Interview: MURS - Fornever with 9th Wonder

ANTICIPATION RISES HERE FOR A FIRST LIVE PAIRING OF 9TH WONDER AND MURS IN AUSTRALIA. MURS, REAL NAME NICK CARTER, DISCUSSES TOURING WITH 9TH WONDER, STAYING TRUE TO THE CULTURE HE WAS RAISED ON AND AUSTRALIAN HIP HOP ARTISTS HE FUCKS WITH.

MURS interviewed for Rip2Shredz  //  Hiphop.sh  //  Street Press Australia

13.40 AEST - 18th April, 2011

A long-serving west coast rapper, MURS stays staunch and devoted to his home town and thanks to the interstate bounces of North Carolina’s 9th Wonder, he’s representing Los Angeles life like Crips and Bloods. “If you’re super, really into being a Crip and you’re around a bunch of Bloods, the more Bloods you see, it’s gonna wanna make you be even more of a Crip. So when I’m with someone who ain’t where I’m from, I love representing where I’m from so much it makes me want to to do it ten times harder.”

New tracks from his and producer 9th Wonder’s fourth outing, last year’s Fornever album, such as ‘West Coast Cinderella,’ ‘Let Me Talk’ (featuring the smack-talking pimp supreme Suga Free) and ‘Live From Roscoe’s’ with one of Cali’s fiercest campaigners, Kurupt from Tha Dogg Pound, have kept their longplayer very west coast.

“I wanted [Kurupt] to rap on Fornever, he wanted to rap on… Roscoe’s. I couldn’t decide which one. He said, ‘Fuck decidin’, imma rap on both!’ he was just happy to chill out and be in the studio with 9th Wonder,” he recalls.

Many thought MURS and 9th Wonder were done with their last LP, 2008’s Sweet Lord, yet with the release of another classic west coast album, Fornever could go on forever.

“Hopefully when we’re dead we’ll be over. I hope we can continue working together for as long as we can exchange energy on this planet. I don’t think some people’s marriages work as well as we do,” quips Carter. MURS remembers a heated moment between he and 9th Wonder before a Rock The Bells show that was quashed and forgotten seamlessly as soon as MURS got his stage call. “In order to get along in life I think you have to have a very short memory. It works and most importantly it works for the listener.”

Getting 9th Wonder to come to Australia isn’t easy for MURS who once had to ask 9th’s wife permission to let him come out to L.A. to record. Needless to say, MURS had him back home inside of five days. The Tar Heels’ home-town beatsmith is by no means the artist found on the road under a heavy tour schedule.

“He doesn’t travel or tour much with anyone. He’s a family man. He’s the kinda guy that will take his daughters to school every day. He doesn’t like to miss recitals or ballet or gymnastics or soccer games. He doesn’t miss anything,” emphasises Carter.

It’s the second time MURS has performed before Australian audiences and he is knee-deep in support of our fledging scene - as both a fan and collaborator – and it’s part of the reason why he garners so much love down here with his brand of nerds-in-the-hood rap.

“I have A-Love’s album, Bliss N Eso’s album, Funkoars’ album, Muph N Plutonic’s record. I did [‘No Regrets’] with Hyjak N Torcha. Torcha came over and we shot a video on the beach. I fuck with a lot of people - Hilltop Hoods, Brad Strut and Delta is a brother to me. I have a lot of respect for the independent scene in Australia.”