Two weeks ago, Murs and I spoke for a half hour for Rhapsody. It was part of a promotional push for his new album with 9th Wonder, Fornever. I posted the interview on Tuesday, April 13, the same day that Fornever was released. However, Rhapsody limits its posts to 1000 words, so I didn’t have space to include much of our conversation.
Below you’ll find an extended transcript. Much of the material falls under “inside baseball,†meaning that we discussed various subjects from an industry perspective. I love that kind of stuff, but you might not. Topics included his recent split with Warner Bros.; his annual Paid Dues Festival, which he organizes with Guerrilla Union; the recent controversy surrounding his comments on the lack of women at Guerrilla Union’s Rock the Bells festival; and, of course, Fornever. In fact, we got too sidetracked — I only had a half-hour — and I didn’t ask enough questions about his music.
I did some light editing to the transcript, but tried to limit my deletions to repetitive sentences, sentence fragments, et cetera. When I put a (?) in parentheses, it means that I wasn’t sure what he was referring to. For example, when he mentioned he dated porn star Jenna Foxx, I added a (?) because I may have misheard her name. I also added some brackets to clarify subjects we talked about: When he says, “I told my rep,†I added a bracket so it reads, “I told my [A&R] rep.â€
One thing I should point out: When Murs says he has been criticized for speaking about the lack of women at Rock the Bells, he’s referring to a short YouTube video posted last September. In the clip, he tried to explain why there were no women on the bill, and some people claimed he demeaned female rap artists in the process. The video is still active on Okayplayer.com. Watch it for yourself and reach your own conclusions.
I’ve known Murs for close to a decade, so it was nice to catch up with him. One of these days I’ll see what Paid Dues is all about.
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