There have been many artists from New York City pegged to be the future of hip hop, but none of them have made it. Despite New York being the city of opportunities, no one looks out for each other within the city. Late in the 1990s, Jay-Z built a dynasty with Roc-A-Fella Records, but most of his artists were from Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Diddy has turned Bad Boy Records into a pop label.
While the top dogs in New York were too busy looking at the bottom line to pass the torch down, Lil Wayne decided that he should take the crown. There was no focus on Wayne and Cory Gunz was hyped as the future. One reason that he was so popular was because of the fact that he was the son of the legendary Peter Gunz. Because of this connection, Cory Gunz was quickly signed to Def Jam, but they did not promote his movement.
Lil Wayne, at the time looked at as just another rapper, returned to the mixtape scene to sharpen his lyrical knife. By the time he surfaced on the mainstream, he was dropping some of the hottest verses that the hip hop game had heard in years. In 2008, he officially returned with his sixth studio album, Tha Carter III. This album solidified Lil Wayne as the top rapper in the game and no one was looking at people like Cory Gunz.
Quietly, Cory Gunz would depart from Def Jam and return to the New York street scene in order to build his buzz. A few of his recordings found their way into the hands of Lil Wayne, who also has his own label, Young Money Entertainment. Having known Cory Gunz anyway, Lil Wayne asked him about possibly joining Young Money. The label is already home to other New York natives, Jae Millz and Nicki Minaj.
Cory Gunz knew them a little bit from his days trying to get into the game and he has always been comfortable with Lil Wayne. Those reasons made it a no-brainer for Gunz to sign with Wayne and the Young Money family. His debut album is currently set for a mid-2011 release date.
