Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
As KRS-1 has made us all aware, the (South) Bronx is where hip hop originated. While the music was originally pioneered by Bronx DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa, the area would eventually develop some of the best MCs in the game, too. The Cold Crush Brothers, KRS-1 and BDP, Kool Keith and the Ultramagnetic MCs and others represented the Bronx in hip hop through the 80's and the early 90's.
Around 1993, though, the other boroughs of the city began to dominate rap, with Staten Island represented by Wu-Tang, Brooklyn by Biggie and Queens by Nas, as the Bronx moved to the background. It wasn't until the late 90's that the Bronx started making big moves once again. The movement started with Fat Joe and his Bronx-based crew Terror Squad, who would eventually introduce Big Pun to the world. This was soon followed by Deja Vu, the multi-platinum single by Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq which reminded everyone once again where rap came from.
Just a couple of years later, with Big Pun's death and the increasing irrelevancy of the Terror Squad, Bronx had fallen off the radar once again. Now in 2006, the banner for Bronx rap has been picked up by the son of one of the best MCs from the borough, Peter Gunz. Cory Gunz takes the lyricism that his father had, but spits with a much harder edge than Peter Gunz, who spent much of his career as the rap sidekick for Shaq. Normally I would be suspicious of a 14 year old (at the time) rapping about drugs and shootouts, especially when that 14 year old's godfather is multimillionaire Shaquille O'Neal. As mentioned previously, though, Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz had legitimate ties to the gang Sex, Money and Murder, so I'm willing to believe that Cory has seen at least some of the violence that he raps about.
Cory Gunz first got noticed with an appearance on the Smack DVD series. Smack was doing a feature on Lord Tariq and recorded some extra footage of a freestyle by Cory, who Tariq had brought along. The freestyle made the cut for Volume 3 of the DVD series and led to Cory releasing a line of mixtapes and receiving attention from Sony, Bad Boy and Def Jam. I couldn't find footage of his original appearance, but here are a couple of other video clips:
Smack DVD Freestyle (Get 'Em Girls beat)
In The Streets DVD clip
Of all the New York mixtape MCs that are being discussed as the next big thing in hip hop (Jae Millz, Stack Bundles, Papoose, Saigon, etc), I think Cory Gunz has the most potential. His lyricism is equal to Papoose's, but he manages to be a lot more charismatic (see: crowd going silent during Papoose appearance at BET awards). His flow is more advanced than any of the other mixtape rappers, as he is able to rapper slow or fast, a trick that most NY rappers can't pull off.
While Cory has drawn attention from all of the major labels, including most recently a rumored signing with Jay-Z and Def Jam, his site says that he is signed to Casablanca records. I don't know all of the details behind the signing, but this may not have been the best move for his career. Casablanca, started up by Tommy Mottola in 2004, has not signed any other rap acts. Cory's original album, The Commencement, was scrapped after he finished recording it, and the status of the record label itself is uncertain after its two main artists (Lindsay Lohan and Brie Larson) left the label to sign elsewhere. If Cory is able to get his label situation straightened out, he certainly has the potential to be the next great NY MC. Here are a couple of tracks from his Apprentice mixtape series:
Rap over Maroon 5 beat
Freestyle over Biggie and Bone-Thugs beat
For more, check out his MySpace page.
10/3/2006 10:54:58 AM posted by Fresh