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Murs: The Front Runner :: After a decade in the underground, Murs throws his hat into the major label ring

By Britt Brown   Photography by Kurt Iswarienko

08/08/07 :: URB 148

Murs is a man of many words. Like, many many. Dude can barely stop talking, to be honest. Fortunately for those on the receiving end of a Murs flow, his rants are the real deal, overflowing with wit, passion, positivity, humor and depth (and length).

This should come as zero surprise to those who have followed his work, vibe and legacy across the past 10-plus years of underground hip-hop. He’s dropped records on basically every label in the scene (as well as many that aren’t), toured the majority of the civilized nations on the planet, collaborated with a host of lyrical and musical visionaries (from Slug to Living Legends to 9th Wonder) and spread his storytelling humanism to countless young heads looking to follow the beat of a different, well, beat.

Ever since Murs started dropping solo LPs back in the late ’90s (beginning with F’Real in ’97), he’s adhered strictly to a “record, release, tour, repeat” lifestyle/work-style regimen, with very few free windows in which to pause, chill and refl ect on all that he’s accomplished. And that’s fine ’cause he’s nothing if not a workaholic, and momentum lost can certainly be a challenging thing to rev back up. But, for anyone with a penchant for pondering, there’s no question that Murs is currently at the single most crucial crossroads in his entire rhyming-and-stealing career. He is halfway complete with that most-dreaded anti-underground achievement: the major-label debut.

Murs For President is slated for a September release on the Def(initely) Not Jux label Warner Bros. Records alongside the Ocean’s 13 soundtrack and some Linkin Park DVD, probably. It’s not where most Murs fans would expect to find their dreadlocked Mid City hero, but he sees it differently. “I didn’t get into [the music business] to be Murs,” he says. “I wanted to be Ice Cube; I wanted to be LL Cool J; I wanted to be Run-D.M.C. I wanted to be played on radio. There was nothing wrong with it when I grew up.” These days, of course, there’s plenty wrong with the radio—for instance, it doesn’t play Murs. Until now, that is.

Having toiled in the creatively fertile (though financially erratic) terrain of the United States hip-hop underground as long as he has, Murs is no stranger to the cries of “sellout!” periodically hurled at any rapper/MC who dares to climb a couple rungs of the music-biz ladder.

He’s aware of the situation, and his inspirations haven’t changed. “For all the fans that are gonna hate me [for signing to WB], go check the liner notes to Good Music,” says Murs, referring to his 1999 album. “I said that my goal was to sell 13 million records. And I thought for the longest time it was gonna be me releasing 30 albums and selling 500,000 of each. But now I have the chance to be on MTV, and motherfucker, I’m gonna take it. But I’m bringing all of you with me. Everybody who’s supported me for the past 10 years, we are going to MTV. That’s why it’s Murs For President ’cause if I have to play politics with this bullshit industry, I’m going to be the motherfucking president. I’m not gonna be a senator. I’m not gonna be in the House of Representatives.”

Fortunately for him and us, however, his new label has had the good sense to recognize a pro when it sees one and let him just do his thang, as it were. “Warner Bros. has been really good with me, man,” says Murs. “They just said, ‘Who do you want to work with? Who do you not want to work with? We’re here, but we’re hands off. Turn in a record, and we’re gonna put it out because you know what you’re doing.’” So what, exactly, is Murs doing? Good question ’cause it might not be what you expect. “Right now more than anything I’m just really on this Rasta, peace-and-love kick,” he says, eyes wide with excitement as he fi ngers one of two giant dreadlocked clumps sprouting from his head. “I look just like when I was 17 but with no facial hair.” It’s a good look—even with the My Chemical Romance shirt he’s sporting.

Eyeliner-rock fashion statements aside, Murs’s career motivations might be seen as uncharacteristically lofty in light of the largely “no heroes” attitude of much underground hip-hop ideology. But in his eyes, it’s not about fame or cash or skyscraper-sized billboards with his mug glaring out. It is not, to quote a Murs hero, about a salary; it’s all about reality. It’s about music as a message, too, and getting that music/message into as many ears as he possibly can. “Money has never been a motivation for me to do shit,” he says. “But if I’m going to change hip-hop—and I love hip-hop—and I’m offered a chance to be an infl uence on making a positive change, I’d be an asshole to tell Warner Bros., No. I’ve done all I can do in the independent scene.”

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