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Interview Podcast Audio Cormega
Sleep Well ft. Dwele

MP3: Hey. How are you doing, man? Cormega: What's going on? Chilling. So yeah, I want to talk about—I know you've got a bunch of projects on deck. First of all, I wanted to talk about the Got Beats CD. Yeah. Was that something that you had wanted to do for a while, or how did you get the idea to put that together? Because I know so many people be looking for beats and so many people be asking me for some of my beats that I've used or so many people keep be buying beat CDs just to rhyme over. Like, a lot of people was buying the bootleg beat CD, when the mixtapes were selling out in New York. But now that the mixtape market is pretty much almost, you know, annihilated over there, I said one of the best ways for people to get beats is to actually get beats from the hot producers and just make a whole CD for people that want beats or for people that are just into listening. Nice. Yeah, I mean, that's something that you've always been known for, like, having a good ear for beats on all your projects and I think people will be psyched about that. And then I know you've got the DVD coming out in October. Right? October 23rd. Okay. Now, what can you tell us about that? I know it's going to be long. It's going to be kind of epic. And it's going to cover a lot of years. Long ain't the word. I just got finished doing some edits, like final edits, the other day. It's almost three—it's like three hours and change. Nice. So it's like some Godfather, Scarface type of stuff or what? Yeah, it's as long as Godfather. And what's on there? I mean, is it interviews? Live performances? Just like you in the hood or what? All of the above mentioned. Okay, nice. And it basically, it covers like, from you getting started or you from the last album or what sort of time zone does it cover? It follows me from 2001 to 2005, from the beginning of my independent career to 2005. And who do you have on there in terms of, like, guests or homies or whatever? Man, I've got so many people, all right, let me start from the end to the beginning. That's how I remember. All right, Lord Tarek, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Cormega, J-Love, Marley Marl, Tragedy, Nature, Screwball, Godfather III, AZ, Kurupt, Jayo Felony, Ghostface, Buckwild. Legends, a lot of legends. Who else…yeah, Ron Artest. Nice. I can't even think of nobody else. I mean, that's how many people are on there. That's a lot, though. Cool, man. And now you're putting out a soundtrack along with that, right, or is it like a mixtape or is it an album or what exactly is that? Yeah, I've got a soundtrack is coming with it. A soundtrack is coming out with it. That sounds good. And what's going to be on the soundtrack. The soundtrack got Little Brother. I've got a film, an exclusive song with Little Brother that's never been released. Who else have I got on there? It was produced by Khrysis. I got Cormega of course. I got a Ransom song. I've got a Tragedy song…Lil' Fame, Styles P, a lot of stuff on there. Cool, man. Excellent. So are you, I know that in the past couple of years, you've been keeping just sort of a low profile and raising the fam and working on these projects. Are you excited to sort of, like, step back into the game and come hard with all this new stuff or what? I'm very excited especially for '07 and '08, especially for '08 because '07 is just going to be the start and then '08 is going to be the continuation. But I've got a lot, a lot of special stuff coming, man, a lot of special stuff coming, and it's like, I feel reinvigorated because hip-hop ain't getting the respect it deserves. hip-hop is like suffering and rap is getting more light the hip-hop. But I feel like I'm one of the defenders of hip-hop so I'm out here representing for the purists, you know what I mean. Nice, man. That's what we need. Are you going to be touring at all, when the stuff drops or what? I mean, I've got a show October 23rd at S.O.B.'s and I've got another party the 24th. And after that I might go overseas in November. I'll figure it out. But right now I'm just trying to take all little spot dates, we'll figure it out. But I'll be around. Excellent, man. I also wanted to ask you I know, like, last year around Christmas that, you know, you did a little set with Nas in New York. Have you guys been in touch since then or was that just sort of a one-off thing or what? I mean, I haven't really spoke to him that much. I spoke to him but he's been running around doing what he was doing and I was running around doing what I was doing, plus nobody got my number because I just changed my number recently. But, you know what I'm saying, we'll probably do something soon. We'll probably do something. I mean, that seems kind of like a monumental thing sort of just—I mean, I know that the beef or whatever had been kind of over for a while but just to make it official like that was that—did you feel good about that? Did I feel good? I mean, I knew the beef was over so it didn't affect me the way it affected the fans. The fans was like overwhelmed by it and surprised but I wasn't surprised because, you know, I had spoken to him prior to that, you know what I'm saying. So, I'm just glad that the fans appreciated that. I'm glad that it was received that way by the fans, you know what I'm saying. Right on. I also wanted to just—you know, like you were just saying, rap has been getting more shine than sort of true hip-hop has. Also, everybody has been, for years now, people have been talking about how New York is—whether it's falling off or people are just hating on it or this and that, everybody is looking for the South for hits and whatnot. Being that you're from New York and represent QB, what is your sort of take on that opinion? That New York is falling off, you said? Yeah. I mean, certain things—I mean, New York did it—we did it to ourselves, you know what I'm saying. So it's like, we're not the most prominent people as far as creativity and sales, etcetera, etcetera, right now in the rap. But at the same time, we did it to ourselves. Like, there is nobody to blame. If you don't take care of your house, of course the property value is going to diminish, you know what I'm saying. Right. So it was like all these years you had people—I mean, put it like this. You had one of our top artists, that's a reflection of us, saying he dumbed down his lyrics to double his dollars. Mm-hmm. Sure. And that's a quote. Like, that's a disgrace to rap. That's like a boxer saying he took a dive. Totally. You know what I'm saying? So it's like everybody—and that was one of the top artists doing that. And when you're a top artist guess what? People try to assimilate and try to do what you do or people try to follow that style. Everybody wants to be like you. So, there is no substance in the music nowadays. It's all flow and dance music. There is no substance. So when you do that, you suffer. Now, then you've got people like—at the same time, I represent New York but I represent hip-hop too. Because, just to be a local representative of something is unfair to all the other great artists and to all the other great genres, because if we represented just New York, then we wouldn't have been able to appreciate Marvin Gaye, because he's not from New York, or the Jackson 5 or John Lennon or Bob Marley. So, I represent hip-hop. Like, when Common Sense debuted at Number 1 recently, that was a victory for all of hip-hop, you know what I'm saying, for hip-hop, you know what I'm saying. When Prodigy put out his joint… Return of the Mac. Yeah, that was sick. Return of the Mac, you know what I'm saying, he did good numbers the first week and that was a hip-hop album. So hip-hop is trying to make a come back. Marley Marl album with KRS-One that was a symbolic album for hip-hop, you know what I'm saying. So hip-hop is, like, it's not on the decline. It's just that people was overlooking it, you know what I'm saying. It's just like if you see a girl and you're not really…it's just like you're seeing a pretty girl but you always ignore her. The day that you really look at her and you conversate with you, then you'll see what the beauty of her really is. And people are overlooking New York because they're looking at the sales. Like, hip-hop has become statisticians, you know what I'm saying? So the people that are selling the most aren't from New York. But as far as artistry and etcetera, etcetera, New York cannot and never will be matched. Totally. And that's no disrespect to nobody else because at the same time you've got to be—me, as a minority, I'm proud to see a brother like a Young Jeezy or Gucci Mane or T.I. get money and come from rough neighborhoods and now they're able to turn their life around. Because at the same time, one of the things that I've noticed about the hip-hop community is the ignorance factor. Like, do you ever notice how drug dealers could get props? Like, you got drug dealers from the South that are glorified by New Yorkers. There are certain drug dealers that are real drug dealers and they might branch off and get into rap and people from New York and everybody embrace them, you know what I'm saying. So how can you embrace drug dealers or people from the street that's getting money, but do not embrace people that's rapping that's getting money? They're doing the same thing as the drug dealers except they're doing it legitimately. You've just to respect another black man or another minority or another white guy even, if he's doing it the right way. Just respect people for coming out of their situations and go on with your music, and I think hip-hop would be better. If everybody—it's like a team sport, man. If everybody guards their man, we'll be good. No doubt, man. That's definitely true. So I just got one more question for you, man, and then I'll let you roll. Nowadays more than ever before, like, everybody wants to rap. Everybody wants to be a rapper, or producer or a mogul. Everybody's got their own little label and their MySpace hustle and this and that. You know, it seems like the whole kind of technology over the past few years has really made it so that anybody can record a CD on their laptop and put it out and have a website. Exactly. You know, you're somebody that's been doing—you know, I mean, you use technology to your advantage. But at the same time, like, you came up doing it the real way and the hard way of paying dues and battling fools and looking for deals and this and that. Exactly. What advice would you give to all these young kids now that just they see the rapper on TV with the fancy car and the gold grill and they want to be him? What advice would you give to the next generation? I mean, be yourself. Like, that's what I would tell anybody, any man or any woman. Do something that you're not gonna regret. Don't do something that you won't respect yourself for in a few years. Like, if grills is what you do, then that's what you do. But don't be somebody that never had grills, never was gonna get grills and now you're getting grills because you see someone else doing it because that's make you a clown, you know what I'm saying. And don't abandon your style, or your vision, to follow somebody else's because a lot of rap is gimmicky and gimmicks don't last. So when that music dies off, then what? Then you're looking stupid and then your fans are going to abandon you because, you know what I'm saying, because you abandoned them. Because you were fronting the whole time. So the thing I would advise for all the new up and coming artists is to stay true to yourself, stay in your lane and find out what you are trying to do with yourself. Like, are you going to be an independent artist? Do you want to be an underground artist or do you want to be a mainstream artist? Do you want to be a flashy artist or do you want to be a conscious artist? Like, find out what your lane is, you know what I'm saying. Don't try to do everything because nobody will respect you. Follow what your lane is, man, and stay—and try to master your lane. You might not be the most successful but you might be—you might not be the—like, put it like this, man. I know you see, at Christmastime, you see poor people that are happy during Christmas and there is rich people that are miserable, you know what I'm saying. So it's like, it doesn't matter. Like, you have to be comfortable in your zone. You have to be comfortable in your lane. Like, get in your lane. Master your lane, man, and you'll be happy. You know what I'm saying? Right on, man. That's good advice. Well listen, Mega, thanks a lot for taking the time to talk to me, man. I appreciate it. I'm definitely—I'm feeling the instrumental album. I've been listening to it, and I'm looking forward to the DVD and the soundtrack as well. Aight. All right, man. Yo, take it easy, Mega. That's what's up. Thanks a lot.