ThaFormula.com - Last time we spoke you were chillin' with Prodigy up in the hood and your album had just dropped. Now here we are a few months later and your getting ready to drop your sophomore LP, what's going on with the new album Mega?

Cormega - The new album is called "The True Meaning" and it's gonna be in stores June 11th, I'm just trying to put it down. I think it's real hot.

ThaFormula.com - Production wise, what's going on with the new album?

Cormega - Production wise, I got Hangmen 3, Alchemist, and D.R. Peroid. The production team is bigger than the production team on my previous album, so it's gonna be tight.

ThaFormula.com - When we last spoke you told me you would always stick to the same formula. Since then, have you changed your mind?

Cormega - Of course not! I got to stay with what got me here. I got to give the people what they want and that's what made my past projects successful, so I'm not gonna betray my fans.

ThaFormula.com - Do you ever worry about the sophomore jinx happening to you?

Cormega - Nah man. (Laughs). To be honest with you, I don't really listen to my own music. Once I do a song, it's done. My worst fear is the sophomore jinx to be humble and honest with you. Although, everybody that I let hear the album, a lot of people said that it's better then "The Realness," and I didn't even think I could make an album better then "The Realness" from the feedback that people gave me.

ThaFormula.com - Well, to be honest I felt the track "You Don't Want It" was the best battle track of the year.

Cormega - Word! Man, thank you man. I really appreciate that.

ThaFormula.com - What about MC's? Who are the guests on the album, and are you gonna be doing another track with Prodigy?

Cormega - Nah, I'm not doing nothing with Prodigy on this album. I don't wanna really uh, see this album I'm trying to grow. I don't wanna stay stagnant in that Queensbridge realm, and as of now I haven't really done any songs with any artists yet and the album is like 90 percent done. So by next week if I don't do a song with any artists, there might not be no guest appearances, and I'm willing to accept that challenge of holding down the album.

ThaFormula.com - Is there anybody that you been wanting to work with?

Cormega - I mean, there is not to many artists that interest me anymore, like I have an old soul. If this was 1988 when rap was The Golden Era, then I would have a handful of artists I would wanna do songs with, but it's not that era. Like a lot of artists, their hype supersedes their skills, so it's like I don't feel compatible with a lot of the artists that's out right now. Only person I would like to do a song with right now is Scarface, and I can't really think of too many other people.

ThaFormula.com - How was your album budget this time around compared to the last one?

Cormega - The budget for this album is decent. I'm able to do albums that are, uh..it just really wouldn't matter whether I had a big budget or a little budget because a lot of producers wanna work with me, so they always cut the cost. So the budget really wasn't nothing, but it was good. It was decent.

ThaFormula.com - How is it working with The Alchemist?

Cormega -Alchemist is dope. I feel Alchemist. He has an old school soul. The Alchemist beat that I'm using for this album, he gave it to me for my last album. I just didn't use it. It was like a hidden gem that I had in the stash, but he most fun that I had on this album was working with J Garfield. Somebody that I had never worked with previously.

ThaFormula.com - For those that don't know, who is J Garfield?

Cormega - See, J Garfield is a guy that you won't know by name, but his resume is crazy. He did "Money, Power, Respect," he did "Queen Bee Thing" for Lil' Kim. He did numerous things for Bad Boy and some other artists. He gave me some heat.

ThaFormula.com - Well "The Realness" LP was one of, if not the best album of 2001, and is still played heavily on the streets?

Cormega - Well, you can quote me on this. "I promise you, I'm not gonna stray away from my formula like a lot of artists" Like they try to change up or they try to go for the pop sales. I'm not doing that. This album is the umbilical cord between "The Realness and "The Testament."

ThaFormula.com - So what was up with the "Hustler/Rapper" LP that dropped?

Cormega - Oh, I think that's like a bootleg or something. That's like a mixtape joint. Somebody else put that out. I think one of my people's put that out.

ThaFormula.com - A lot of people thought that was the new Cormega album?

Cormega - It's selling like a new Cormega album from what I hear. People are calling me from a lot of states and stuff. See what I be doing is uh.. I got people that's on the streets so it's like this rather than them sellin' drugs and stuff, sometimes I give people my songs and tell them, "Go Eat."

ThaFormula.com - That's dope man, that's definitely love right there. Even though the Nas situation helped get you a lot of publicity, do you think it also hurt you as far as people focusing more on the beef then your music?

Cormega - I don't know. It helped my sales a lot. My sales went up damn near 80 percent. In a way that takes away from what I'm trying to do because like I said, I don't want to be Joe Frazier to Nas's Ali. I don't wanna be acknowledged as just the dude that had a rivalry with Nas, because I seriously think that I'm one of the better lyricists in the rap game, period! But at the same time it happened, so whatever.

ThaFormula.com - When we last talked you said there is no way Nas can go back to how he used to rhyme. What did you think about his new album?

Cormega - I didn't really hear it, but I'm hearing that it's good. Like some of the songs I heard was decent. I heard one joint that I think was called, "You the Man". I like that joint. See what this album did was make Nas great. You're not great until you can come back. You must learn how to lose before you learn how to win, so from him coming back after that "Takeover" joint by Jay-Z and showing that he has staying power, that's what this album did. This album was like a growth album for him, so I'm happy for him on that note, but I still don't think it's like "Illmatic." I didn't really hear it. I'm not gonna front, I don't listen to my rivals music. They analyze my music. I don't listen to my rival's music. I haven't really heard his album, but from what I'm hearing and from the songs that I did hear, it's better then the stuff he's been putting out.

ThaFormula.com - What made you come out with the diss track "Poetry?"

Cormega - You know what made me come out with "Poetry?" How you even gonna ask that?

ThaFormula.com - Well because I thought it was over after you dropped "Realmatic?" I didn't expect you to answer back so quickly again after that.

Cormega - I mean the only reason I did "Poetry" is because he made that other joint. That "Destroy and Rebuild" joint. Sometimes some of the people that be talkin' on the Internet, I don't know, I think it's just some people that are Mega haters or whatever fail to realize that, "Yo B, I don't just wake up in the morning like, oh I'm gonna diss this dude." I only make a record when somebody disses me. Every diss record I ever made is always a response record. I do things in defense, not offense. After my "Stillmatic" response, I was chillin' and then homeboy came out with that other joint. Right now it's like this. See a battle is always fun, but it's over now, the battle shit, because even if I make a song right now, I'm just making a song just to make it, but I'm punching Nas in his mouth when I see him! Not cause he made the song, cause you cannot dent my street credibility. That shit is cemented in the ground. People know I'm just that nigga. You cannot tell no dude, "Suck my dick." That's the ultimate disrespect. So for him to say that, that's just something he's just got to deal with.

ThaFormula.com - Why do you think he recorded a song dissing everybody like that?

Cormega - I'm gonna tell you why Nas did that song dissing everybody, and this is common sense. After Jay-Z made "The Takeover," Nas and everybody that's on this phone thought it was over for Nas. Everybody in the world thought it was over for Nas. So when he made his album and made "Ether," he didn't know it was gonna have the effect it did. So being that he felt his career was over, it's like fuck it I'm taking everybody down with me! That's how he did. He thought his career was over so he tried to destroy mines, Nature's and Prodigy's. See I can respect Nas dissing me, but he didn't have to go at Prodigy and Nature. That was weak. How you gonna make a song like that and at the end talk about unity? You contradicting yourself! To go at Cormega, ok that's acceptable, but why you gonna shit on Prodigy like that, and why you gonna shit on Nature like that? Those are the people you could pull to the side or you all can just handle that. That was weak. Nas thought it was over for him and that was that, so he tried to take everybody down with him.

ThaFormula.com - Now I'm not gonna lie, "The Realness" LP was a better all around album then "Stillmatic." I just thought it was really hard-core hip-hop at it's best.

Cormega - Thanks a lot. A lot of people say that. I laugh at the niggaz that, uh, see the niggaz that say shit about me on the Internet, it's all good cause you're keeping my name alive. I feel you on that. Half of those people is hypocrites anyway. 'Cause them the same people that was condemning Nas like 5 months ago. People were hating on me before I made "The Realness." Then when "The Realness" came out, "Oh yeah, Cormega is this , and that." That's why the true meaning is gonna set a lot of shit straight and I'm making "The True Meaning" in a way where there not gonna have that excuse of Mega just talks about this, or Mega just talks about that. "The True Meaning" is gonna be a hip-hop album.

ThaFormula.com - Why not just squash everything between you and Nas, record together and make money?

Cormega -I've seen somebody on the Internet say that. They said me and Nas was 2 of the best artists and that we should, but at the same time we from different worlds. The average person on the Internet or the average hip-hop consumer is not living the life that I live. They don't follow the rules that I follow. If you snitch, you don't stand for nothing. It's just certain things you can't do. I'm a convicted felon, I was up North. I'm a street nigga and when you tell somebody, "suck yo dick," those words get people killed. That's equivalent of disrespecting somebody's mother. Matter a fact that's worse. I would rather Nas say I'm a pussy, then to tell me to suck his dick. There is no way in hell you gonna tell me to suck your dick and then I'm just gonna do a record with you. I don't play those type of games, so when I catch up to him and whatever, whatever. After all that then we can be cool, but I'm gonna punch Nas in his face, that's just the bottom line!!

ThaFormula.com - So what's the "American Beauty" type track on this new album?

Cormega - I don't even know if there is a song like that. Certain things you just can't duplicate. It's like Kobe is nice as hell, but he's not Jordan. I don't even know if I can make another "American Beauty" at this moment.

ThaFormula.com - Well which track off the new album means a lot to you like American Beauty did?

Cormega - On this album there is a song called "Therapy" that means a lot to me because it's a real hip-hop song. Let me tell you something that I'm doing on this album. I got scratching and cuts and stuff like that from DJ's on this album. Like a lot of the young hip-hop consumers take the DJ for granted. That's hip-hop man. Graffiti, DJing, rappin', and all that is the embodiment of one culture, so it's like I'm trying to bring all of that in to this music that we all love.

ThaFormula.com - I'm really happy to hear that man because that is definitely a special thing right there that needs to be addressed. Did you get any well-known DJ's or just personal friends of yours on the album?

Cormega - One guy I got cutting he's been in the game a lot. He just hasn't gotten his dues. I got Ayatollah scratching who is a well renowned underground producer. I haven't gotten a track from Ayatollah at the moment. I'm still waiting on one, but he's scratching on the album.

ThaFormula.com - Is there anything you wanna say before we close this out?

Cormega -Nah, I just wanna say thank you for having me man and just that the album is gonna be the truth! I'm not even gonna big up the album. I don't even wanna say much, just you'll see. My final two words is just, "You'll See." I'm also working on the product that people been waiting for, for years from me. I'm trying to get "The Testament" back right now as we speak.

ThaFormula.com - So what's the status on "The Testament?"

Cormega - Well Def Jam. I don't know about them dudes sometimes. First they was like, just give us $250. Then I got a little hot and they raised it up to $350 and now it's like, I don't know what they wanna do. I don't know if they even wanna give it to me now. Let's hope that at the time that this gets printed, that I will have it by then.

ThaFormula.com - So if you get it what are your plans for it?

Cormega - I'm putting it out. I will put it out around Christmas time or New Years. It will definitely be put out as an album. It will be the album that the people always wanted. "The Testament." I would give people "The Testament" how I originally envisioned it to be. Like I would take one song from "The Realness" album that I would have put on "The Testament" if it would have came out on time. I'll take one song off of this new album that I would have put on "The Testament." I'll give people all the songs that they were used to from "The Testament," and all the songs that they never heard from "The Testament," and I'll let them feel it how it should have been so they understand my rhymes.

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