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The Living Legends emcee returns yet again on his second solo endeavor on El-P’s Definitive Jux. Except, instead of hearing a plethora of Belief or El-P tracks, this entire album was solely produced by NC's own "little brother," 9th Wonder. 9th, fresh off of Jay-Z's "threat" (which opened him to the mainstream), produced all 10 tracks of this opus, showing his allegiance to the underground. Did Murs recreate that magic seen on his Def Jux debut, or is this just a waste of eardrum beatings?
The album opens up with "Intro," a short intro/song, over a synthesized 9th beat that seems (to me at least) a little tribute to El-P’s style of producing. In that same ol' Cali drawl, Murs opens the album with lines like, "got my boy from Carolina/picked up the pen/threw my nuts on the finish line/I come to win/while you nuttin' to lose/I’ll shake you out your shoes/with ease/with moves..." He basically bitch slaps the listener with this intro; he sets the pace.
The next track finds Murs quickly getting into those "everyday/real talk" concepts he's known for, with "Bad Man!" Over a little quirky beat, with "Bad Man" vocal loops throughout the track, Murs talks about the lack of trust between females and males. A nice little track followed by the more thumping, "3:16" where Murs just rhymes with no set topic. Here's a line many of you can appreciate: "i'ma spit with this heat/until I get my credit/I’m a verbal Marshall (*martial*) artist/like I’m signed to Shady Records."
Murs does a nice job going straight for the jugular but he truly excels on the concepts. Such as with "The Pain," which finds Murs talking about how the drinks help him deal with the classic "pains of love." Or the jagged "Trevor An' Them," a tale in which Murs witnesses a neighborhood cat named Trevor rob a 7/11, the Trevor enters Murs car but leaves the money. The story is a little pointless, but Murs continuous flow makes for a good listen.
Perhaps the highlight of the album is "Freak These Tales," a jazzy 9th banger where the Living Legends MC raps about different sexual encounters; perhaps the best song as far as imagery is concerned. Murs diverges the tales with the hook, "Once upon a time in a land around the way/there lived a couple girls that would never give me play/used to wear tight shirts and short skirts everyday/everytime I tried to hit it they say "no way"/until one fine day in this land of LA/one finally slipped up and she let me have my way/she kind of turned me out/changed my life I must say/cause I haven't stopped chasing these broads to this day."
Murs continues the conceptual pieces with "H-U-S-T-L-E" where the former weed seller breaks down how he used to hustle on the block. "Walk like A Man," deals with machismo as well as a tale of a friend murdered by the gun. The ever clever 9th, laced this track with three beats: a more uptempo beat for the first third of some tough talk and bluffing, the second third gets more somber as Murs recounts a friend lost and the final third finds Murs seeing his friend in a coffin, right before he enacts revenge on the killer. Very clever indeed.
"And This Is For" may upset some people though. Murs rhymes to different shades of fans, criticizing them all. He lays out some of the following: "I don’t care what it cost/I’m not impressed my *****/that throwback jersey is a dress my *****/I remember diamonds used to be a girl's best friend/enslaving black children with the third world gems." Murs also criticizes his white fans: "I feel I should have the scans white rappers have/its sad but that’s the way it is/what’s the reason that my album doesn't sell like his?/and don't front like you don’t know why the hell that is/its because he's white/you could relate to his face/through the years you've been taught that Black is unsafe/plus its only natural for your own to be embraced/conscious or sub conscious/you cant say that aint the case/only reason it took so long to take place/was up until now your only choice was 3rd Bass/for others like Ice, wasn't really that tight/now you got some white dudes who can truly rock the mic." However, Murs does explain that "good music transcends all physical limits," to weaken the blow of the critique.
The last track, "The Animal," has the only MC guest appearance with Phonte (9th's fellow Little Brother member who represents 1/3 of the group). Over a 9th beat that sounds like a cross between two other 9th beats, "for you" & "the yo-yo" (perhaps a scraped beat from The Listening?). This is another joint that goes straight for the jugular, with a little more "gangsta" appeal, perhaps? Peep the serious Prodigy-esque hook, "We animals/ready for war/destined for combat/play this CD or tape/and then rewind that/you want beef muthafucka, never mind that/'And if he owe me money , bitch ***** better find that'/we animals, ready for war, destined for combat/play this CD or tape/and then rewind that/so let me know where your mind at." However, this isn't a crossover, sell out track; Murs and Phonte might have stepped their tough talk up, but they do it in their own way. Murs leaves us with his Final Thought, "if my heart should stop and I drop today/I went against all odds/and got my way."
Murs delivers another fresh disc on the Def Jux (sorry, Def Jam) imprint. The biggest weakness of this album is the fact that it is only 10 tracks, so instead of having the feel of a full length it feels more like an EP. However, all of the tracks have one or more reasons why they should be bumped; whether it's because you like 9th's cornucopia of beats or you like Murs' ability to take real or fictitious situations and spit them in decibels that will make your neck snap repeatedly like pigeons. Whatever the reason is, one thing is certain; here's another great CD added to Jux's catalog.
Rating: 4.5/5
The album opens up with "Intro," a short intro/song, over a synthesized 9th beat that seems (to me at least) a little tribute to El-P’s style of producing. In that same ol' Cali drawl, Murs opens the album with lines like, "got my boy from Carolina/picked up the pen/threw my nuts on the finish line/I come to win/while you nuttin' to lose/I’ll shake you out your shoes/with ease/with moves..." He basically bitch slaps the listener with this intro; he sets the pace.
The next track finds Murs quickly getting into those "everyday/real talk" concepts he's known for, with "Bad Man!" Over a little quirky beat, with "Bad Man" vocal loops throughout the track, Murs talks about the lack of trust between females and males. A nice little track followed by the more thumping, "3:16" where Murs just rhymes with no set topic. Here's a line many of you can appreciate: "i'ma spit with this heat/until I get my credit/I’m a verbal Marshall (*martial*) artist/like I’m signed to Shady Records."
Murs does a nice job going straight for the jugular but he truly excels on the concepts. Such as with "The Pain," which finds Murs talking about how the drinks help him deal with the classic "pains of love." Or the jagged "Trevor An' Them," a tale in which Murs witnesses a neighborhood cat named Trevor rob a 7/11, the Trevor enters Murs car but leaves the money. The story is a little pointless, but Murs continuous flow makes for a good listen.
Perhaps the highlight of the album is "Freak These Tales," a jazzy 9th banger where the Living Legends MC raps about different sexual encounters; perhaps the best song as far as imagery is concerned. Murs diverges the tales with the hook, "Once upon a time in a land around the way/there lived a couple girls that would never give me play/used to wear tight shirts and short skirts everyday/everytime I tried to hit it they say "no way"/until one fine day in this land of LA/one finally slipped up and she let me have my way/she kind of turned me out/changed my life I must say/cause I haven't stopped chasing these broads to this day."
Murs continues the conceptual pieces with "H-U-S-T-L-E" where the former weed seller breaks down how he used to hustle on the block. "Walk like A Man," deals with machismo as well as a tale of a friend murdered by the gun. The ever clever 9th, laced this track with three beats: a more uptempo beat for the first third of some tough talk and bluffing, the second third gets more somber as Murs recounts a friend lost and the final third finds Murs seeing his friend in a coffin, right before he enacts revenge on the killer. Very clever indeed.
"And This Is For" may upset some people though. Murs rhymes to different shades of fans, criticizing them all. He lays out some of the following: "I don’t care what it cost/I’m not impressed my *****/that throwback jersey is a dress my *****/I remember diamonds used to be a girl's best friend/enslaving black children with the third world gems." Murs also criticizes his white fans: "I feel I should have the scans white rappers have/its sad but that’s the way it is/what’s the reason that my album doesn't sell like his?/and don't front like you don’t know why the hell that is/its because he's white/you could relate to his face/through the years you've been taught that Black is unsafe/plus its only natural for your own to be embraced/conscious or sub conscious/you cant say that aint the case/only reason it took so long to take place/was up until now your only choice was 3rd Bass/for others like Ice, wasn't really that tight/now you got some white dudes who can truly rock the mic." However, Murs does explain that "good music transcends all physical limits," to weaken the blow of the critique.
The last track, "The Animal," has the only MC guest appearance with Phonte (9th's fellow Little Brother member who represents 1/3 of the group). Over a 9th beat that sounds like a cross between two other 9th beats, "for you" & "the yo-yo" (perhaps a scraped beat from The Listening?). This is another joint that goes straight for the jugular, with a little more "gangsta" appeal, perhaps? Peep the serious Prodigy-esque hook, "We animals/ready for war/destined for combat/play this CD or tape/and then rewind that/you want beef muthafucka, never mind that/'And if he owe me money , bitch ***** better find that'/we animals, ready for war, destined for combat/play this CD or tape/and then rewind that/so let me know where your mind at." However, this isn't a crossover, sell out track; Murs and Phonte might have stepped their tough talk up, but they do it in their own way. Murs leaves us with his Final Thought, "if my heart should stop and I drop today/I went against all odds/and got my way."
Murs delivers another fresh disc on the Def Jux (sorry, Def Jam) imprint. The biggest weakness of this album is the fact that it is only 10 tracks, so instead of having the feel of a full length it feels more like an EP. However, all of the tracks have one or more reasons why they should be bumped; whether it's because you like 9th's cornucopia of beats or you like Murs' ability to take real or fictitious situations and spit them in decibels that will make your neck snap repeatedly like pigeons. Whatever the reason is, one thing is certain; here's another great CD added to Jux's catalog.
Rating: 4.5/5
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