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www.halftimeonline.com/cormega.htmHalftime: I did an interview with Prodigy a couple months ago and he was talking about when he first came to Queens. He said they took him through the neighborhood and he had to battle people to show his skills and that he battled you. Do you remember anything from that battle?Cormega: That f***ing sickle cell must be eating his brain because that nigga never battled me. Prodigy is losing his f***ing mind. I´m getting tired of rappers from Queensbridge cuz its like yo B everybody don´t have to lie about everything just be human. I´m not ashamed about my flaws or about what´s true and what´s not but I never battled Prodigy. I swear to god. Havoc battled me before, Poet the legendary battle cat from Queensbridge battled me before, me and Tragedy rhymed together but he never battled me, me and Nas was from the same block so we was cool, and MC Shan I had tremendous respect for. Let me keep it 100% real with you, when there was park jams nobody rapped at a park jam when I was rapping and that´s a fact. You can ask anybody don´t just take my word for it do your research cuz it seems everyone wants to make themselves bigger than what they are. Me and Craig G spit some bars at each other before, MC Snow who was down with MC Shan I ate his a** on the hill, but Prodigy I don´t know I wish I had his number. In that case, shit I dunked on Ron Artest and I´m 5´7 and I can´t even dunk.
So was that not the norm that a cat came in and hand to go through the neighborhoods and battle?Cormega: You had to battle in Queensbridge that´s how everybody got ill. Queensbridge is so competitive they would walk you over to the other block and be like battle this nigga. But Prodigy never battled me and I swear to my mother and my mother´s dead. It´s that serious to me. I swear I never battled this guy. I don´t even know where he comes off with that. He knows he never battled me.
He said he battled Nas too.Cormega: Yea I could believe that, maybe he did but I can´t speak for that.
I was reading a lot of your other interviews and one thing I noticed was you are up to date on what people are saying about you on different message boards. How often do you check and see what people are saying about you on boards and on reviews?Cormega: I have an excellent publicist so that´s how I´m on top of my reviews and I must say I´m f***ing disgusted with XXL and the review they gave me. The thing that pissed me off is that this is not a Cormega album but motherf***ers trying to judge me like it is. I seen a review where they are like it´s not as good as his last two critically acclaimed albums. How is it gonna be as good as my albums!? I just got finished speaking with this dude at XXL yesterday asking why ya´ll judging my album like it´s a Cormega album. If you go to Soundscan it says ´Cormega presents.´ If you go to the record store and speak to the retail guy it says ´Cormega Presents.´ It´s not a Cormega album, on the album it don´t even says Cormega in big letters! So I´m like did you compare the DMX album to Ruff Ryders or Oochie Wallie to Illmatic? That´s the thing I´m not liking as far as the reviews. As far as the internet I try not to really let it bother me or give it too much measurement because half the people on the internet are bored and they have no life. There is one nigga named Galvatron who be on Sohh.com, it´s like it´s his job to hate on me. He´s a professional. This guy Galvatron is obsessed with me. At the end of the day Galvatron you´re a dick. You wake up in the morning, you get on your f***ing computer and you obsess about me.
HahaCormega: I wake up in the morning, I take a piss, I might brush my teeth, I might not, I watch Sportscenter, go eat some Fruity Pebbles or Apple Jacks, I play Playstation on my plasma screen TV, I decide which car I´m gonna get in or what clothes I´m gonna wear and that´s that. I don´t wake up in the morning thinking about f***ing Galvatron!
HahaCormega: That´s the thing that bugs me out about the internet, people are obsessive on that motherf***er. One thing I do like about it is there are no yes men. There´s people that like you and there´s people that don´t like you. I love it because I love the negative criticism because I always feel I have something to prove. You know the old saying kill him with kindness that´s the way you shut me up. With a compliment, I have nothing to prove. If you say Mega can´t flow now I´m gonna show you I can flow. Before I put out albums people were like he´s a freestyle/mixtape nigga but he can´t make albums, now two albums later I have two critically acclaimed albums not my opinion but the world´s. I never said my albums were cla**ic or tell the Source to give me that Award or Amazon.com to give me album of the year for 2001. Now motherf***ers is like all he talks about is street shit, so on my second album I flipped it and I had songs for women, songs on social issues, an a capella that´s not even rhyming and I got an award for that album. Then all the people on the internet said he talks about Nas all the time so you noticed I don´t talk about Nas no more. Everything they say about me I´m gonna work on. They said I couldn´t flow before saying I was punching in when I wasn´t. I was coming in on another track trying to be like Slick Rick. Think about it, only a dickhead aspiring artist or industry person even knows what a punch is. You can´t go to the average kid in the street and say he punched in on that song because they´ll be like what the f*** are you talking about. I love the dickhead shit on the internet but at the same time I don´t respect the internet because I´ve watched these people hail and praise people and put artists on a high pedestal, their album comes out, and it doesn´t even sell. Ya´ll internet people are criticizing artists for something you downloaded and you aren´t even supporting the cause. Then you get mad when your favorite artist crosses over, but when an artist tries to keep it real with you internet motherf***ers you just download his shit! I even told niggas on the internet one day I don´t respect you download niggas. Don´t compliment me on my album if you downloaded it. That´s like you robbing my house, stealing my TV and calling me up like the clarity on this TV is ill! I can´t really respect that shit. I respect it to a degree but I love the challenge of critics. I´m aware of what´s going on with the internet though. I know it´s very symbolic because that´s universal not local. A motherf***er could be in Africa reading about you. That´s why I keep my eyes and ears in tune with the net.
What would you do if you ever met Galvatron?Cormega: I wouldn´t even do nothing because the average motherf***er on the internet is a f***ing coward anyway. It´s not like he´s gonna be like yea I´m Galvatron nigga what. If that´s the case I wouldn´t do nothing to him, the niggas that´s with me would pound his a** out. I don´t have to do nothing to nobody right now. f*** him he´s a nobody. Let me tell you something else, me having differences with Nas made me realize I´m like Lex Luther to a Superman comic book buyer. Motherf***ers hate me that love Nas. I noticed motherf***ers hate me more than they hate Jay-Z. It´s pa**ionate hate. Nature made a song dissing Nas more recently than me and it was on the radio and everything why ya´ll don´t hate him like ya´ll hate me. I used to be a Knick fan and I used to hate Alonzo Mourning and I was like its not that I hate him it´s that I love the Knicks so much. Why didn´t I hate Jordan but Alonzo was such a threat. You fear what you don´t understand. Nas fans know I´m a f***ing threat that´s why they don´t like me. Jay-Z and Nas have two different styles and Nature is a whole different subject but they fear me. Niggas on the internet know everything. You could make a freestyle tape in the fourth grade and they´ll know about it. When the whole fallout with me and Nature happened they said I dissed Nature because he replaced me in the firm. That´s bullshit everyone and their mother knows Nature shitted on me on the Clue tape. That´s how the whole beef started. If you listen to my song when I responded somebody´s talking on the beginning of the song and they say ´you heard the new Clue tape that nigga Nature shitted on you´ and I´m like word on the song "f*** Nas." All these internet motherf***ers hide what they want to hide and put out what they want to put out. They don´t say Nature dissed Mega so Mega responded. I never even got kicked out of The Firm. If I would have paid I would have been down. I didn´t pay and I´m not saying I was right for not doing it I just didn´t understand the industry at the time. Just like when I was making songs dissing Nas they was like all he does is think about Nas. What about the 50 million times he dissed me on albums? You knew he was talking about me you f***ing geeks! He had subliminal songs dissing me like that song I ain´t f***ing with you I´m doing big things, you want to ball for self why your album ain´t out, all that shit he was talking about me. On "Hate Me Now" he was talking about me too on certain parts. Mad songs this nigga made talking about me. I knew he was talking about me, he knew and his fans knew but ya´ll were just mad because ya´ll wasn´t expecting that response. I wasn´t playing no games, I´m saying his name and crazy shit. Motherf***ers don´t like that just like how they hated Pac cuz he was too raw. So keep it real and say son shouldn´t of started with Mega cuz Mega went too far with it and maybe Nature shouldn´t have said what he said but don´t just act like I´m just a trouble maker.
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With Nature all I heard was Cormega seen Nature at the video shoot and knocked him out. Cormega: The niggas in the street love me and the geeks that love Nas hate me. At the same time ya´ll don´t understand the world I´m from and my code of honor. I don´t be telling everybody my story some niggas come up to me like I heard you was getting money and such and such. A motherf***er came up to me like yo my man said you knocked him out in jail. I was laughing cuz I´m like I wouldn´t even tell nobody if someone knocked me out in jail. I used to box and one of the niggas I knocked out told somebody. Niggas talk about me so they build up my mystique that´s how you know my credibility is real. The industry niggas are scared of that shit but the street niggas they love it. America has always been fascinated with the bad guy that´s probably why I´m still here. I´m not just living off my bad guy image cuz at the end of the day nobody wants to be bad forever. Even Darth Vader told Luke aight I´ma chill now.
HahahaCormega: Nobody wants to be bad forever so its like I know what I´ve done and I know what I´m capable of on streets but I´m not proud of all of that. If I can change certain shit in my life I would. Like when I got shot I wasn´t like ´Yea I´m a real nigga!!´ I was like damn that shit hurts. Or when I was in jail I wasn´t like yea I´m gonna do this five years nigga what! I wanted to come home so when I listen to these rap niggas its like they f***ing clowns. I know niggas is fake. Ain´t too many niggas on my level. The only nigga that I can vouch for that been through the pen and the struggle like me is Lake. Other rappers been in jail but they was a** in jail or they been in the street. If you were a crackhead in the street that don´t mean you went through the struggle. You were smoking, you wasn´t hustling from police or having shootouts on the block. I see niggas that´s crackheads talking but I don´t blow them up I let them do them. You got some rappers that niggas be thinking they gangstas and I be like oh my f***ing god but I don´t say nothing. I´m not gonna knock your hustle. I know what I am and what I´m capable of but that´s not about nothing. I told my man just recently, he´s a live nigga, I said being live only serves a purpose in the streets. I said you think Bill Gates gives a f*** who´s live? It´s the pussy niggas with the Maybach, so that live shit really ain´t adding up to much. Be live but apply that shit in another way. Another thing about being live or having power is having power is responsibility. When niggas respect you they respect how you move and what you are capable of doing and they follow what you do. I know that I set an example so I don´t want niggas following my steps. I don´t want anybody to go do the things that I did cuz for real at times I didn´t even think I was gonna make it. I was hoping I didn´t get killed. I don´t want nobody to try to live my life. A lot of rappers in the industry that´s live they know I know. I be listening to niggas talking about they tough but I did shows with rappers on Riker´s Island and niggas didn´t even want to wear their jewelry. I had to tell niggas yo you can wear your jewelry on Riker´s Island. I been through it, lived it but at the end of the day what does that all mean. Especially in rap because if you a live nigga and a tough guy but you suck at the end of the day you a tough nigga who sucks. That´s not my legacy I want them to say son was nice. I don´t want them to remember me from the streets.
I´ve noticed mad heads are getting serious with this mixtape shit right now. Practically every artist has one. Do you think this is the beginning of the pendulum swinging back into the artist´s favor where they have more creative control with the music they put out?Cormega: Let me tell you something niggas will never give me my props but do you know I´m the first nigga who did that. I put out a best of mixtape when I was on the shelf at Def Jam to test the waters and see how people felt about me. Nobody had no ´best of´ out with no record out or that was new. I had one called "Montana Way" and that was old. I had another one that was so old you could go to the XXL archives because they did a write up on the bitch in around ´99 and by then it was old and that wasn´t even my first one. So how long have I been making ´best ofs´ and that´s why I laugh at niggas. After 50 put his shit out everybody thought that was the formula but everybody don´t feel everybody the way they feel 50. 50´s career is also the perfect storm because everything perfect that could happen for an artist happened for that nigga at the same time. When he wasn´t down with Eminem his shit wasn´t selling like that. When he put out his ´best of´ it was doing decent numbers, then he got down with Eminem, now he´s down with Dre, he´s got street credibility, he had a lot to talk about and I gotta give him his props the nigga work ethic is crazy. Now you got corny a** niggas trying to make mixtapes now.
Even if there are corny niggas doing it, do you think overall it´s a positive?Cormega: It is positive because nowadays the game is so f***ed up I feel sorry for new niggas. I can get my shit played because I can give it to certain DJs that I have a rapport and a little history with. But say my name is MC Cool and I want you to play my shit on your tape, these motherf***ers is charging niggas to get on a mixtape!!
Damn, how you gonna charge someone to get on your mix joint!?Cormega: That´s why I feel bad for new niggas because the average new nigga don´t got money so how he gonna pay you to get on the mixtape. Even if he do pay you what is he gonna be # 31 on the outro. So being able to do your own mixtape is a good way to get heard. The first mixtape I did, I did it so long ago by the time I was on the Survival of the Illest tour with Def Jam and niggas was coming up to me in other states. I´m gonna keep it real with you when I first went to Chicago for that Survival of the Illest tour to do my first show I was scared to perform. I´m not afraid to admit my weaknesses. I was scared to perform. I never had no record out, but by the time I got there niggas was like I got your album and I´m like what the f*** and it was "Montana Way." They knew the words and everything. I ended up ripping that tour just as much as anybody else. It was me DMX, Redman, Keith Murray that shit was dope.
What artists are you actually feeling right now?Cormega: Everybody rhymes the same. On mixtapes do 60% of the niggas sound like Jay-Z or is it just me? Niggas is on Jay-Z dick so hard they even try the whisper style. You got niggas that ain´t even from Brooklyn and everyone want to rap like Jay-Z and is a punchline rapper. I got so many of this, my earrings look like these, my wrist look like this and when I stop at the light my rims keep moving. Okay you just did a free advertisement for Jacob and the Sprewell Factory but what´s for the mind. I like Scarface, I like Lauryn Hill I wish she would come back, I might as well like Jay-Z cuz everybody else rap like him.
HahaCormega: I respect Nas as an artist. Nas ain´t as ill as he used to be but he´s still one of the best so that tells you that he´s ill. I think Havoc stepped his game up crazy. He got to be most improved.
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[ This message was edited by: eef_haf on 07-07-2004 17:13 ]
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