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A constant collaborator, indie rapper Murs remains strongly individual

Los Angeles rapper Murs never sought to be different as an angle or platform to get his music heard. His moniker is an acronym that translates to Making Underground Raw Shit or Making the Universe Recognize and Submit. Now in his thirties, Murs is still out to make raw music, but with a grown man’s wisdom.

Murs came up in the Living Legends collective, a group of eight rappers from the Bay Area and greater L.A. area. He’s put out seven records as a solo artist, on both indie and major labels, and worked on collaborative records with Slug of Atmosphere (as Felt), 9th Wonder, Terrace Martin, and his group 3 Melancholy Gypsys. Murs related that his openness to collaborate and exclude no one from his inner circle stems from moving a lot as a kid and an adult philosophy on acceptance.

He brings this philosophy to his Paid Dues Festival, which he held last month in San Bernardino, Calif. He said he fielded some criticism from people who crusade for “positive rap” for including the L.A. collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All on the bill.

“Just because they’re negative, doesn’t give you the right to say you’re positive, but fuck them,” he said. “As soon as you step outside of your positivity and say fuck someone else, you’re no longer being a positive person who listens to this progressive music you’re so proud of.

The same philosophy on life has to be extended to your music and the same philosophies in your music have to extend to your life. There are a lot of people who don’t do both.”

Murs’ latest album, Love and Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation, was released in October 2011, but he’s just now beginning to work on Vol. 2. In the following interview, Murs speaks more about the Paid Dues festival as well as his slate of upcoming projects, including a collaboration EP with Fresno-based rapper Fashawn.

What I’ve enjoyed about the Paid Dues Festival you throw, is that there never seems to be exclusion or allegiance to a certain sub-genre of hip-hop. You have no problem inviting Mac Miller and Dipset, along with Boot Camp Clique and Brother Ali–people who probably would never share a bill together. What’s your mindset in curating?
It’s started with me trying to get all my friends together. I was the guy that was friends with Aesop and El-P and down with the Legends. We all knew of each other, but I was the one who’d sleep at their houses and know everyone’s wives and girlfriends and kids. That kind of stuff. So I was able to bring everybody together.

In the same groove, I did a song with Kendrick Lamar–like before Dr. Dre knew who he was. So I was in with those guys. I was at the first Odd Future Christmas show. My former assistant is now their road manager. I have a genuine connection to so many people. Growing up I realized that people aren’t all that different. I seem to be in the center of this web. Five years before the Based God was born, Lil’ B was coming to my shows at Berkeley.

I don’t have any borders in my life. So the festival has always been a reflection of me bringing my friends together.

Living Legends just rocked Paid Dues together. You guys still make music together. Not a lot of groups can say that about their careers over the passage of time. What keeps everything tight knit amongst the crew?
I don’t know, man. Everybody is who they are. We’re a group of eight individuals. The name and the crew existed, and we didn’t even think about making a record together until Almost Famous in 2001. We’d been living together and touring together for years and never even thought about it. Then, it was three or four years before we thought about making another one.

As much as people say it, it was never Wu-Tang Clan or Odd Future or Hieroglyphics. It was something different. It works for us, but the individuality for other crews may not work.

Love and Rockets Vol. I is obviously part of a series. How is Vol. 2: The Emancipation coming along?
It’s not on a deadline. I think about it every day, write little notes for it, but I don’t think it will come out until like Paid Dues [Festival] 2013.

Will it be produced by Ski Beatz again?
Umm, probably not. It could always change. I know certain things about it I’m not ready to reveal yet. It was never intended to be Murs and Ski Beatz Present Love and Rockets. There will be another book with it. I can say that. It may be an electro record for all I know. It may be a symphony. I don’t know who I might meet next. I don’t want people read this article and say, “Aww, he said it was going to be Araabmuzik producing soft jazz shit.” I don’t want that down the line.

What are you looking at releasing before that? I saw on your wiki page that you’ve got an EP in the works with Fashawn.
We’ll hopefully have that done by the summer. These two producers, K-Salaam and Beatnick, we’d talked about doing something together for a while. My solo albums, up until my last one didn’t seem to be working out, so we’d been trying to find away to work together because I’m a big fan of their music. They suggested collaboration with someone, threw out possible members of The Lox and went through all these musicians and connections we both have.

Then, he brought up Fashawn, and Fash is a kid I’ve seen around and talked to, had him on Paid Dues, but we didn’t ever vibe or kick it. I’m a fan of Fash though, like I have his album [Boy Meets World] and the Grizzly City mixtapes. But it seemed like it might make sense as an outsider option. Randomly, Fash’s manager called me just asking for advice and just update on business. I told her it was crazy she called me. But I had to ask if Fashawn was even a fan of mine. I didn’t want to assume anything.

Have you recorded any songs yet for the project?
We recorded a song that was completely funny. We have a lot of similarities. He goes through the same things I go through. I’m associated with the backpack crowd like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere. He’s associated with The Alchemist and Evidence. But, we’re in a middle ground together of rapping about inner city and at-risk youth–but we’re both non-traditional with it. Things are naturally coming together. We’ve got way more in common ground than I expected.

K-Salaam and Beatnick have this really mid-to-late ‘90s sound they’re giving us. It’s sounding like, what I hope will be the West Coast version of [Only Built 4] Cuban Linx [Raekwon’s solo debut]. That’s ambitious, but you set the bar high to shoot for the stars and land on the moon, type thing. It will be for people who genuinely love Raekwon and Ghostface and Tha Dogg Pound.

Have you and Fashawn had the opportunity to record together or is it a project that’s emailed back and forth?
Every time we’re both in L.A. we’ll hang out for four or five hours. We got the name of the album, while hanging out with Maseo of De La Soul. Maseo basically named the record.

As long as there’s an understanding or friendship between the two it works. I used to think that we have to be sitting there and looking at each other. But, the more I’d talk to people like DJ Quik and hear about how he recorded All Eyez on Me, people can tell if there’s a true connection or if it’s forced.

Have there been projects you’ve turned down from a lack of connection?
Definitely. I wouldn’t name those projects though. There’s people I’m good friends with, but we haven’t made good music together. Brother Ali and me are the best of friends, but we’ve never made a song together. We’ve toured together. That’s my homie. That’s my brother. We’ve just never recorded a song together. It’s never even come up.

There are people I’ve tried to record stuff with and we both just let it sit there and nothing happened with it.

Have you considered updating the MURS acronym?
No. I’m not doing anymore. No more of that shit.

Microphone Fiend

Indie MC Eligh battles back from the depths of addiction

If you hadn’t heard from Eligh in a while, it’s because he was on the verge of death. Dramatic? Yeah, but it’s true. Eligh was unwittingly killing himself.

By the time he reached his early 20s, Eligh (born Eli Nachowitz) was already a world-renowned MC, rocking shows across the globe. But he slowly began to slip into the shadows of his crew, the Living Legends, the group of likeminded artists that he eventually came to know as family. At shows, he slurred his words and wouldn’t make eye contact with the crowd. As his crewmembers, such as Grouch and Luckyiam, began to experience a certain Zen derived from independent hip-hop success, Eligh took to wandering the streets of Los Angeles in search of booze, weed, pills and, eventually, heroin.

Eligh, once a fiend for the hip-hop life and culture, deteriorated into a straight-up junkie, set to end his existence like Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley–talented, sick, destitute and alone.

But unlike many who find themselves walking the cracked path of heroin addiction, Eligh searched within himself to find a way out. He found safety in Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and with a sturdy dedication to recovery, Eligh in November released Grey Crow–his first solo album since 2003. The album, full of Eligh’s mindful production (which strays from hip-hop to new wave, ska and rock), has climbed steadily up the iTunes hip-hop charts. With his trademark rhymes (that sped-up baritone flow), a cast of Legends crewmates, plus help from other artists (K-Flay, Pigeon John, Brother Ali and Marty James), Grey Crow has become more than just an album. It’s Eligh’s welcome back, his rebirth and his awakening.

Let’s talk about your addiction to heroin. What was the extent?
I drank and smoked weed when I was a teenager, did all the hallucinogenic mushrooms, acid–all that shit. And then I started fucking with ecstasy. I think I was like 20. And then it just went downhill from there. [When I discovered] Vicodin, I found the one for me. Opiates were my downfall. I went from Vicodin to China White within a year.

What did that do to your relationships?
My family–my mom in particular–knew something was wrong. They knew I was fucked up, but they didn’t know that I moved to heroin. I didn’t tell anybody. But they could tell that something was very wrong with me. When I was going to see my mom in Arizona she would tell me I was jaundiced. My skin was yellow. I was skinny as fuck. I was dying.

My mom has serious back and neck issues, and she takes Vicodin as prescribed. She would come visit, and I would literally empty her bottle and fill it up with Excedrin and send her home.

And she caught me. She was so upset–a mixture of being worried and disbelief. That was like the last time my mom yelled at me like I was 7. And I was 23 at the time.

When you’re in your active addiction, I was thinking, “I’m not hurting anyone but me. I’m the one doing this to myself. What are you fucking worried about?”
That’s the self-centered thinking we have when we get caught up. Needless to say, when I got clean, people were just so happy and proud. Now, it’s not just a personal thing. I feel like I have more purpose than ever, especially considering the age of people listening to me. A lot of them have no idea about recovery. It’s an amazing thing.

I’ve been sober for about as long as you. But my drug was crystal.
Oh, really? So we’re on the opposite spectrum, but on the same level.

Yup, a similar, horrible, realm. I imagine you’re more creative now.
Creatively, getting clean just opened me up–took the fog away. I could really see what I was doing when I’m doing it–and doing shit when I’m high and going, “Ah, that’s tight,” and the next day when I wake up I’m like, “What the fuck was I thinking?”

But at the same time, when I listen to my old stuff, I remember exactly where I was, exactly what I felt, and it still makes sense, because it’s still me. I just had a mask over my face.

You must hold your breath a little bit when an album comes out, huh?
Oh, hell yeah. I’ve never been more anxious than this one, because this one’s very personal. It’s like that with every project. I’m standing on the tip of my toes waiting to hear what people think. But on this one it was extra. I wasn’t nervous. I was anxious. Since it was literally me and one other guy, officially, how well it does is up to everybody else. I don’t have a machine working behind me.

So what about Living Legends?
Those are all my brothers. We’ve known each other for 15 years. We lived together for a couple years, all of us, in one warehouse. Those types of experiences don’t ever go away. Everybody has grown up more. Everybody lives in different places–a few of us in Los Angeles; Grouch, in Maui; Murs, back in Arizona; Aesop, in Fresno; and Bicasso, up in the Bay.

Living Legends have always been a crew of guys who have their own personal careers and own solo endeavors. The hardest thing is getting us all together in one place to do an album. And that’s all in the back of our heads. All of us want to get together to make that happen. Is that going to happen? I don’t know. I’m going out with Grouch in December, and I’ll be doing a solo set for the first time without a hype man. It will be a whole new fear that I’ll be working through.

I was going to ask you about that.
Yeah, dude, I had planned to bring somebody with me, but Grouch said as far as room in the van, you probably shouldn’t bring anybody else. And I’m like, fuck it. I have a 30-minute set. I’m going to do this shit by myself.

You know, 10 years ago, when I was on some crazy drugs, I went to a Living Legends show, and you came off the stage and said, “What’s up,” to me. It sounds small, but when you recognized me as human–even though I didn’t feel that way–it helped me out.

Thank you, man. That’s awesome. I was probably in a fucked up state, too.

Yes, we were probably both high as shit.
Yup.

How the Grouch Stole Christmas Tour, featured The Grouch, Brother Ali, Eligh and Los Rakas in Sacramento on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010 at Tropicana (1696 Arden Way).

All Day, All Night

Aesop Rock Wins

By Ron Barker

Aesop Rock has been a busy man this past year, releasing a full length album (None Shall Pass on Definitve Jux) and a 45-minute Nike+iPod track (All Day) as well as touring three different continents. As if that wasn’t enough, Aesop recently released a new track on his Myspace page in collaboration with Tobacco and booked a handful of shows on the west coast. I don’t know how he found the time to respond to all the questions in my e-mail. Aesop Rock, you’re a winner in my book.

Your new song “Dirt” is banging. What was working with Tobacco like? How did you guys hook up?
Thanks so much! Tobacco is one member of the group Black Moth Super Rainbow. “Tobacco” is the name he goes by for his solo work. I brought BMSR on tour with me for a lot of shows last year. I have always toured with close friends, but I decided to try to switch it up, listen to a lot of new music and blindly pick something I thought was good. I heard many, many, many terrible albums. The two that stood out as gems in an otherwise shitty pack were BMSR and the Octopus Project, who also joined us on tour for a few weeks last year. Anyway, me and Tobacco are mutual fans, and became friends over the course of the tour, we kinda all became friends, everyone on the shebang. So a couple weeks after that tour ended he sends me the beat, and I liked it a lot, and that was it. He’s got a really great sound. It’s lo-fi, but not in an annoying way, a lot of weird moods that you don’t hear often with hip-hop drums behind them.

You just got done with a lot of touring. How’d that go? Any interesting stories?
It was pretty fantastic. I mean, it also sucked at times. The fantastic times were fantastic, though. The actual shows were really great, tons of people, great vibes, good shows. Met a ton of people every night that have been supporting for many years and that is always the best shit ever. The shitty parts were shitty. Being on tour is not easy. I guess some people find comfort in it, but I don’t, and I really kinda have to pace myself. We did a long run in the US, and then to Europe, then Australia. It’s a lot of travel, a lot of time in your own head within unfamiliar surroundings. That type of stuff doesn’t cater well to my creative energy (pardon that expression), and at the end of the day I really am here to make songs. That’s what I like to do. Point blank: it’s stressful, a lot of pressure. But I loved traveling with Blockhead, and I always love Rob [Sonic] and [DJ Big] Wiz.

Last I heard, both you and Mr. Lif had moved to San Francisco. Did Murs talk you guys into it? Has Def Jux been affected by the move? Do you miss New York?
Def Jux is fine. Everyone is scattered geographically, but it’s not affecting the music. I mean as much as it can be perceived as a working unit, it should also be perceived as a bunch of individuals that got this way from hiding out and making tracks. At the end of the day, we all crawl back into our holes and loop some drums. Then we meet up, show each other the new shit, and repeat. Lif is no longer in the Bay. He’s like everywhere. Murs did not talk me into it, but I feel honored to share a piece of his coast for the time being. I’m just buggin’ out for a while. Heading back east at some point when I get around to it. Or maybe moving to a far away land, as in alternate reality or dimension.

Camp Lo makes a guest appearance on Bazooka Tooth, and if my ears don’t deceive me, you’ve sampled them on “Getaway Car.” Can I look forward to a third collaboration?
I would imagine yes at some point. Those guys are amazing—two of my favorite MCs. We just rocked a show together in Toronto earlier this year, and it was great. We’ve spoken about doing more shit, I think it just boils down to everyone being in the same place at the same time.

Tell me about working on All Day. How did the creative process for that type of project differ from other albums?
Well to boil down the problems that need solving in a project like that I guess the major hurdles were that they wanted one 45-minute track. They wanted no samples. I personally felt a quick-pace would work best, so I chose to work within the confines of a 100-120 BPM range, which is fine and all, but I’d never done that much at that tempo. Maybe one or two songs per album are near that. For hip-hop, that’s relatively quick. I just kinda made the outline of a 45-minute song. Then went in and spruced it up, made it change over every minute or so, so it was this kinda ever-morphing tune—some small vocal choruses and such. Played some bass. Recorded some guitar from my lady. I dunno it was very weird. But quite fun. It was a hectic time because my solo album was due a couple weeks after so I remember being frazzled, but it was cool nonetheless.

What have you been listening to lately? Any new rappers worth checking out? Old ones?
Lately I have been listening to a lot of Howard Stern. I like that new Outkast song with Raekwon. I like this beat that El-P just sent me. I like this new Cage song, “Dr. Strong.” I like this Chin Chin record a lot. I like this Clipse mixtape #3 not as much as #2, but it’s dope and is getting run. I can’t think of anything else I’ve heard.

Def Jux has done a bit of cross promotion with Adult Swim, and your last record got a decent amount of airtime on MTV. How has the extra exposure worked out?
The exposure has been great, but it only works when I can back up everything they make me look like. Some days I can, some days I can’t. I guess that’s where the hiding part comes in. I had a busy year, which kinda kept my name popping up a bunch. It was cool that more outlets took notice and helped me out.

How did the Build Your Own Bazooka Tooth idea work out? Any possibility of a similar instrumental/a cappella release for None Shall Pass? Any upcoming projects?
Yes, actually in mid-May we will release the instrumental, a cappella and lyrics to None Shall Pass through a revamped Def Jux site [www.definitivejux.net]. The lyrics are accompanied by the photos of Chrissy Piper. She supplied 16 images for the downloadable PDF. It will be free. The instrumentals and a cappellas will be normal price.