Legal Hustlin'...

Being raised in the largest public housing development in North America can be a serious mind fuck. Nas once said, as a child growing up there, he felt "Queensbridge is the whole world," because of the numerous languages spoken on the blocks it's 96 buildings occupy.

It was in this maze of crack sales and violence that Corey "Cormega" McKay first began his journey to rap stardom. A lot has changed in Queensbridge, just as a lot has changed in 'Mega. His outlook on his purpose has grown exponentially. With a new album, Mega Philosophy (which is to be completely produced by Large Professor), due out shortly and a show at Knitting Factory Brooklyn on Friday Cormega is anxious to get his message out to the people. And rightly so. Peep the jewels he bestowed on us.

See also: Tweets is Watching - Let's Make Cormega ESPN's New Guest Tweeter For Knicks Games

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Cormega

In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

New York City rap veteran Cormega is currently readying up his latest album, the Large Professor-produced Mega Philosophy. During a quick bout of recording downtime, we got him to explain away his Twitter timeline references to the perils of kush brownies, the merits of allowing dogs to roam free in rap clubs, and why he should be ESPN's designated tweeter during Knicks games.

See also:
-Meat Guns, Weed Brownies, and Riesling: Our Conversation With Roc Marciano
- Sean Price: "Cornell West Is the Devil"

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Large Professor cuts an outside figure in the New York hip-hop scene these days. As a producer who also happens to rap in an endearingly economical manner, he's integral to any overview of hip-hop's storied golden era--he tutored under Paul C, contributed production input to Eric B & Rakim songs, scored a classic with his own group Main Source's Breaking Atoms, and helped kick-start the career of a [then] Nasty Nas when Queensbridge's golden son was still rocking a band-aid over his cheek in promotional pics. But since his late-'80s emergence, Large Pro's solo career has unfortunately faltered, with his intended solo debut The LP caught up in label politics and long-delayed, and his subsequent statement on Matador, First Class, resonating limply at best. As a producer, Large Pro has never caught a particularly pop break either--unlike, say, DJ Premier he's never been handed an opportunity to gallivant with a feisty chanteuse. Instead, he's maintained a dedication to working with grass-roots New York rap talent as if the very idea of cracking the mainstream is absurd.

Large Pro's newest project, the album Still On The Hustle, reunites him with fellow Queens resident Neek The Exotic--a pairing last heard on 2003's Exotic Is Raw set, for which Large Pro handled around half of the production duties. It's a release unlikely to trouble those whose RSS feeds frolic above rap's underground layer, but it's a collaboration that allows Large Pro to continue to dwell in a hip-hop world of his own creation. When I interviewed him a couple of years ago, he was late because he was cycling around Flushing Meadows Park while listening to his iPod--the impression given was that he'd prefer to produce at his own leisurely pace and on his own terms rather than pucker up and play the major-label game. It's a stance that should be applauded. With that in mind, here are ten commendable hometown anthems produced--as opposed to remixed, which would be a whole other lengthy listicle--by Flushing's finest self-proclaimed "live guy with glasses."

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