Product Reviews
Playing like a long, impassioned love letter to hip-hop until it swerves at the end, Murs collaborative album with producer Ski Beatz comes alive when it s singing the praises of Eazy-E or honoring A Tribe Called Quest with 67 Cutlass, a new version of the I Left My Wallet in El Segundo -style story track. Key cut Hip Hop and Love name-checks ATCQ along with MC Lyte and others, all while Beatz s production tastefully bubbles underneath like some post-disco track from the most fashionable part of Italy. Horns and bluesy guitars are what Beatz brings elsewhere, and it s a testament to the always entertaining, sometimes enlightening Murs that the album hangs together thanks to his words. Fans worried that he s laid off the political material should check the killer closer, Animal Style, an about-face in tone that leaves the listener decimated and downtrodden with its shocking story. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
Product Notes
2011 release from the hardest-working rapper alive. If he's not running circles around America as part of Paid Dues, the annual Hip Hop festival that he created and organized, he's doing backflips across a stage in Budapest, or shaking hands with fans in Japan before catching a bullet train to a packed in-store performance. When he's not on the road, he's in the studio, feverishly adding album after album to a cavernous discography. From the rhymes in his notepad to the hair on his head, Murs is not your average rapper. Hell, he's not your average guy. Never has been. Listening to Murs is something like listening to a regular guy who just happens to know how to rap. His lyrics are straightforward, down-to-earth, and honest, delivered with a vocal tone and forcefulness that recalls a slightly more relaxed Ice Cube.