via Cory Henry YouTube / BroBible
Cory Henry sang the national anthem before the Lakers hosted the Heat on Nov. 2 at Crypto.com Arena.
He crushed it, and the clip has pulled in nearly 60,000 views in less than a week on his YouTube. You have to watch it:
A week or so earlier, Cory sat down with me for SIDE QUESTS, my interview series on the BroBible YouTube channel.
We talked about his new gospel album, Devotion, ripped some 1989 NBA Hoops packs, and argued about Isiah Thomas. Here are the highlights.
1. The Knicks helped him finish his album
With two days left on his deadline, Cory needed a pep talk. He got one from the Knicks, who had just come back from down 29 against the Spurs in Game 4 of the Finals.
“If they could come back from down 29 in the fourth quarter, then I could come back from down 29 in my fourth quarter,” he said.
2. Stevie Wonder came in on his day off
Cory left a solo open on “Something Happens” for eight months, waiting for Stevie Wonder. When he finally sent the track, Stevie offered to do it later. Cory told him he needed it now, and Stevie showed up.
Cory has his ranking settled. “He’s the greatest ever,” he said. “Of all time, and no debates. Period. Stamp it.”
3. The orchestra recorded at Motown speed
Brent Fisher, who handled the orchestration on Devotion, recorded his parts with a full orchestra in about a day. Cory loves that pace.
“That’s how he’s moving. Like Motown,” he said. “Get that thing on the press and get it out. Let’s get it done. We got things to do.”
4. His church band played Latin music and 808s
Cory grew up playing in church in Brooklyn, but it wasn’t all hymns. His godfather, Bishop Jeffrey White, let the young musicians play whatever they wanted.
“On a Sunday morning, you could hear some funk, or we’d be playing some Latin,” he said. “I started bringing my computer to the church, and we started playing 808s and dropping the drum loops like we was in Madison Square Garden.”
5. He called his shot at age 5
After a service when Cory was a little kid, his pastor asked whether he would play for the church or for the world. He picked the world. He took his first tour to Thailand around age 20, and he never really came back.
“I didn’t realize what I was saying,” he said. “But as a grown man, I’m having my best experiences doing what I’m doing right now.”
6. He used to sneak into clubs as a teenager
At 16, Cory was slipping into Village Underground in Manhattan to watch older musicians play. He eventually landed a three-year Sunday night residency there. Later, drummer Robert “Sput” Searight brought him into Snarky Puppy.
“I used to have to sneak in,” he said.
7. He had a rookie Shaq
Cory was a serious card collector as a kid. His prized pulls were a rookie Shaq, a rookie Penny Hardaway and Jordan’s comeback “45” card. He also had Larry Johnson and an Atlanta-era Dikembe Mutombo.
“I had so many cards,” he said. “My book used to have the card plastic. If you had a double, you put them all in.”
8. The 1989 packs had some surprises
The card shop sold us the wrong year, so we never found the Mark Jackson card we were looking for. The packs still delivered. Cory got a Larry Bird and a pre-Bulls Bill Wennington in a Dallas jersey. “I never seen Bill Wennington on another team besides the Bulls,” he said. He also stuck up for the Bad Boy Pistons. “Shout out to Isiah Thomas. Put some respect on his name.”
By the end, he was ready to start collecting again. “That made me want to get in the cards again,” he said.
Watch the full SIDE QUESTS episode with Cory Henry on the BroBible YouTube channel, and stream Devotion everywhere. If you want more, I wrote up 10 lessons I took home from the conversation over on my Substack, Wenerd’s World.