How did you get your stage name?
I searched thru the C's in the dictionary to find the word that fit me best, since my first name is Corey. With an array of talents from writing drawing painting filmmaking & photography, all those elements mixed together makes a complex. Plus I was teased as a child about the way I spoke, so I developed a complex about speaking out loud. Plus my rhymes style were very intricate in the beginning. So all the definitions of the word fit me to the T. I put the Mr in front so you’d know it's a person. Plus, ‘Mr Complex’ abbreviated makes ‘MC’.
How did Forever New come together? What made you decide to do another album and what was the recording process? Did it come together all at once or piece by piece?
I've been recording this album for about eight years. After high school my first producer Omega Supreme was also a close friend of mine. He was also Organized Konfusion’s DJ. Pharoahe Monche gave me a call in 2008 telling me Omega was about to pass. He had a few days left due to cancer. So I had to give him a call. I hadn’t spoken to him in over 15 years. On the hospital trip I ran into other friends I hadn’t spoken to in several years as well. One of them was Mortal 1. He retired early from the work force - he didn't pursue the music straight away, as we did. But he told me Omega taught him how to use beat machines. After the funeral I went to check his beats. I was blown away, and just being back in Southside Queens I decided to record a whole album in light of Omega Supreme’s passing. Mortal wasn’t familiar with the biz and didn't care on its movements. He work when he wanted. During football season it was a wrap. And the final years he move to Atlanta so I had to travel back and forth to finish. He would play me a gang of beats I would pick two to take home to write and come back to record and leave with new tracks.
What’s the first rap song you ever heard? Describe the moment.
The first rap song I heard had to be the first two rap songs ever made. I was born before this rap came about. But the first joint to move me had to be “The Breaks” by Kurtis Blow. I remember listening to the radio in amazement.
How did the collaboration with O.C. come together? How was the song created?
O.C. been fam since day one. I should have been on his first album - look at the shout outs on Word… Life. People get busy in their careers and take random paths, but we will always be fam. So when I was painting this picture for this album I needed that O.C. color to bring it together.
What made you decide to become a rapper?
I became a rapper because when I lived in Hempstead, Long Island, I lived in a building and people there knew me as ‘that Queens cat’. They made a rap about me going to summer school. I made one about them. We went back and forth until I got good. The neighborhood wanted to battle me but I was on another level. But I was still super shy to get on stage. It was just for fun, until I saw people I actually knew making records, then I was like “I can do it if they can”.
