The Realness is the debut studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Queensbridge rapper Cormega

Cormega

Cory Mckay , better known as Cormega, is an American emcee best known for his vivid and poignant narratives about inner-city life.- Early life :...

.

Cormega rose to fame in the mid-90s as an original member of The Firm crew, along with Nas

Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...

, AZ

AZ (rapper)

Anthony Cruz , better known as AZ is a Grammy-nominated American rapper of Dominican & African American descent. He is known for being a long time and frequent rhyme partner of Nas, and also a member of hip-hop group The Firm alongside Nas, Foxy Brown, Cormega and Nature.In a countdown of the 10...

 and Foxy Brown, appearing on the song "Affirmative Action" from the Nas

Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...

 album It Was Written

It Was Written

It Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, released July 2, 1996 on Columbia Records in the United States. Following the moderate sales success of his acclaimed debut album, Illmatic , Nas chose to focus his efforts in a more mainstream direction...

. After being booted from the group, Cormega signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings

Def Jam Recordings

Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...

, and recorded The Testament. The album was shelved, and Cormega was dropped from label, joining LandSpeed Records for his first official release. The Realness was re-released in 2007 with The True Meaning

The True Meaning

The True Meaning is the second studio album by Queensbridge rapper Cormega. It was critically acclaimed and won the prestigious "Independent Album of the Year" at the Source Awards 2003. He also received "Impact Artist of the Year" honors at the Underground Music Awards. It was praised for its...

, Cormega's second album, from 2002, in a double special-edition package.

Track listing

#	Title	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Performer (s)
1	"Dramatic Entrance"	C. McKay	J-Love	Cormega
2	"American Beauty"	C. McKay	Cormega	Cormega
3	"Thun & Kicko"	C. McKay, A. Johnson, K. Muchita	Havoc	Cormega, Prodigy Prodigy (rapper) Lance Albert Johnson Banks, better known as Prodigy, is an American rapper and one half of the hip-hop and rap duo Mobb Deep....
4	"The Saga"	C. McKay	Big Ty	Cormega
5	"R U My Nigga?"	C. McKay	Jae Supreme	Cormega
6	"Unforgiven"	C. McKay	Spank Brother	Cormega
7	"Fallen Soldiers"	C. McKay	J-Love	Cormega
8	"Glory Days"	C. McKay	Jae Supreme	Cormega
9	"Rap's a Hustle"	C. McKay	Ayatollah Ayatollah (producer) Lamont Dorrell, better known as Ayatollah is a Hip-Hop producer from Queens, New York who has produced for predominantly New York-based rappers including Mos Def, R.A. The Rugged Man, Tragedy Khadafi, Wordsworth, Vast Aire, Afu-Ra, Guru, M.O.P., Inspectah Deck, Cormega, Ghostface Killah as well as...	Cormega
10	"Get out My Way"	C. McKay	Sha Money XL Sha Money XL -Dream Big Ventures:With Distribution from The Orchard, Sha Money founded a new record label, Dream Big Ventures. Quickly upon its creation, Sha Money signed close Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit affiliates DJ Whoo Kid and Stat Quo, as well as former Young Money artist, Kidd Kidd. Sha is currently trying to...	Cormega
11	"You Don't Want It"	C. McKay	Godfather Don Godfather Don Godfather Don is a New York City hip hop record producer. He was in Cenobites with Kool Keith and The Groove Merchantz with Victor Padilla, The Beatnuts production team. He has been "a creative force within New York City's underground hip-hop scene" since he appeared with debut in...	Cormega
12	"5 for 40 (A capella)"	C. McKay		Cormega
13	"They Forced My Hand"	C. McKay	Spunk Bigga	Cormega, Tragedy Khadafi Tragedy Khadafi Percy Chapman IV, known by his stage name Tragedy Khadafi, and formerly known as Intelligent Hoodlum, is an American rapper and producer who hails from the Queensbridge housing projects in Queens, New York, which has spawned other hip hop artists such as Nas, Cormega, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga,...
14	"Fallen Soldiers (Remix)"	C. McKay	The Alchemist The Alchemist (producer) Alan Daniel Maman , better known as The Alchemist, is an American hip hop producer, DJ and rapper. He hails from Beverly Hills, California...	Cormega
15	Killa’z Theme (Bonus Track)	C. McKay, K. Muchita, A. Johnson	Havoc	Cormega, Mobb Deep Mobb Deep Mobb Deep is an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consists of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast hip-hop groups." The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery, as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones...

Samples

• "American Beauty"
  • "I've Been Watching You" by Southside Movement
    Southside Movement
    The Southside Movement was an American soul and funk musical group from Chicago, Illinois. Composed of vocalist Melvin Moore, guitarist Bobby Pointer, keyboardist Morris Beeks, bassist Ronald Simmons, drummer Willie Hayes, alto saxophonist Milton Johnson, trumpeter Stephen Hawkins, and trombonist...
    
    
• "R U My Nigga?"
  • "Night Moves" by Frank McDonald
    Frank McDonald
    -Life:He was born in 1950 and educated at Kelly's Private School, Cabra Road; St Vincent’s CBS Glasnevin and University College Dublin, graduating with a BA in 1971...
    
    
• "Unforgiven"
  • "Passacaglia" by Yusef Lateef
    Yusef Lateef
    Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
    
    
• "Rap's a Hustle"
  • "I Choose You" by Willie Hutch
    Willie Hutch
    Willie McKinley Hutchison, known professionally as Willie Hutch was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s....
    
    
• "Fallen Soldiers"
  • "Beggar's Song" by Wet Willie
• "They Forced My Hand"
  • "Signal Your Intention" by Hodges, James and Smith
• "Glory Days"
  • "Each Day I Cry A Little" by Eddie Kendricks
    Eddie Kendricks
    Eddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...
    
    
• "You Don't Want It"
  • "Alone In The Ring" by Bill Conti
    Bill Conti
    William "Bill" Conti is an American film music composer who is frequently the conductor at the Academy Awards ceremony.-Early life and career:...
    
    

Album singles

Single information
"You Don't Want It" Released: 2000 B-side: "Take Mine" & "Killaz Theme"
"Get Out My Way" Released: September 25, 2001 B-side: "R U My Nigga?"

Singles chart positions

Year	Song	Chart positions
		Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	Hot Rap Singles
2000	You Don't Want It	-	-	41