Murs 3:16 9th Edition
By: Eamon Mulligan
Conducted on 03.03.04
So I call up Murs to talk to him about a few things and to ask him some
questions about his new album. First I receive an impromptu
intervention about my burgeoning alcoholism from Murs after I tell him
that I'm a little out of it after drinking the night before...It went a
little something like this.
Eamon (E) : What's up man? You have a new album out: Murs 3:16, The 9th
Edition, can you inform me as to why you choose to release this with
Definitive Jux?
Murs (M) : Well, I was going to do an EP for them anyway and it just
turned out that we had enough songs for an EP.
(E) : OK, are you going to release your future albums through
Definitive Jux?
(M) : I don't think so. I mean you never know, but that's not the plan.
The plan was to always do an EP and a full length album for Definitive
Jux and then to go back to doing it independently after that, unless I
got a major deal or something like that.
(E) : Cool, so how did you and 9th Wonder hook up?
(M) : Through a wonderful young man named ID who works for Hiero. He
was shopping 9th's beats around and we just happened to run into each
other. I had actually been looking to get beats from 9th for about a
year before that. Anyway, he showed up at our show in Petaluma and he
had a beat CD and I listened to the first beat and originally I had
wanted to do just a remix with 9th or something but then I listened to
the second beat and then I got to the fourth beat and I told ID, "Get
this guy on the phone, we're going to do a whole project together!" So
I actually talked to him on the phone right there on the spot and he
was like, "Yeah, let's do it!" So then we did it!
(E) : So what was it like working with him?
(M) : He's a great guy! I had wanted to work with him and when I spoke
with him about doing 3:16 that was well before the whole Jay-Z thing
was even an idea, it would have been crazy if he had told us that or
even him at that point. It just so happened that after the whole Jay-Z
thing happened he didn't try to push me to the side or put my project
on the back burner or try to shop to work with bigger dudes or even
charge me more. He kept it all the same and he didn't stop taking my
calls. I mean he called me right after he left the studio with Jay-Z
and he was telling me what happened and everything. He was really,
really, really cool when he could have been a real dick head you know?
Or not even a dick head but maybe more of a shrewd businessman, but he
was real, real cool.
(E) : That's tight, so do you see any future collaborations happening
between the two of you?
(M) : Well, I don't want to speak out of my ass but I've never burned
bridges with producers before and I plan on working with everybody that
I've enjoyed working with again at some point so I hope that we will
work together again.
(E) : Cool, so had you guys heard of each other before this? I know you
said you wanted to get some beats from him but had he heard of you or
was he a fan?
(M) : Naw, I don't think he was a fan, I'm not sure if he is a fan
right now. I mean he was familiar with me and I was definitely a fan of
his but not a super huge fan, like I had never heard God's Stepson and
he had never heard Good Music or Murs Rules the World. I knew the
Little Brother stuff and he knew a couple of songs off of The End of
the Beginning.
(E) : So there has been some controversy going around the Internet
about a song, well I guess it's more like one verse on the album, did
you want to talk about that at all?
(M) : I don't even want to dignify that with a comment.
(E) : OK, so what else can we expect from this album?
(M) : Basically to me it's more like Murs Rules The World with some
more storytelling, which is what I'm really good at, I feel that it's a
well rounded album. The End of the Beginning was me being humble and me
admitting that I was still learning stuff and now that's over. Now I'm
going to just go ahead and be a normal rapper and I've never said this
before about my stuff, but it's probably the best thing that's going to
come out this year, period. I don't foresee anybody else fucking with
it, it's a dope ass album and I'm not going to say classic because
that's getting worn down and I'm not going to title my own shit
classic, but to me it's my best work to date and it's better than
anything that's going to come out or anything that I've heard and this
is coming from somebody that still buys every album that comes out
every Tuesday. I mean it's crushing everybody, my live show is crushing
everybody now, my album is crushing everybody and I'm just going to be
an arrogant asshole from this point on, I mean to to my fans but as far
as other rappers are concerned; there is no more being humble, my shit
is definitely better than anybody else's shit. All these old
motherfuckers that are trying to put out shit and come back independent
and to try to keep it alive...they're not fucking with this album. They
don't have th energy, they don't have the point of view and their words
are irrelevant and their beats are irrelevant. I feel like 9th and
myself are the best in our respective fields of up and coming artists.
We represent the next generation and what hip-hop should be sounding
like in the future and what it should sound like now. He's the best up
and coming producer and I'm the best up and coming rapper and that's
just they way I see it and combined we can't be fucked with.
(E) : OK, understandable. So what music ARE you feeling that's out
right now?
(M) : There are a couple of songs off of Cee-Lo's new album that I'm
feeling, I really wasn't feeling the whole thing, I just bought it
yesterday. I actually got this Mike Realms CD that's pretty good, the
Grey Album is pretty good. I've really been in a Juvenile mood lately
so I gotta give him his props and the Suga-Free album is coming out
which is probably the most exciting thing for me in a while. Oh, Kanye
West of course! I have to stop myself from listening to that album
because if I listen to that I won't listen to anything else.
(E) : Yeah, that's how I've been too, just bumping that constantly.
(M) : Yeah, I try not to get too comfortable and stay open minded, but
that's probably the best thing out right now.
(E) : OK, since 9th did the Threat beat on the Black Album and you have
said that you are a huge fan of Jay-Z's, was there any talk of him
maybe introducing you to Jay-Z?
(M) : Naw, I don't even think it's cool like that with them. I mean he
put 9th on and they worked together that day, but I don't think that
they are pen pals or anything like that. I'm not sure if they have even
spoken since. It's more like a connection of people our age, 9th got in
through Young Guru, who is the chief engineer for Roc-A-Fella. So it's
like Guru knows about Little Brother and then through that knows about
me and it's sort of like a network of people our age and our generation
that are coming up on the next shit. I mean like Slug, myself, Legends,
Rhymesayers, Def Jux I think are are on our level. I mean people don't
really work outside of their weight class, well more like division. Jay-
Z is in a whole other division. He stepped down and brought somebody up
and I think that that is fucking dope. It's always a good idea to keep
your ear to the streets, if I hadn't been listening then I wouldn't
have discovered 9th and I would have never known to ask to get a beat
from him. Now guys that he tried to shop beats to are coming back after
the whole Jay-Z thing. I mean these are some people's favorite rappers,
I won't say any names but a lot of people are coming back. Back then he
was telling them, "OK, I'll give you a beat for this much" and they
were telling him no, but now that the Jay-Z thing happened they're
calling and asking to get a beat for the same price still. Do it's all
bullshit.
(E) : Damn, I guess that's what happens though. Well, you have always
been pretty outspoken with your raps and I'm not trying to create beefs
but I know that there has been unspoken beefs in the past or little
hints dropped and do you have any beefs now?
(M) : No, I'm trying to get away from all of that. I really don't and
I'm not trying to say anything negative about anybody this year. All I
will say is that I don't think that anybody is fucking with me on
anything, I mean if they want to fight, if they want to rap, if they
want to do a live show, if they want to go album for album, if they
want to go marketing strategies, I think I am the ultimate independent
rap machine, period! Nobody is fucking with me and if you feel like you
want to challenge me or you have something to say then step up, but no
new people from the Internet or anything like that. Get your weight up.
I'm talking about people on my level who think that they can even fuck
with what I'm doing, then they're more than welcome to come and
challenge me. I really don't want to fight either, I'd rather keep it
musical but if you're a tough guy and you're talking tough then you can
come and beat me up if you really feel like you have to prove that as
well, I don't care. Anybody from 50 Cent down, I don't think they are
fucking with me and that's just the way that I feel.
(E) : Are you open to battling people?
(M) : Anybody with a record deal I will battle, just because I don't
think that there is anything in it for me to battle somebody who
doesn't have a record deal or if somebody has a little independent
label and they want to battle me for their whole label, I'll battle
them for their whole label if not you can put out my next album on your
label. Bring the best artist from your label, who has a track record.
Don't bring me the new hot kid off the street with the hot one liners.
I don't give a fuck about him, but if you have an established artist
who has a couple of albums under their belt, a couple of world tours,
then we'll see what's up. I mean I'm going off probably a thousand plus
shows right now in my whole career, about 5 or 6 albums, I've been
making a living off of this for a long time and I don't want to battle
any flash in the pan rapper.
By: Eamon Mulligan
Conducted on 03.03.04
So I call up Murs to talk to him about a few things and to ask him some
questions about his new album. First I receive an impromptu
intervention about my burgeoning alcoholism from Murs after I tell him
that I'm a little out of it after drinking the night before...It went a
little something like this.
Eamon (E) : What's up man? You have a new album out: Murs 3:16, The 9th
Edition, can you inform me as to why you choose to release this with
Definitive Jux?
Murs (M) : Well, I was going to do an EP for them anyway and it just
turned out that we had enough songs for an EP.
(E) : OK, are you going to release your future albums through
Definitive Jux?
(M) : I don't think so. I mean you never know, but that's not the plan.
The plan was to always do an EP and a full length album for Definitive
Jux and then to go back to doing it independently after that, unless I
got a major deal or something like that.
(E) : Cool, so how did you and 9th Wonder hook up?
(M) : Through a wonderful young man named ID who works for Hiero. He
was shopping 9th's beats around and we just happened to run into each
other. I had actually been looking to get beats from 9th for about a
year before that. Anyway, he showed up at our show in Petaluma and he
had a beat CD and I listened to the first beat and originally I had
wanted to do just a remix with 9th or something but then I listened to
the second beat and then I got to the fourth beat and I told ID, "Get
this guy on the phone, we're going to do a whole project together!" So
I actually talked to him on the phone right there on the spot and he
was like, "Yeah, let's do it!" So then we did it!
(E) : So what was it like working with him?
(M) : He's a great guy! I had wanted to work with him and when I spoke
with him about doing 3:16 that was well before the whole Jay-Z thing
was even an idea, it would have been crazy if he had told us that or
even him at that point. It just so happened that after the whole Jay-Z
thing happened he didn't try to push me to the side or put my project
on the back burner or try to shop to work with bigger dudes or even
charge me more. He kept it all the same and he didn't stop taking my
calls. I mean he called me right after he left the studio with Jay-Z
and he was telling me what happened and everything. He was really,
really, really cool when he could have been a real dick head you know?
Or not even a dick head but maybe more of a shrewd businessman, but he
was real, real cool.
(E) : That's tight, so do you see any future collaborations happening
between the two of you?
(M) : Well, I don't want to speak out of my ass but I've never burned
bridges with producers before and I plan on working with everybody that
I've enjoyed working with again at some point so I hope that we will
work together again.
(E) : Cool, so had you guys heard of each other before this? I know you
said you wanted to get some beats from him but had he heard of you or
was he a fan?
(M) : Naw, I don't think he was a fan, I'm not sure if he is a fan
right now. I mean he was familiar with me and I was definitely a fan of
his but not a super huge fan, like I had never heard God's Stepson and
he had never heard Good Music or Murs Rules the World. I knew the
Little Brother stuff and he knew a couple of songs off of The End of
the Beginning.
(E) : So there has been some controversy going around the Internet
about a song, well I guess it's more like one verse on the album, did
you want to talk about that at all?
(M) : I don't even want to dignify that with a comment.
(E) : OK, so what else can we expect from this album?
(M) : Basically to me it's more like Murs Rules The World with some
more storytelling, which is what I'm really good at, I feel that it's a
well rounded album. The End of the Beginning was me being humble and me
admitting that I was still learning stuff and now that's over. Now I'm
going to just go ahead and be a normal rapper and I've never said this
before about my stuff, but it's probably the best thing that's going to
come out this year, period. I don't foresee anybody else fucking with
it, it's a dope ass album and I'm not going to say classic because
that's getting worn down and I'm not going to title my own shit
classic, but to me it's my best work to date and it's better than
anything that's going to come out or anything that I've heard and this
is coming from somebody that still buys every album that comes out
every Tuesday. I mean it's crushing everybody, my live show is crushing
everybody now, my album is crushing everybody and I'm just going to be
an arrogant asshole from this point on, I mean to to my fans but as far
as other rappers are concerned; there is no more being humble, my shit
is definitely better than anybody else's shit. All these old
motherfuckers that are trying to put out shit and come back independent
and to try to keep it alive...they're not fucking with this album. They
don't have th energy, they don't have the point of view and their words
are irrelevant and their beats are irrelevant. I feel like 9th and
myself are the best in our respective fields of up and coming artists.
We represent the next generation and what hip-hop should be sounding
like in the future and what it should sound like now. He's the best up
and coming producer and I'm the best up and coming rapper and that's
just they way I see it and combined we can't be fucked with.
(E) : OK, understandable. So what music ARE you feeling that's out
right now?
(M) : There are a couple of songs off of Cee-Lo's new album that I'm
feeling, I really wasn't feeling the whole thing, I just bought it
yesterday. I actually got this Mike Realms CD that's pretty good, the
Grey Album is pretty good. I've really been in a Juvenile mood lately
so I gotta give him his props and the Suga-Free album is coming out
which is probably the most exciting thing for me in a while. Oh, Kanye
West of course! I have to stop myself from listening to that album
because if I listen to that I won't listen to anything else.
(E) : Yeah, that's how I've been too, just bumping that constantly.
(M) : Yeah, I try not to get too comfortable and stay open minded, but
that's probably the best thing out right now.
(E) : OK, since 9th did the Threat beat on the Black Album and you have
said that you are a huge fan of Jay-Z's, was there any talk of him
maybe introducing you to Jay-Z?
(M) : Naw, I don't even think it's cool like that with them. I mean he
put 9th on and they worked together that day, but I don't think that
they are pen pals or anything like that. I'm not sure if they have even
spoken since. It's more like a connection of people our age, 9th got in
through Young Guru, who is the chief engineer for Roc-A-Fella. So it's
like Guru knows about Little Brother and then through that knows about
me and it's sort of like a network of people our age and our generation
that are coming up on the next shit. I mean like Slug, myself, Legends,
Rhymesayers, Def Jux I think are are on our level. I mean people don't
really work outside of their weight class, well more like division. Jay-
Z is in a whole other division. He stepped down and brought somebody up
and I think that that is fucking dope. It's always a good idea to keep
your ear to the streets, if I hadn't been listening then I wouldn't
have discovered 9th and I would have never known to ask to get a beat
from him. Now guys that he tried to shop beats to are coming back after
the whole Jay-Z thing. I mean these are some people's favorite rappers,
I won't say any names but a lot of people are coming back. Back then he
was telling them, "OK, I'll give you a beat for this much" and they
were telling him no, but now that the Jay-Z thing happened they're
calling and asking to get a beat for the same price still. Do it's all
bullshit.
(E) : Damn, I guess that's what happens though. Well, you have always
been pretty outspoken with your raps and I'm not trying to create beefs
but I know that there has been unspoken beefs in the past or little
hints dropped and do you have any beefs now?
(M) : No, I'm trying to get away from all of that. I really don't and
I'm not trying to say anything negative about anybody this year. All I
will say is that I don't think that anybody is fucking with me on
anything, I mean if they want to fight, if they want to rap, if they
want to do a live show, if they want to go album for album, if they
want to go marketing strategies, I think I am the ultimate independent
rap machine, period! Nobody is fucking with me and if you feel like you
want to challenge me or you have something to say then step up, but no
new people from the Internet or anything like that. Get your weight up.
I'm talking about people on my level who think that they can even fuck
with what I'm doing, then they're more than welcome to come and
challenge me. I really don't want to fight either, I'd rather keep it
musical but if you're a tough guy and you're talking tough then you can
come and beat me up if you really feel like you have to prove that as
well, I don't care. Anybody from 50 Cent down, I don't think they are
fucking with me and that's just the way that I feel.
(E) : Are you open to battling people?
(M) : Anybody with a record deal I will battle, just because I don't
think that there is anything in it for me to battle somebody who
doesn't have a record deal or if somebody has a little independent
label and they want to battle me for their whole label, I'll battle
them for their whole label if not you can put out my next album on your
label. Bring the best artist from your label, who has a track record.
Don't bring me the new hot kid off the street with the hot one liners.
I don't give a fuck about him, but if you have an established artist
who has a couple of albums under their belt, a couple of world tours,
then we'll see what's up. I mean I'm going off probably a thousand plus
shows right now in my whole career, about 5 or 6 albums, I've been
making a living off of this for a long time and I don't want to battle
any flash in the pan rapper.
