Havoc and Cormega are two legendary New York hip-hop artists collaborating on a new joint album they previewed at Dazed in Union Square.
The night began at 10:00pm with a DJ set where a mix of Havoc and Cormega’s music alongside classic and modern hip-hop songs was played. Around 11:00pm, Havoc and Cormega entered the building to applause from the crowd. From this moment, a no phones, no cameras policy was strictly enforced to preserve the music being played.
It was imperative to the artists that no recordings were taken of the music because this album had not been released yet. Many of the songs were unfinished and didn’t even have titles yet. Havoc and Cormega explained that they planned to change beats on certain songs and add new verses before the album was released. Cormega said he wants the project to have no more than eleven songs when it is ready to be released.
The event was both a listening party and a Q&A simultaneously. Between songs Havoc and Cormega answered questions asked by Datwon Thomas, Editor in Chief of VIBE Magazine.
Havoc and Cormega answered questions about the individual songs, their careers, their lives growing up, and their relationship with one another. From the Q&A portion, it was clear that these two artists have amazing real-life chemistry which translates into their chemistry on the album.
Havoc opened up about how the loss of Prodigy affected him. Both Havoc and Cormega praised and honored the late rapper. Havoc and Prodigy make up the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep. Havoc talked about his reaction to many people calling the beat he produced for the song “Shook Ones, Part II” the greatest hip-hop beat ever. He confidently told the crowd that he always knew it was great and was happy to see the public was aware of its greatness.
Cormega stressed that the most important people in the room were his true fans, and they were the reason he was initially inspired to pursue rap, and the reason he continues to do so. He wants his relationship with audiences to be a “mutual therapeutic dynamic” where he enjoys making music and audiences enjoy listening to it and he can enjoy hearing the audience’s responses.
A blue tee shirt was created to be given out and sold to commemorate the event. It featured artwork of Havoc and Cormega by artist Casa. Additionally, there were a pair of socks being sold with “40th side” and “41st side” written on them, symbolizing Cormega and Havoc’s addresses in Queensbridge.
Photo Credits: Savanna Slusa TV