The firm was a hip hop group consisting of 4 members. One of the members, Cormega was later replaced by Nature.
Nas – Nasir Jones known as Nas is a rapper from Queensbridge. He dropped out of high school but still maintained a high degree of literacy and a wide range of vocabulary which is evident in his lyrics. His debut album Illmatic is widely considered as one of the best hip hop albums of all time. Nas is well known for his feud with Jay-Z.
AZ – Anthony Cruz known as AZ is a rapper from Brooklyn. A long time rapping partner of Nas, he was the only guest on Nas’ debut album, Illmatic. AZ released his debut album in 1995, Doe or Die. He is known for his multi-syllabic rhyming pattern.
Foxy Brown – Inga Fung Marchand known as Foxy Brown is a female rapper from Brooklyn. She won a talent show in Brooklyn when she was a teenager and drew the attention of producers. The Trackmasters produced her debut album, Ill Na Na which sold very well. Foxy brown is considered as one of the most successful female rappers.
Cormega – Cory McKay known as Cormega is a rapper from Queensbridge. Cormega grew up in Queensbridge forming childhood friendships with notable rappers such as Nas and Mobb Deep. He witnessed his mother’s murder when he was 4 years old and went to jail when he was a teen. After being released from jail, he released a debut album The Realness. He is known for talking about inner-city life in his songs. He disbanded from the group after a feud with Nas’ managaer Steve Stoute.
Nature – Jermain Baxter known as Nature is a rapper from Queensbridge. He went to school with Nas, who noticed his talent for rhyming. Nature was introduced to The Firm as a replacement for Cormega. He released his first album For All Seasons in 2000. He eventually got into a lyrical battle with Nas after The Firm disbanded.
The Firm’s first song was amazing but after Cormega left, their first and only album disappointed me. The songs were aimed to be mainstream and there wasn’t much chemistry between them. The song Affirmative Action seems to be the best song The Firm has created, being released in Nas’ album It Was Written. The song is great but Foxy Brown needs to take grade 2 math again. In her verse, she attempts to do math:
Thirty-two grams raw, chop it in half, get sixteen, double it times three
We got forty-eight, which mean a whole lot of cream
Divide the profit by four, subtract it by eight
We back to sixteen
So lets break this math down to see what the answer is.
32/2 = 16.
16 x 2 x 3 = 96. I dont know where Foxy Brown got 48 from …
48/4 = 12.
12-8= 4.
Clearly Foxy Brown doesn’t know how to do math. Good thing shes a rapper and not a mathematician. Other than that the rest of the song is ill. Take a listen:
Diggin In The Crates 