locked ourselves away in upstate New York. And I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder and that was put right back into the record. Putting that L.A. core into this record was very similar to what we did with 3:16.” Despite holding onto his West Coast roots, for The Transformation, Murs had to do a healthy among of letting go just the same. After spending some time on a major label, Love and Rockets Vol. 1 happened on the heels of a partnership that Murs explained took all of “15 minutes” to shake hands on. Meeting with mogul Dame Dash, Murs admits, allowed him to focus on the product, not the pitch. “It was a 15 minute conversation. Six months later, we had a record and tour ready to go. The thing about Dame is that he never micromanaged the process. He made sure we were surrounded by talented, artistic people and he let us go to work. Dame’s drive is in making something succeed and doing fresh shit.” Having long been championed as the poster child of indie hip –hop, the partnership allowed Murs to shake the weight of a major label deal and return to the kind of hustle that really earned him such respect among not only his peers, but even those outside of the genre. Notorious for spending sizable portions of the calendar year on the road, Murs was back at it with this record and a renewed vigor that seemed apparent not only on record, but in disposition completely. ‘You know, these rappers that are still living that life have groupies that 30 plus years old. No one wants to see a 30-year-old plus groupie. No one wants to see someone trying to swag out when they are over 30. And on the other side of that, you got rappers talking about ‘bitch, bitch, bitch’ but they have been married for years. For
me now, I’m not on some rap shit anymore. I got married.We adopted kids, I cut my hair, I am involved with charities. I did all that shit. I popped bottles. I was the only black dude in Hyde before Hyde was the spot. But no one is telling people about growing up, about real life, about experience. Love and Rockets was very much the transformation for me.” Prior to Murs, rappers weren’t selling merch and creating a brand. Prior to Murs, rappers weren’t putting in thousands of touring miles – at least not in passenger vans they drove themselves. Prior to Murs, rappers weren’t interested in taking on cultural divides and doing the Vans Warped Tour – it wasn’t the safe bet. Before skinny jeans and skate culture became infatuated with hip-hop music, Murs was on his skateboard in 03’. When festivals started looking towards rap mainstays to help anchor their headlining spots, Murs went and created his own festival. While the lane is open for emerging artists like Odd Future, Dom Kennedy, Kendrick Lamar and, Casey Veggies, Murs has undoubtedly walked that path first. So how important has Murs been to hip-hop music – the evidence is plain as day. As for Murs and where he stands when he acknowledges what his career has been thus far, the future is the same as it ever was. “At the end of the day a pimp is always a pimp. Angry indie rappers are always going be angry indie rappers but as for me? I wanna sell 5 million records and have my music reach as many people as humanly possible on planet Earth – but I want to make sure I do it on my own terms.” Maybe I was wrong. Murs might not be the finest example of hip-hop; he might just be the finest example period.
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