Brolin: So tell me about the new album. What does The True Meaning bring to the table?

Cormega: Well, The True Meaning, I'm trying to make it as consistent with The Realness as possible, but what it brings to the table that The Realness lacks was, like I have a song called "Soul Food," that's about a relationship with a woman, and there's 3 songs that have actual DJ scratches on them.

Who else you got on there?

Large Professor scratched on this album. He's the only [other] artist that raps on the record.

Any plans for a tour?

Were supposed to start a tour in September, but I'm gonna be doing individual shows and promotion up until September. Right now, on tour its looking like me, Beatnuts, and I don't know who the third group is, but its gonna be real hip-hop

oriented.

You have a tune on there where you give it up for the old school QB guys. Do you have any plans to collaborate with any of them for future projects?

I mean, the song when I'm talking about all the old school cats, it's not even necessarily just rap people. That's one of the biggest misconceptions about Queens is like, there's more to Queens than just rap. You know what I'm saying? Like we have Ron Artest, he plays on the Indiana pacers, and Vern Fleming who also was an NBA legend, he retired, he use to play for the Indiana Pacers, he's from Queensbridge also. You have Lou DeValle, he's a light heavyweight boxing champion. So it's like, I was talking about the regular people, the people that have 9-5 jobs, or some of the rappers from back in the day. I'm talking about the regular people, the people that make Queensbridge what it is.

Your first record was universally acclaimed as one of the best debuts ever. Did you think it would be so successful when you were recording it?

I mean, the reaction to it was better than I thought it would be, but, its like, I knew it was good. I can't say I knew it was good cuz that'll be sounding cocky, [but] every artist has to have a confidence in himself, you know what I'm saying? So, I knew that the project was consistent with what hip-hop appreciators wanted and what street people wanted. But I didn't know how the world would take it, because, at this moment still, I still feel like I'm an underdog. So um, when it received the response that it did, it overwhelmed me. Like the some of fan letters that I received, like I literally almost started crying.

Are you gonna keep everything Legal Hustle? Or would you take a major label deal if the right company stepped to you?

Well as far as Legal Hustle, that's my company and its like, that's what I want all my emphasis, I want my vision to go through Legal Hustle. So if I get another deal, it'll have to be through Legal Hustle. As far as a major, I have no problems with a label�Like my next album, I don't know if I want to be indy. It's like, I might wanna be indy but it's like I already proved my point. I still moved over a 100,000 with The Realness, and next month will make a year that The Realness was out. So for me to sell over 100,000 in a year's time, for an independent project�

That's huge.

So, after The True Meaning comes out, I don't know what its gonna do, but if it does good numbers then it's like, then I'm proving that I have a strong market value, and with the right push I could be a gold selling artist.

Do you see yourself signing other artists in the future?