener is left wondering just what could have been of Mega's career had Def Jam seen fit to actually release The Testament as they had originally planned.  Corey's only gotten better with time, and his respect for the culture is obvious, so I understand why he decided to let The Testament run free after all this time: there are tons of us hip hop nerds who love to hear things that they were never supposed to hear.  So I have to give the man credit for giving the people what they want.  I highly doubt that this would have been a hot seller for Def Jam back in 1998, though: there are no obvious radio singles, and a guest appearance from Fatal Hussein isn't going to win over that guy's core audience of 2Pac worshipers.  Still, I'm just glad it actually came out.

BUY OR BURN?  As a curiosity piece, you should buy this shit.  As another Cormega album, you should definitely buy this, although you should be warned that the Corey that appears on here has long since grown up.  And as a fan of early Mobb Deep (read: back when they were awesome), you should buy this for "Killaz Theme" alone.

BEST TRACKS:  "Killaz Theme"; "Dead Man Walking" and its remix/sequel/whatever; "Montana Diary"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Corey has released a slew of other albums, too.  You can read about some of them by clicking here.

Cormega - Legal Hustle (May 25, 2004)

Legal Hustle is the third solo album from Cory Mckay, released by the Koch graveyard back in 2004.  It followed up the critically-acclaimed one-two punch known as The Realness and The True Meaning, which, as most bloggers would tell it, constitute the greatest debut and sophomore releases from a single artist since the dawn of our chosen genre.  Your great-grandchildren will tell the tale of Mega Montana to their own kids, who will barely tolerate yet another story told by their parents, as they won't know what they fuck they're talking about, since hip hop will have evolved into an entirely different, chirpy, poppy, and ridiculous medium that only the children of celebrities and trust fund babies will continue to take seriously.

Until that fateful day, we have Legal Hustle.  Mega's third effort was named after his Legal Hustle vanity imprint, on which he signed artists who he believed had the drive and passion to become the next big thing in hip hop, or, in the case of the female rapper Doña, at least had the voice of someone that you two are sure to recognize.  (I wrote these introductory paragraphs after I finished the write-up, and I have to admit, I kind of go overkill on the whole "she sounds like (SPOLIER HIDDEN)" thing.  Fair warning.)  Legal Hustle originally started life as a compilation mixtape-slash-label sampler, but both Cormega and Koch Records quickly discovered that nobody in their right mind would give two fucks about Legal Hustle unless Mega played more than just a supporting role. Suddenly, Legal Hustle turned into a Mega solo project with a shit-ton of guest appearances, with only a couple of tracks betraying the original version's roots.

Even with the retooling, Legal Hustle wasn't a hot seller, and even kind of bombed at the critical level.  Cormega would soon lose his imprint and virtually all but disappear from hip hop for several years, popping up periodically to record songs with his boy Lake and to take in a matinee of whatever Michael Bay had up his sleeve that summer.  

So.

1. INTRO (FEAT. DOÑA & MIZ)

Legal Hustle eschews the typical rap album intro, regardless of what this track's title leads you to believe, in favor of some actual verses. Our host kicks things off, flowing smoothly over a soulful Curtis Mayfield sample, explaining to his fans why there was a delay between The True Meaning and now. He sounds pretty good, but the song kicks into high gear when his weed carriers take to the mic, mainly because the background music hilariously morphs into a loop swiped from U2's “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” (from the Batman Forever soundtrack) with a faux-Neptunes bounce beat attached. Doña (who sounds exactly like Foxy Brown) and Miz each provide a verse, but while neither baggage handler technically sounds bad, they are both obscured by the U2 sample, which had my jaw dropping in awe of the sheer audacity on display from producers Ax The Bull, the Feil Brothers, and Cormega himself. Still, I'm sure there's a reason Mega Montana himself doesn't bother to tackle the second beat on here.

2. BEAUTIFUL MIND

As with most rap songs, this long one-verse wonder from Cormega doesn't adhere to any specific theme, unless you derived from the title that this song would be a stream-of-consciousness rant from our host, following his brainwaves wherever he felt like taking them; if that's the case, then you have just won a cookie. This would be why he kicks off his performance talking about people being jealous of him, skipping to his troubled childhood, and ending on a show of mic dominance. In short, this was like every other rap song ever made. Mega sounds pretty interesting, though. Too bad our host's piano-based instrumental isn't nearly dramatic enough to aid the bars in any way, shape, or form.

3. LET IT GO (FEAT. M.O.P.)

Considering how cold and calculated he tends to sound on the mic, Cormega probably would not have been my first choice for a collaboration with the Mash Out Posse. Still, he was voted the most likely member of The Firm to actually work with M.O.P. (in an older issue of Highlights For Children), so this pairing at least makes a little bit of sense. Unfortunately, “Let It Go” is an overlong exercise in futility. Emile's beat is boring as fuck, as it is not conducive to the talents of anyone appearing on here, and Mega, who admirably tries sticking with his guns (relatively speaking), gets lost at sea. The only lyrics I can even remember came from Fizzy Womack, and they weren't even all that great: he was just complaining that his label at the time still hadn't bothered to release the new M.O.P. album. Hey guys, we're still waiting.

4. THE BOND (FEAT. DOÑA)

Mega and Doña, his de facto costar on Legal Hustle (or at least the basket in which he seems to have placed all of his eggs), spit a single verse each on this boring ode to loyalty. Ax's instrumental is weak as shit: it's almost as though Cory has somehow completely forgotten how to choose a beat for his rantings. Both artists also say basically the exact same shit, but while neither is awful, they're also not very good, especially the bars from our host, who should fucking know better. Moving on...

5. BRING IT BACK

Mega Montana is a student of hip hop, and he'll show off his knowledge every chance he gets. The man clearly misses the time when rap music wasn't so goddamn stupid (as do we all), so he recorded this brief ode to about one hundred and fifty of his favorite rappers, dropping more names than The Game on any given Tuesday. The Ayatollah instrumental is simple enough for Mega to get his point across, and he does so in a fairly good manner: this is one of the most entertaining odes to the old school I've heard in a while, and he even manages to warn his contemporary peers that they will fade into irrelevancy if they don't start saying things worth hearing. Not bad at all.

6. HOODY (FEAT. DOÑA)

Cormega steps back behind the boards for “Hoody”, but doesn't need to do all that much: it's virtually impossible to fuck up a rap song if you're sampling ESG's “UFO”. Doña pops up again to drive her Fox Boogie-sounding voice into your subconscious: the vocal similarities are more than a little distracting at this point. Mega also kicks a verse, nearly tripping over all of his words at one point, but he pulls out a fairly lyrical performance in the end. This short diversion (with one verse from each participant, and Mega pulling an extended riff from The Notorious B.I.G.'s “Kick In The Door”, marking this as the umpteenth time Biggie Smalls has been referenced on Legal Hustle thus far) isn't original in the least but, but it all goes back to that sample, which is just hot. Also, the scratches from Tony Touch help out quite a bit.

7. DANGEROUS (FEAT. UNDA P. & VYBZ KARTEL)

I tend to hate it when rap artists veer off into a reggae subtext when that isn't in their wheelhouse, as it usually results in embarrassingly bad accents and general pandering to an audience that would easily be able to tell that they are simply tourists in a foreign land. “Dangerous” is decent enough, mostly because Mega Montana is too smart to cave in to peer pressure: the instrumental is dancehall-tinged, but our host sticks to the script and delivers his verse the Cormega way, leaving the reggae to the actual experts. Still not the greatest song in the world, though.

8. TONY / MONTANA (FEAT. GHOSTFACE KILLAH)

Pretty Toney and Mega Montana hook up for one of the most brilliantly-titled songs in recent memory. Unfortunately, the final product, which was highly anticipated (by me, anyway) ever since it was first announced, collapses at the starting gate and arrives at the hospital dead on arrival. This Feil Brothers instrumental, which can't decide if it wishes to ape The RZA (or, more accurately, maybe 4th Disciple) or Kanye West, sounds like a store-branded generic, and both Ghostface Killah and Cormega, who technically provide decent verses, sound like they can never quite catch up to it, rendering the entire experience alarmingly empty. Ghost has a funny line at the beginning, though, when he mentions that “pussy is the next best thing besides women”. Although I'm now left wondering where he gets his pussy from, I will admit that the line still sounds pretty good coming from him.

9. PERSONIFIED (FEAT. DOÑA)

I don't believe either participant on this track knows exactly what the word “personified” even means. Anyway, Mega spits some hip hop street savior-esque nonsense over Spunk Bigga's inconsequential beat, while Doña provides a chorus that sounds fucking stupid. However, her actual verse was pretty interesting and heartfelt, as she describes her struggles and the loss of loved ones, so she gets a pass, even though her bars contain the nine millionth reference to The Notorious B.I.G. on Legal Hustle. Seriously, I had no idea that Christopher Wallace was such a huge influence on Cory. Weird.

10. STAY UP (FEAT. KIRA)

Most rappers seem to think that the easiest way to follow a proper song structure is to include a bullshit R&B chorus. Most rappers are also fucking idiots that make lots of bad decisions. Coincidence?

11. DEEP BLUE SEA (FEAT. JAYO FELONY & KURUPT)

Have you ever listened to a song and just want to choke the shit out of the artist because it sucked so goddamn much? No? It's just me that has occasional violent thoughts when listening to rap music? Man, this blog is wearing me out. But anyway, that;s what I want to do to Kurupt, because his hook on the bi-coastal effort “Deep Blue Sea” (which doesn't even bother to mention LL Cool J or a shark eating Samuel L. Jackson, sadly) is so annoying that he should be run the fuck out of our chosen genre. Mega attempts a double-time flow over this Emile production, and he also doesn't look good as a result. The only person on here that emerges unscathed is frequent West Coast punchline Jayo Felony, who actually sounds really fucking good on here. Credit where credit is due, I guess.

12. MORE CRIME (FEAT. THE JACKA)

“So who the fuck is The Jacka supposed to be?”, you two may find yourselves asking. “And why the hell isn't Cormega featured on 'More Crime'?” Lest you forget, Legal Hustle started life as a mixtape-slash-label sampler for Mega's stable of artists: although it quickly morphed into a Mega Montana solo album (sort of, but not really), there were still a couple of loose ends allowed to breathe, The Jacka's solo effort being one of them. You can just imagine how much “More Crime” sucked if I devoted most of this paragraph to rehashing a topic that I already tackled in the introductory paragraphs.

13. MONSTER'S BALL (FEAT. BANGER, LAKE, & MAINO)

Ax (The Bull) produced a posse cut on which all four participants seem to be making the exact same boasts, which is never really good for business. Mega gets his verse out of the way quickly, so that he can get back to his part-time job at Aeropostale, while the remaining three artists (including Lake, who Mega would later record an entire album with) all fail to sound convincing in the least bit. Definitely one of the most dull songs of this type that I've heard in a while.

14. REDEMPTION (FEAT. AZ)

There isn't anything redeeming about this suck-ass Firm reunion: this just sounds like the same piffle AZ tried to pass off as “music” on 9 Lives. Emile's instrumental is a simple loop with a fear of commitment, sticking with old patterns and never accepting change, which will make the listener grow bored real fucking quick. AZ sounds meh as well, but I didn't expect much from hum, so that's fine. The shocker of this song is how terrible Cormega comes across, with the rhymes of an amateur who was just laughed off the stage at his high school's talent show taking place in the cafetorium. Seriously, what the hell just happened here?

15. RESPECT ME (FEAT. DOÑA)

The other holdover from the original label sampler concept is this Doña solo track, on which she unleashes her monotone growl across three verses and multiple hooks, all without changing the inflection in her voice, leading me to feel that this song lasts for thirty goddamn minutes instead of its actual three minute and thirty-seven second runtime. The Foxy Brown comparison, while tired at this point, is impossible to ignore: aside from the fact that Doña consciously chooses grimy street shit over the materialism that Inga praised, they might as well be the same fucking person. Since Cormega, who doesn't appear on “Respect Me” at all, is actually friends with Foxy Brown, I have to wonder how she ultimately felt about Doña's signing to his label.

16. SUGAR RAY AND HEARNS (FEAT. LARGE PROFESSOR)

Why in the holy fuck does the best goddamn song on Legal Hustle last for less than two minutes? Why is the sky blue? Why is water wet? I just don't know. Cormega and special guest star Extra P each spit a lovely verse over a relaxing J-Love instrumental that sounds perfect for zoning out, without being so spacey that it could possibly alienate the listener. While I believe this collaboration could have been even better had the Large Professor produced it himself, I still dug this song today. Once again, this is the best song on the album, by far.

17. THE MACHINE (FEAT. DOÑA & MIZ)

Legal Hustle concludes with a dramatic Ax loop that actually sounded really fucking good; it's just too bad that two-thirds of the track is wasted on weed carrier contributions which are so meaningless that I can't even confirm that they ever really happened. Mega Montana closes out the album with a fairly stellar turn, though, so he helps end the project on a high note. Of sorts.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Yes, it may be unfair to compare Cormega's Legal Hustle to The Realness and The True Meaning, but I don't give much of a fuck, I'm doing it anyway: the moment Mega Montana decided to alter Legal Hustle's purpose from label sampler mixtape to an actual album, he opened himself up to criticism, and this effort is, quite simply, his laziest to date. His reliance on guest stars (most of whom are his label's employees) causes the listener to lose focus on just who Cory Mckay is and what he is capable of behind the mic, and most of these cameos are weak as shit, as well. Music-wise, Mega relies on C-listers to provide his beats (when he doesn't just do them himself, to save his company a buck), and their lack of experience shows in just how fucking boring the majority of Legal Hustle is. I just had to sit through nearly the entire goddamn album before I remembered that “Sugar Ray and Hearns” was actually pretty good; that song is representative of what Legal Hustle could have been. There was no excuse for this shit, Cory.

BUY OR BURN? Burn this shit. Cormega's fans undoubtedly already own this one anyway, but even they should rip the tracks below and sell of their copies, it's that bad.

BEST TRACKS: “Sugar Ray and Hearns”; “Bring It Back”

-Max

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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. 

Cormega - The Realness (July 24, 2001)

Cormega "Here's some extra butter for those rolls, by the way, did I tell you I was in The Firm?" Yankovich (not his real name) has gotten some flack on this site (mainly from me) ever since I reviewed The Firm's shitty album. However, Cory McKay had seen some rough times in the music industry, even before Nas shouted him out on "One Love" off of Illmatic. So I thought that I would give him a fair shake, since I think of myself as unbiased (unless you name is Curtis Jackson, and you happen to suck).

 

After appearing on "Affirmative Action" (on It Was Written, Nas's second album), Cory signed a deal with Def Jam, who at the time probably would have signed a rapping toilet bowl if it sounded tight over some Trackmasters heat. He recorded his debut album, The Testament, which was promptly shelved, even though Mega toured the album (check out the live album from the Survival Of The Illest tour to hear Mega's contributions) and buzz had been building steadily. The title track included a subliminal diss towards Nas, which makes sense, as he had been kicked out of The Firm around this time. "Dead Man Walking" was banned in the United States for its graphic depictions of violence. (Yet I can still go to the theater and watch Hostel 2?) "Killaz Theme" had leaked online, and the Mobb Deep-guesting song seemed poised to blow Mega into the stratosphere, or at least, into the apartment building across the street. Yet Def Jam locked the disc in its vault, and it was destined to join the ranks of unreleased material from KMD, Large Professor, and Ya Kid K. (It was later released by Cory himself, but that fact is irrelevant for now.)

 

Cormega left Def Jam empty handed, and had to start from scratch. He came up with The Realness, his official "debut", and with it he introduced the hip hop masses (sixteen people) to his smooth yet gritty delivery, and his coke-filled raps (kind of like Clipse, but not as funny). He also displayed a true love of hip hop, and a true hatred of Nasir Jones on more than one track. The album barely sold enough copies to fill a baby's shoebox, but The Realness is still considered to be classic underground Queensbridge hip hop.

 

And so...

 

1. DRAMATIC ENTRANCE

Well, that title is fucking great. Mega actually sounds pretty good here. J-Love's production, though, is lacking something. Like melody, for example.

 

2. AMERICAN BEAUTY

So Cory watched that Kevin Spacey flick, and then produces and rhymes on a track about hip hop, a la Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." ? Yeah, that makes sense. Cool ass beat, though.

 

3. THUN & KICKO (FEAT PRODIGY)

Good like finding those two terms in the dictionary. Cormega and Mobb Deep usually work well together. Here, Prodigy and Mega take turns spitting thinly-veiled venom in Nas's direction. This beat knocks.

 

4. THE SAGA

Not feeling this song. Mega's hooks leave a lot to be desired.

 

5. R U MY N---A?

Considering I don't know you personally, I'd be surprised if I was.

 

6. UNFORGIVEN

Short and sweet. Even the high-pitched vocal shrieking never gets annoying.

 

7. FALLEN SOLDIERS

Uses the same sample as Jay-Z's "Like That", but freaks it better, and with a more majestic sound, if that's even possible. Good show!

 

8. GLORY DAYS

Reminiscent of any of the slow tracks from It Was Written. In a good way, of course.

 

9. RAP'S A HUSTLE

Note to Mega: the metaphor in the first verse, where your pen is like your ho? Doesn't work. Otherwise, this song is pretty good, even if the hook blows.

 

10. GET OUT MY WAY

The beat here reaches out and shakes the shit out of you. (I'd like to hear M.O.P. rock over this one.) Surprisingly, it comes from ex-G-Unit president Sha Money XL. I know, right? Curtis never got any hot beats like this one.

 

11. YOU DON'T WANT IT

I admit, it would be hard for me to follow up "Get Out My Way", too. I like the "I don't hate you, I despise you/I call you cocksucker 'cause that describes you" couplet, though.

 

12. 5 FOR 40 (ACAPELLA)

I don't usually like acapella tracks on rap albums. So I don't really like this track. I've heard worse spoken word poetry before, though.

 

13. THEY FORCED MY HAND (FEAT TRAGEDY KHADAFI)

Mega and Tragedy rap about dropping acid, listening to Third Eye Blind, and hitting on white chicks at the club. Just kidding! 

 

14. FALLEN SOLDIERS (REMIX)

The Alchemist may have produced the remix, but that doesn't mean it's any good. The beat sounds awful, and makes me want to rip my ears off of my head. Too dramatic, maybe?

 

The original pressing has a hidden track after "Fallen Soldiers (Remix)":

 

BONUS: KILLAZ THEME (FEAT MOBB DEEP)

Awesome, awesome, awesome. There's really nothing more to say.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS: Holy crap, The Realness is actually pretty fucking good. Nas may have fucked up royally by replacing Mega with some guy called Nature, but Cory delivers the goods on his first official album. Well played, sir. And I advise any aspiring emcee to immediately move to Queensbridge and drink some of their water.

 

BUY OR BURN? By all means, buy this shit. The original pressing may be impossible to find, but, Mega re-released The Realness as half of a two-disc set called Special Edition, and that can be found anywhere. Literally. They sold it at my nephew's Scholastic Book Fair, no lie.

 

BEST TRACKS: "Killaz Theme"; "Thun & Kicko"; "American Beauty"

 

(Disagree with the above review? Do you think it's accurate? Either way, leave some damn comments!)

 

-Max