Cormega – Beautiful Mind

QueensBridge Finest. www.cormega.tk Cory McKay, better known as Cormega, is an American emcee noted for his street topics and style representative of Queensbridge. He is also famous for his hip-hop feud with childhood friend and fellow emcee Nas, with whom he had settled his differences. 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, he witnessed his mother’s murder. After that, he 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. He has since denied it was “a book a week”, saying “that’s probably some Wikipedia bullshit. Everything they ever say is wrong.” Along with fellow QB-native Tragedy Khadafi, Cormega is perhaps most respected for his candid and often poignant rhymes which characterize inner-city living without ever seeming verbose. Despite never garnering the mainstream appeal of contemporaries such as Nas and Mobb Deep, he remains respected as an emcee’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 being convicted of robbery in the second degree he ended up in jail and the album shelved. Later, he was brought to the hip-hop world’s attention …

The original group, called The Robben Ford Group, was formed in 1977, and consisted of Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson. Ford had originally assembled the group to record Inside Story, but signed to a separate record contract, ended up listed as a guest artist. Eventually he was replaced by saxophone player Marc Russo. Ricky Lawson left in 1986 to tour with Lionel Richie. Some of their songs were featured on The Weather Channel’s Local On The 8s segments. Founded in 1981 as an R&B-oriented band that starred guitarist Robben Ford, the group took a giant step forward when, after Ford’s departure, altoist Marc Russo took his place. With original members Russell Ferrante on keyboards and electric bassist Jimmy Haslip, in addition to drummer William Kennedy, the band found its own R&B-ish sound, sometimes playing original compositions that sounded like Joe Zawinul at his most melodic. Starting out on Warner Brothers in the early ’80s, the Yellowjackets moved to MCA/GRP in 1986, where they released a string of well-received albums. They also appeared with two songs on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
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