Murs (aka Nick Carter – but you can see why, with all the Backstreet Boys comparisons, he’s adopted the stage name), is above all a worker. Having featured on over 20 records since he entered the game at 18, Murs has a spectacular insight into the rapidly changing industry. At 33 now, he sounds vital, fresh and aware – even on a murky line – recognising the need to adapt to stay relevant. “I’m not interested in pigeonholing”, Murs offers, bluntly. “A kid’s iPod today can have Murs and Dre and Crookers and Daft Punk and Taylor Swift all in one playlist”. It’s the stuff of most artists’ nightmares. Flagging allegiances; erratic and fickle genre flirtations; the sort of consumer schizophrenia anathema to A&R men the world over. But not Murs. He runs his own repertoire. Thus the artist who does backpack rap, relationship advice, club bangers and 16mm short films all while running his spectacularly successful Paid Dues hip hop festival in California, negotiating distribution deals himself and tweeting like a man possessed. “There’s definitely an entrepreneurial spirit in everything I do”, he admits. “A lot of the things I do are just to see if they work”.
And work they do. You might think that you’ve never heard a Murs track before but you’d probably be mistaken. He’s the comical genius behind the insanely catchy DJ Z-Trip ode to Saturday morning cartoons, Breakfast Club. He’s the voice trying to translate ‘jacket’ into French (“le cote?”) alongside Busy P on the Ed Banger classic To Protect and Entertain. He’s the guy who sampled James Blunt on his most recent solo record, 2008’s Murs For President and managed to make the tremulous, austere Brit sound halfway crunk. Murs boasts a CV that would put many to shame but is yet to really achieve the mainstream success his toil would suggest he deserves. “I hope I can emulate Red Man”, Murs confides. “He can do a song with Christina Aguilera or he’s on a Daft Punk song or with Limp Bizkit or Method Man. He’s gone platinum, but he’s never been considered not underground”.
Counting Ice Cube (“I’m still honoured he even played my festival”), Snoop Dogg (“a more organic relationship”) and producer 9th Wonder amongst his friends, the industry kudos is certainly there. It’s Murs’ relationship with the latter, his long-time production partner, that will see him touring down under mid-way through this month. The Murs and 9th Wonder brand has been strengthened over five collaborative albums since 2001 and, from the endearing way Murs describes the partnership, we can expect great things to come. More than once, he reverts to matrimonial terms. “It’s more of a marriage. We come together, we argue and we compromise and compromise is beautiful”. They’ve released more albums together than 9th ever did with Little Brother and Murs ever did with the Living Legends – the hip-hop groups the two began their respective careers with. But rumours of bickering, squabbles over lyrics and beats don’t gel well with those utopian visions of hip-hop’s formative recording partnerships: Nas and Premier, Rob Base and E-Z Rock, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. “It’s a democratic process,” says Murs. “We’re free to work outside the moniker if we want but we are valuable together…we’re definitely an item”.
While his collaborations with 9th don’t conform to traditional understandings of the producer/emcee bond, neither are Murs’ lifestyle choices strictly hip-hop. Following in the steps of rap trailblazers like Red Man, I’m curious as to how he gets by in the notoriously cutthroat industry as a non-smoking teetotaller who is just as happy to jump on a Busy P joint as he is to hook up with the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am in the booth. In answering, it turns out Murs can add another label to his ever-expanding title; Good Samaritan. He tells me he’s had the chance to speak at a couple of high schools recently and recounts the story of a 28-year-old who thanked him for encouraging him to break out of the ‘homeboy lifestyle’ and get a university degree. “You’re one of the reasons I’m doing this”, Murs relates his words, “Because you make me proud to do the right thing. Because you never compromised who you are”.
It’s poignant stuff and, coming out of the mouth of any artist but Murs, would sound trite and contrived. But this is an artist who, in what should be the twilight years of his career, is surer than ever of his role in the industry and his path forward. I press him for Murs’ 5-year plan and he answers, amused, “I always see myself not rapping. And I always end up rapping”. With an exclusive direct deal with iTunes, an electro “more 2 Live Crew kind of record”, a punk album, a comic book and a 2011 Paid Dues Festival in the offering and a manager freshly fired, it seems Murs will be very busy for the immediate future. “I’m always expanding and finding new ways to succeed and extend myself”, Murs offers and with that, the Richard Branson of rap gets back to work.
