ory “Cormega” McKay was introduced to the world on the song “One Love” on Nas’ Illmatic, receiving a shout out from across jail bars by the popular MC on his critically acclaimed debut. When Cory was released from prison shortly after Illmatic came out, he instantly joined Nas and rising stars Foxy Brown and AZ in the super-group “The Firm”. However, Nas’ manager Steve Stoute had ‘Mega ousted and replaced with an MC that fit between Nas and Mega in sound, rhymes, and even looks in Nature. Cormega, rightfully so, blamed Nas for the ejection and turned his anger into a passion for real hip-hop, writing rhymes and recording a supposedly excellent debut album called The Testament for Violator/Def Jam. Unfortunately, The Testament will never be released as it was held back by Violator president Chris Lighty due to Nas’ industry connections. Cormega used this as inspiration and fuel, and as soon as he bought his release from his contract with Def Jam, he released The Realness which featuring hundreds of jabs at Nas, both subliminal and direct, including entire songs “American Beauty”, “Thun & Kicko”, “The Saga”, “R U My Nigga”, “Get Out My Way” and “Fallen Soldiers. Mega’s rhymes and the production were excellent, but, as can be expected, The Realness unfortunately did nothing to push Mega out from Nas’ shadow as all of the publicity he gained from the album was focused on his problems with Nas. Realizing he had to become his own man, Mega released his Illmatic, The True Meaning, a good challenger to one of the greatest albums of all time.


Most casual hip-hop fans are unfamiliar with the name Cormega, and even if they are, chances are they have never heard any tracks from him, and that’s a shame. He has fallen under criticism for a number of things, and most of the problems are unfounded or fixed on The True Meaning. The critics of Mega are the same people who look back ten years and criticize Rakim’s flow, Big Daddy Kane’s rhymes, and Slick Rick’s voice. Although improved, Mega’s flow is still sloppy, but it’s part of his unique charm. The more you listen to him, the more comfortable he sounds. True, he will not rhyme a 5 syllable word together eight times like Pharoahe Monch, but that’s not his job.


Mega gets on the mic soon after the intro to the CD and raps with no bullshit. Sometimes he will make a poignant ad-lib to start off songs such as “Out there in the street, you know, I’m strugglin’, trying to survive” before he starts his full out barrage. Another interesting component to the record is the fact that there are no guests. People have also complained about the sub 40 minute length, but Illmatic was about the same, and the lack of skits and guests make the album probably longer than the music you actually get from most mainstream artists. Once burdened with a stigma of lack of subject matter, Cormega has gone way beyond that. “Verbal Graffiti” shows his diversity, as does “Endangered Species”, where he compares his competition to animals that are soon to be extinct. Mega is, of course, not the most diverse or imaginative artist, but he uses metaphors as basis for whole songs and deceptfully clever wordplay to keep them interesting. The bottom line is that Cormega is an unfinished product, definitely a diamond in the rough, but his talent is obvious.


The only thing that Illmatic clearly dominates in is in the production, and it’s not even that large of a difference. Cormega has just as many quotable lines as Nas did, although Nas’ have stood the test of time, but the production sounds of DJ Premier, Large Professor, Q-Tip and Pete Rock is hard to beat. The True Meaning does a good job, though, J-Live and Ayatollah are great, and some of the beats are downright spine chilling, especially “Endangered Species”, which may be the beat of the year for me. The only slip is on “Love In, Love Out”, the only Nas diss where the rhymes, which speak of deception and betrayal, are backed by a happy beat with a silly guitar loop that is adequate, but certainly not for the song. Overall, The True Meaning should be commended for its production.


The True Meaning is really the True Meaning of hip-hop. Mega raps from beginning to end, by himself, doing his best and ripping tracks. It’s not perfect, but it’s near perfect in its imperfections. The only thing that keeps it from being perfect is its roughness, as it sounds like it was recorded in Mega’s basement, which was charming 10 years ago, but today it just sounds amateurish. Still, The True Meaning is THE best hip-hop record to come out in a damn long time and is worth every cent.