Tragedy is one word we all can relate to. From the economy today, to ridiculous gas prices, to fledgling Hip- Hop sales ,we have all been witness to tragic situations. One person who has been hit hard with tragedy is Corey "C-Murder" Miller. Hailing from New Orleans' notorious Third Ward Calliope Projects (CP-3), C-Murder has been screaming for vengeance since a young age after seeing several murders (this is where his name stems from), experiencing poverty, to his family being heavily effected by Hurricane Katrina. But C would come to face his most life-changing tragedy in 2002. Early that year, he was charged with second degree murder for his involvement in the killing of a 16-year old boy and faced life in prison without parole. All this around the same time he was charged with disturbing the peace at a night-club that he was banned from for a previous more serious incident.

All the negativity in Murder's life has just overlooked the major amount of success hes earned. Through the early to late '90s, he was one of the highest ranking officials in one of the south's fore fathering movements The No Limit Soldiers. Breaking into the game with his brothers Silkk the Shocker and No Limit CEO and founder Master P, C-Murder made his debut as a TRU member. With critics quickly comparing the Young Buck to a southern Tupac, C initially had a hard time shaking off the comparisons. TRU's second album, Tru 2 Da Game, topped Billboard charts and sold over two million copies. That built momentum for C's first solo LP, Life or Death, which garnered platinum success. He continued to release successful albums, guest appearances and even create his own musical imprint, TRU Records.

Through all of his situations, C-Murder has been cool, calm and level headed. Hes done his time (in and out of prison) and has paid his dues all while still keeping his head up. Currently on house arrest, he sat down with HipHopDX to discuss his new album, Screamin' 4 Vengeance, his life, his No Limit family and his current situation. If HipHop as an artform is a reflection of one's reality, then C-Murder has to be one of, if not the realest artist the game has ever seen. Eight years after tremendous tragedy, C is looking for some triumph.

HipHopDX: So how does it feel to be back into the flow of things?
C-Murder: Man, it feels good. It's been a long time [that] I been waiting; I'm real excited about the project that just dropped. I'm getting a lot of good responses about the album so you know I'm excited.

DX: What do you plan on accomplishing with this project, Screamin' 4 Vengeance?
C: The main thing I want to accomplish on this project is since I been gone a minute, just to let everybody know that I'm back and let them know what level I'm on lyrically, and stuff like that, ya heard me? so I just really want to get this one to the public and let them know that C back for real and he here to stay.

DX: Being that this is your first album in a while, was it hard getting back into the creative process?
C: See, what I did was, I tried to play it smart. I wanted to be real with myself and I know I been gone a while and I ain't sit in that booth in a while, so I wanted to just sit and record beaucoup songs for like two three months till I feel like I woke up one day and said, "Dog, I'm ready now, I'm here." So once i got over that hump right there, it was all uphill from there.

DX: Who are some of the producers and guest appearances you have on here?
C: Mainly, the producers I got is my own team, Deadly Soundz I really want everybody to really listen to them and dissect their beats, nahmean? Its like three different dudes, they crucial. I got a track from 2 Deep Music - that's a group down here in New Orleans. Also 2Much did a couple of hot tracks on there, thats one of the cats from Dallas but you know everybody on there did they thing.

DX: About 10 summers ago your debut album, Life or Death, went platinum. How much would you say the game has changed since then?
C: It changed a lot, because the whole process of putting the album together and the political side with the label and stuff like that, one of the majors like Priority [Records] was running the show on our end and they end, ya heard me? So [this time around,] we had creative control over everything and made all the decisions. Nowadays since sales and stuff going down, a lot of the labels more strict on a lot of things that they allow you to do.

DX: One of the many legacies of the No Limit dynasty was selling a slew of albums before major distribution. Can you talk a little bit about the independent hustle?
C: The independent hustle [is] crucial because, for one thing, you're getting a larger percentage because you own everything. At the end of the day, you just waiting on them checks, you just got to handle your business to get the record out there and generate some sales, ya heard me? I mean nowadays cats with these majors, man, they kind of getting raped because, they get caught in the game for like seven or eight albums and getting something like 12 to 14 points on the album you know and thats ridiculous brah, so the independent game crucial if you could just make it happen and generate the sales. You get the bigger checks and get to own your masters and stuff. Continued on page 2 »