Montana Diary

By popular demand...here it is!

It is time for me to prove once and for all why I am truly the Underground Section's 'Best Poster' and 'Cormega's #1 Posterboy.' Anything less than 5 awards after this would be a travesty.

Montana Diary Presents: Cormega - Who Am I? The Prequel


Real Name: Cory McKay
Origin: Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Raised in the Queensbridge Housing Projects in Long Island City, Queens
Track Record: 4 albums (2 classics, 1 remarkable album, 1 above average compilation)

Many claim that he's overrated. Many claim that he is merely poor man's version of Nas. These people deserve to be taken behind a barn and shot. Who's with me?

Why Cormega > Your Favourite Emcee

Mr. Cory McKay (a.k.a. Cormega) is the perfect emcee, point blank. He's touched on street poetry ("The Saga," "They Forced My Hand"), romance ("All I Need Is You," "Coco Butter"), battle rhymes ("Verbal Graffiti," "Built For This," "You Don't Want It"), conceptual songs ("American Beauty," "Rap's A Hustle"), cinematic/mafioso songs ("Montana Diary," "Dead Man Walking") -- of course, his forte is his stories of disloyalty ("R U My Nigga," "Love In, Love Out"). The King does it all. Sure, he's basically Slick Rick, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap and KRS-One thrown into a blender - but you'd be hard-pressed to find an emcee in the history of hip-hop who has used their influences as well as this young man.

There were emcees who incorporated vivid imagery in their rhymes long before The Realness hit shelves in 2001, but none did it as effectively as 'Mega Montana. When the man tells a story, you feel like you're right there with him. One cannot truly put into words how it feels to hear Cormega spit.

If you haven't heard the following albums, what the hell are you doing? Head to your local retailer and cop 'em.







Biggest Misconceptions About the King of Queens

Nas Was Too Much For Cormega

Hip-Hop heads are fucking sheep.

I brought this up to A.T.I. a while back, though as with everything I say, he completely disagreed.

Question:

Why was Stillmatic given 5 mics in virtually every hip-hop publication, yet the highest rating The Realness has ever received was a 4? Granted, Stillmatic was a good album, it was no where near perfect. Even the biggest Nas fanboy can attest to that.

Funny thing is, nobody has ever found anything bad to say about The Realness. Hell, the worst criticisms I've read regarding his sophomore effort The True Meaning or The Testament are that the former contained an overabundance of Nas references (my ass) and that the latter is inferior to what Cormega would be capable of six years later (true, but that hardly takes away from the musical excellence of that album). Often these days, albums aren't really listened to at all and are judged based on how much the reviewer is "supposed to like the artist," as opposed to how good the actual material is. That said, the beef between Nas and Cormega was very one-sided. Every wannabe-backpacker and hip-hop publication will tell you Nas won by a landslide. But did he really?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the history of the Cormega/Nas feud, allow the Montana Diary to do what he does best.

Cormega vs The Firm

Nasir Jones and Cory McKay were always good friends in their adolescence, living on the same block together. After Cormega came home from prison everything changed. Nas saw that 'Mega had a good following in their hometown and offered to help his childhood friend attain a recording contract.

Soon after, ‘Mega was approached by Nas’ manager Steve Stout with contract papers to have Stout executive produce the young emcee’s first three albums. The Queens upstart refused due to Stoute wanting too much money.

‘Mega joined Nas, Brooklyn emcees AZ and Foxy Brown and legendary west coast producer Dr. Dre to form the supergroup The Firm. One day The Firm left Cormega out of a photo shoot for YBS magazine. When ‘Mega confronted Nas, he tried to make it seem like there was nothing that he could have done about it. Of course, at that point Nas had the #1 album in the country and could have easily gotten another photo shoot for his cohort to be included in – which he didn’t. Cormega was convinced that this was retaliation from Steve Stout for not signing with his management team.

Subsequently, his verse from The Firm track "La Familia," was taken off. Feeling betrayed, Cormega left The Firm. He was soon replaced by Nature, who dissed Cormega on a DJ Clue mixtape. 'Mega confronted Nature and allegegy knocked out him out. He also made mixtape diss of his own entitled "Never Personal." But it wasn’t only Nature who would feel the wrath of the true King of Queens. He felt Nas had done him dirty, and he was going to pay – in blood.

‘Mega went at Nas with the scathing diss record “You Don’t Want It.” He also attacks him subliminally on “Get Out My Way,” but if you ask me, that record – much like “R U My Nigga” – dealt more with the disloyalty of his peers who abandoned him when he didn’t blow up as soon as expected. ‘Mega wanted his respect and he knew he had to claim it by force.

“Nigga, you’re overrated! Props old, decaying!/Not known for sprayin'! what the fuck you sayin'?”

“I don't hate you – I despise you!/I call you ‘cocksucker,’ ‘cause it describes you!”

“Look at you nigga! You had status, most of that vanished!/Y'all niggas has-beens, addicts, unestablished!/What the fuck happened?/You [The Firm] had the block clickin'/Now you in denial, y'all are finished!”

Can you say, ‘ouch’?

Nas responded with “Destroy & Rebuild,” a track where Nas questioned Mega’s authenticity and claimed the reason that his situation with Def Jam didn’t work out was because Cormega’s skills were never anything to boast about to begin with. He also asserted that the only reason ‘Mega recorded “You Don’t Want It” was because he was jealous of Nas’ success.

Cormega responded with the mixtape disses “Realmatic” and “A Slick Response,” saying that try as Nas might to deteriorate his former ally’s credibility, the portrait he painted of Cormega in “Destroy and Rebuild” bared a striking resemblance to Nas himself.

Cormega Stole Nas’ Style

“What I've discovered is my brother's tryin to be/the next me, yeah I support him but he's blinded I see/jealousy, he love me to death am I buggin’ I love him for life/We both still mournin on our mother's life”

*Excerpt from “The Cross” by Nas from the album God’s Son

Here Nas accuses Cormega of stealing his style and claiming that it was his Queens counterpart’s jealousy that sparked the tension between them. He insisted that he always supported ‘Mega and that even though they may not see eye to eye, he loves him like a brother. Here he also points out something they both share in common – their deceased mothers.

There’s no denying that ‘Mega and Nas’ styles were similar. Was Cormega trying to be the next Nas? Of course not. It was very hypocritical of Nas to accuse ‘Mega of this as it is a known fact that both MC’s borrowed from Kool G Rap, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One and Rakim. Is Nas being sincere in his claim that he was always supportive of his 'brother'? You be the judge.

Cormega responded on “Love In, Love Out” on The True Meaning.

“I was never jealous of you/In fact I was proud of you/I smiled when I heard you on "Live at the Barbeque"/I respect you as an artist though I'm no longer fond of you/I gave you love from the heart unlike the people surrounding you”

“Your friend today can be your enemy tomorrow/Never show weakness, tell 'em no secrets/What's deep is, I had love for you/But due to situations, I can't fuck with you/Trust is a luxury I can't afford/Betrayal's something that I can't ignore”

Both emcees have since officially squashed their feud last year.

Did You Know?

*Mega’s first stage name was ‘MC Core’ – after hood legend MC Shan

*As a child, Cormega witness his mother Dorothy McKay being brutally shot to death



Cop Who Am I.

I'm out.

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Grandmaster G

im not a biter, im a writer

Montana Diary

Lol, you underestimate my brilliance. Of course I wrote it. When have my threads been any less than stellar? Good luck tryna find this article on another site (although, I did use various sites and magazines for reference).

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Grandmaster G

^lol naw ur taking this the wrong way.....i know u wrote it.......im just using my post to imply my assumption of u taking 'thread' ideas ....so dont take this the wrong way foo......

Montana Diary

Aight, just makin' sure

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Grandmaster G

get rid of your avy man.....i dont know if u get this or the others in here......but whenever i see an avy of a chic....i assume the user (poster) is a fuckin girl (no homo)..........change your avy or die tryin

Grandmaster G

MD, i know this is a little weird....but i mean its a forum and we are supposed to be open minded and free about our writing....but if u lookin to hold on to your 'ideas', i suggest u stop posting your 'brilliant' essays.........internet is a bitch

Montana Diary

Never!!! La'Shontae Heckard >>>

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Montana Diary

Bah! You know you loved it! This is the greatest thread ever posted in a forum.

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Grandmaster G

^naw, u wish muthafucka

Montana Diary

Yes, ineed. I think reading my work should be a balanced part of everybody's lifestyle, whether or not they like hip-hop. You can enjoy it and feel like you're living a life of meaning and purpose.

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Shyne

sorry doggy, I just kept reading King of Queens and thinking how much better Pharoahe Monch is....

anways very well written, I love when my underground fam take the time to write up good shit like this about a artist they believe in so much. Good shit. Give it a re-read to fix some of the mis-types and you got yourself a classic here.

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myspace.com/vocabthemc

http://coldglassofoj.blogspot.com

Montana Diary

Thanks Shyne. Means a lot comin' from you. As for Pharoahe...got mad love for Mr. Jamerson, buuuuuut I'm gonna have to give it to Cory.

P.S. Fixed the grammatical errors

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KING BHOB

well i mean if you aint gonna cite sources and give credit to quotes.....im going to have to say........F


Mega isnt that nice

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>|>|>|> http://twitter.com/KingBhob <|<|<|<
>>>>>>>LIFE

Grandmaster G

hmmm....i dunno mayne....all im sayin is that......in today's world, its a bitch....even if u feel u started a whole trend, etc. u will never get the credit u deserve....although u may receive recognition from a select few or group, it is hard to maintain not only the integrity of your work but the ownership of it


i dunno i guess im paranoid.....nevertheless, good effort..............



"COR - MEGA, RAW - FOREVER/
thoughts accelerating like a porsche carrera"


edit: BHOB is right...u dont have sources......and youtube is not credible

Montana Diary

What's the point? Why would I make any of this up? It's not like I'm postin' hip-hop news. It's a piece I wrote for fun. Also, how did I not give credit to quotes? With all the lyrical quotes I named the artist, song and even the album it's from. And for the record, 'Mega > your favourite MC.

Have a nice day

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Montana Diary

Lol, it's not like I'm askin' to get paid. I wrote it 'cause I could. It took me less than 3 hours to write. I don't care who agrees and who doesn't. I know I'm right. I don't plan on becomin' a hip-hop journalist any time soon, 'cause as I stated in this article, they're all full of shit. Also I don't need to cite my sources. If anybody questions the authenticity of the info, they can look it up themselves. Most of this is common knowledge anyway. Youtube wasn't a source either, it was a video I posted so people could watch it.

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Grandmaster G

^^where my ONTARIO THUGS?

Nokster

Dope thread. My vision turned out nicely. :)

And from your description of Cormega, he could possibly be one of my favorite MCS also. I haven't heard enough of him to judge, nor have I given his music a full, in-depth listen..... but in due time. I just love MCs that are the total package like you stated he is.

That's why Nas is my favorite MC.... he's an all-around artist.

And if I was to make a thread like this about R-Mean (which I have thought of before), people would just sleep on it.... including Shyne. ...

So in my case, I wouldn't get much love for it, Shyne.

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Los Scandalous.

Montana Diary

Thanks. Honestly, I was puttin' this off for so long. I started this evening, figured it'd take me till Friday, then 'bout 2 1/2 hours later, figured, Ah fuck it, it's fine the way it is. Anyways, def peep those 3 albums I recommended. They're more than worth the purchase. As for the R-Mean thread, I'm countin' on it. Who cares if other peeps sleep on it? We all know my opinions and views > anyone else's, as evidenced by the brilliance of this essay.

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YounG AleX

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I learned that everybody is not your friend. You have to watch who you associate with and surround yourself with positive things and people who want to do something positive.- Gucci!

Shyne

what are you talking about doggy? I was just bumpin R-Mean yesterday, I actually turned off my Percee P cd for a few minutes cause I wanted to hear that track abut is producer going blind

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myspace.com/vocabthemc

http://coldglassofoj.blogspot.com

ILLogic

Damn, MD, you act like peeps sleep on Mega, but don't understand that dude has a pretty stable fanbase. Yes, he should be a household name, and yes NaS fucked him over, but you act like duke is Rise or Mr Metaphor who gets absolutely no exposure when shit ain't true. Regardless dope thread, but relax with that Mega is the messiah -type shit, dude's dope, but he ain't GOAT or close to it.

And for the record, MonCHI-Chi > Mega

Get Mad! But it's ok, The Realness is still a classic, top 15 album.


Outtie.

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Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress
"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left" - Ras Kass

Montana Diary

"If I'm not the best, then I'm a damn striking resemblance!"
- Big Daddy Kane

j/k, I know...it's not that he doesn't have a stable fanbase, I never claimed he didn't. But everything I stated in the article was the truth. Hip-Hop fans (publications, bloggers, critics, etc) are fucking sheep. Nobody can really think for themselves. That said, I still feel he's slept on. Sure, he's more recognizable than Rise and Mr. Metaphor (both who're dope emcees in their own right) but he still doesn't get the respect he deserves (at least, from what I've seen) even from purists, who generally relegate dude to their top 1000.

Obviously he's not hip-hop's messiah (thought he will have the best album of the year if eMC and Reefy don't drop their shit - that's a definite). I already admitted in my interview that he wasn't the G.O.A.T., remember? I made this thread 'cause Nok told me he wanted to get more familiar with dude.

*gets out M16 rifle*


True dat.

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Nokster

real recognize real.

that performance was dope at his show. Dude brought out Blind when he started the track and it was just dope as fuck.

good looks... people should stop sleeping.

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Los Scandalous.