Meet Corey Staggz, the Guy Making Dope Rap Song Covers With a Saxophone

Last month I came across a random clip of a guy playing the saxophone along to Fetty Wap's "Again" and was so transfixed that I proceeded to write a post and play that 30-second clip over 30 times (much to my co-workers' atypical enjoyment). In the post I wrote about needing to know who this genius was on the sax and if a full version of this amazing, quite jiggy cover existed. Well, the young Coltrane in question happens to be 20-year-old Corey Staggz, and while there's no full version of "Again" his Instagram page offers the next best thing in a multitude of other song covers.

I hopped on the phone with Corey to talk about why he started doing these covers, what possessed him to hit that hilarious jig that he does in the "Again" clip (he basically "Hotline Bling"-ed the Internet—his less popular clips pre-"Again" had no dancing), and if his endgame is to drop a sax-filled mixtape or what. Flip through for all his quotes paired with his five best sax covers.

"I been playing since like second grade, a good 10 years almost something like that. Well, I wanted to play the drums, but then it was like too many people on the drums in elementary school, so they had to put me on the saxophone. I’ve been playing since then. I really didn’t want to. I wanted to stop before middle school, then I was just forced by my parents. So they just forced me the whole time to keep playing. I’d say probably senior year of high school, junior year/senior year, was when I really started getting into it.

"I started [doing covers] last year. My first [cover] was probably Trey Songz's 'Oh NaNa.' But I never did them [with] like dancing and stuff. I think that’s what really helped when I started getting into the music like Fetty Wap and stuff. That’s when I really started, after that Fetty Wap video got out there. I was just foolin’ around in the kitchen, posted it on Twitter five minutes later, and it got like a thousand retweets out of nowhere."

"I don’t really have a specific order. I listen to a lot of Fetty Wap of course, Lil Herb, Jadakiss. I don’t really listen to too much rap; I listen to a lot of battle rap. Young dude named Chess, Charlie Clips, Loaded Lux, Cassidy, Shotgun Suge, T Top. All those battle rappers on URL tv. That’s all I do all day, [watch] battle rap. I don’t listen to too much music; I listen to a lot of instrumentals. There's not really [any rap incorporating classical music]. That’s why I try to put that type of feel into the music, so I can change it up with the sax."

"[Fetty Wap] followed me during the summer back with the 'Trap Queen' video. Gucci Mane had followed me. It was random. I did a Keyshia Cole song. She followed me, but then she un-followed everybody on Twitter out of nowhere. I don’t know why. [Laughs.] Dej Loaf retweeted me [when] I played 'Try Me.' 2 Milly too, a while ago."

"I would [love to] tour with a live band. I don’t know if you know Joshua Ledet; he was on American Idol. He hit me up on Twitter one day to tell me how he would like me to be in his band, but he’s in L.A. So it’d be hard, I’m still in school, I wanna finish and all that. It’s my third year so I still have another year, or two or three. [Laughs.] Depends on how I do. I do a lot of live bands at bars and clubs, stuff like that. I usually do one first Friday of every month at Talk of the Town Hands in Connecticut. But now I’m at the point where I have to cut down on gigs and stop worrying about money so much and focus on school so I can finish and then the music will come after.

"I mean I just wanna finish school and then whatever after school happens, happens you know? I wanna blow up, but it depends on the offers I get right now. If I were to get any offers to do big bands or something like that [my plans might change], but right now I’m still trying to stay focused [on school]."