The Curious Case Of Cory Gunz

It was around the year of 2004 or 2005 and one of my favorite things to do was watch the “Smack” dvd’s that used to come out. “Smack” was like the true sounds from the underground and usually featured unsigned hype spitting freestyles, rap battles, and interviews with some of the industry’s up and coming artists. I remember the staples of the “Smack” dvd’s like Jae Millz, Serius Jones, Murda Mook, and others. There were alot of talented artists that would show up and shine, but there was one artist who really caught my attention. It was this 14 year old kid who went by the name of Cory Gunz and he spit this freestyle over Cam’Ron’s “Get’Em Girls” instrumental that was pure fire! Not since Shyheim The Rugged Child had I heard a kid spit so tough so I to look this kid of and see if he had any other material out there whether they were freestyles or actual tracks. I ended up stumbling upon a few of his mixtapes and he was definitely not a flash in the pan wonder. He was worth the hype he was starting to generate. He had a guest appearance on a Rihanna track, was destroying various instrumentals with his venomous bars and rapid fire double time flow, and torching any track he appeared on. All that was left was major backing and an album and he was on his way! Then came 2010 and it was about to happen! He inked a deal with Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment which was under the world famous Cash Money Records and it was time to blow! He appeared on Lil Wayne’s smash hit “6 Foot 7 Foot”, recorded an amazing solo of Wayne’s other smash hit “A Millie” and appeared on a number of Young Money artist’s tracks where he sometimes outshined the rest of the team. The stage was set for Gunz to finally drop an album and skyrocket to the moon. But it never happened. He would make cameo features here and there, but that one hit and album never came. He even had some backing by Nick Cannon and had a show, but none of it propelled him to the superstardom he deserved to have. To this day, I’m not sure why it never happened and whether it was politics behind the scenes or something else that caused him to not smash through that glass ceiling, but he had (and still has) the talent to get there even in his mid 30’s. I would definitely recommend going back and listening to his older music if you’re not too familiar with him and see why he once set the hip hop game on fire.