Cory Jreamz, currently 19 years of age, is a rapper hailing from Houston, TX. But don’t let his H-Town origins fool you; Cory boasts none of the typical traits found from rappers in the Houston rap scene. Instead he proclaims himself as the “Black Marlon Brando”. Cory’s latest project is his Invictus EP which runs at six tracks long and he claims is inspired by legendary film auteur David Lynch, dropping out of school, and the legendary American author Ernest Hemingway. After listening to the entire EP, it can be easily understood that Cory brings something interesting here. He has a braggadocious flow and spits about not caring at all about what the critics say about him as well as about wanting to dominate the game of hip hop. Although the previous are examples of common themes typically found in hip hop lyricisim, Cory displays his intelligence with historical references to Napolean, Genghis Khan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, and even director M. Night Shyamalan.

The production on Invictus easily complements the flow Cory brings to each track. The starter track “Pressure” serves as a good introduction to Cory and his status as the “Black Marlon Brando” with him stating how no one can stop his dominance. The second track “Swim” is one of my favorite tracks mainly for the energetic production and the lyrics Cory provides that can easily inspire anyone. Here he states how he can fall and get up more than twice, he has no daddy but music is his father, and how he doesn’t bother with doubters. The next two tracks, “Will You Be Here” and “Howl”, are probably my favorites off of this EP. This is not only because of Cory’s flow, but I like how the production changes towards the latter half of both tracks. The following track, “Nina”, brings more energetic production and it is this track where I realized that Cory shines best over production of this type.

The two part finisher track “Alive/NYC” has a nice ethereal feel to it in its duration and it is also a proper conclusion to Invictus, serving as a signifier that Cory Jreamz is an artist to be watched. I’m curious to see where he goes in the future as he continues to grow. You can download Invictus by clicking HERE, you can follow Cory HERE on Twitter, you can watch the video for “Alive” below via YouTube, and you can stream Invictus below in its entirety via SoundCloud.