By jpeg
Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:27 am
Murs 3:16 9th Edition
By: Eamon Mulligan
Conducted on 03.03.04
(E) : Cool, so how did you and 9th Wonder hook up?
(M) : Through a wonderful young man named ID who works for Hiero. He
was shopping 9th's beats around and we just happened to run into each
other. I had actually been looking to get beats from 9th for about a
year before that. Anyway, he showed up at our show in Petaluma and he
had a beat CD and I listened to the first beat and originally I had
wanted to do just a remix with 9th or something but then I listened to
the second beat and then I got to the fourth beat and I told ID, "Get
this guy on the phone, we're going to do a whole project together!" So
I actually talked to him on the phone right there on the spot and he
was like, "Yeah, let's do it!" So then we did it!
(E) : So what was it like working with him?
(M) : He's a great guy! I had wanted to work with him and when I spoke
with him about doing 3:16 that was well before the whole Jay-Z thing
was even an idea, it would have been crazy if he had told us that or
even him at that point. It just so happened that after the whole Jay-Z
thing happened he didn't try to push me to the side or put my project
on the back burner or try to shop to work with bigger dudes or even
charge me more. He kept it all the same and he didn't stop taking my
calls. I mean he called me right after he left the studio with Jay-Z
and he was telling me what happened and everything. He was really,
really, really cool when he could have been a real dick head you know?
Or not even a dick head but maybe more of a shrewd businessman, but he
was real, real cool.
(E) : That's tight, so do you see any future collaborations happening
between the two of you?
(M) : Well, I don't want to speak out of my ass but I've never burned
bridges with producers before and I plan on working with everybody that
I've enjoyed working with again at some point so I hope that we will
work together again.
(E) : So there has been some controversy going around the Internet
about a song, well I guess it's more like one verse on the album, did
you want to talk about that at all?
(M) : I don't even want to dignify that with a comment.
(E) : OK, so what else can we expect from this album?
(M) : Basically to me it's more like Murs Rules The World with some
more storytelling, which is what I'm really good at, I feel that it's a
well rounded album. The End of the Beginning was me being humble and me
admitting that I was still learning stuff and now that's over. Now I'm
going to just go ahead and be a normal rapper and I've never said this
before about my stuff, but it's probably the best thing that's going to
come out this year, period. I don't foresee anybody else **** with
it, it's a dope ass album and I'm not going to say classic because
that's getting worn down and I'm not going to title my own shit
classic, but to me it's my best work to date and it's better than
anything that's going to come out or anything that I've heard and this
is coming from somebody that still buys every album that comes out
every Tuesday. I mean it's crushing everybody, my live show is crushing
everybody now, my album is crushing everybody and I'm just going to be
an arrogant **** from this point on, I mean to to my fans but as far
as other rappers are concerned; there is no more being humble, my shit
is definitely better than anybody else's shit. All these old
**** that are trying to put out shit and come back independent
and to try to keep it alive...they're not **** with this album. They
don't have th energy, they don't have the point of view and their words
are irrelevant and their beats are irrelevant. I feel like 9th and
myself are the best in our respective fields of up and coming artists.
We represent the next generation and what hip-hop should be sounding
like in the future and what it should sound like now. He's the best up
and coming producer and I'm the best up and coming rapper and that's
just they way I see it and combined we can't be **** with.
(E) : OK, understandable. So what music ARE you feeling that's out
right now?
(M) : There are a couple of songs off of Cee-Lo's new album that I'm
feeling, I really wasn't feeling the whole thing, I just bought it
yesterday. I actually got this Mike Realms CD that's pretty good, the
Grey Album is pretty good. I've really been in a Juvenile mood lately
so I gotta give him his props and the Suga-Free album is coming out
which is probably the most exciting thing for me in a while. Oh, Kanye
West of course! I have to stop myself from listening to that album
because if I listen to that I won't listen to anything else.
(E) : Yeah, that's how I've been too, just bumping that constantly.
(M) : Yeah, I try not to get too comfortable and stay open minded, but
that's probably the best thing out right now.
(E) : OK, since 9th did the Threat beat on the Black Album and you have
said that you are a huge fan of Jay-Z's, was there any talk of him
maybe introducing you to Jay-Z?
(M) : Naw, I don't even think it's cool like that with them. I mean he
put 9th on and they worked together that day, but I don't think that
they are pen pals or anything like that. I'm not sure if they have even
spoken since. It's more like a connection of people our age, 9th got in
through Young Guru, who is the chief engineer for Roc-A-Fella. So it's
like Guru knows about Little Brother and then through that knows about
me and it's sort of like a network of people our age and our generation
that are coming up on the next shit. I mean like Slug, myself, Legends,
Rhymesayers, Def Jux I think are are on our level. I mean people don't
really work outside of their weight class, well more like division. Jay-
Z is in a whole other division. He stepped down and brought somebody up
and I think that that is **** dope. It's always a good idea to keep
your ear to the streets, if I hadn't been listening then I wouldn't
have discovered 9th and I would have never known to ask to get a beat
from him. Now guys that he tried to shop beats to are coming back after
the whole Jay-Z thing. I mean these are some people's favorite rappers,
I won't say any names but a lot of people are coming back. Back then he
was telling them, "OK, I'll give you a beat for this much" and they
were telling him no, but now that the Jay-Z thing happened they're
calling and asking to get a beat for the same price still. Do it's all
bullshit.
(E) : Damn, I guess that's what happens though. Well, you have always
been pretty outspoken with your raps and I'm not trying to create beefs
but I know that there has been unspoken beefs in the past or little
hints dropped and do you have any beefs now?
(M) : No, I'm trying to get away from all of that. I really don't and
I'm not trying to say anything negative about anybody this year. All I
will say is that I don't think that anybody is **** with me on
anything, I mean if they want to fight, if they want to rap, if they
want to do a live show, if they want to go album for album, if they
want to go marketing strategies, I think I am the ultimate independent
rap machine, period! Nobody is **** with me and if you feel like you
want to challenge me or you have something to say then step up, but no
new people from the Internet or anything like that. Get your weight up.
I'm talking about people on my level who think that they can even ****
with what I'm doing, then they're more than welcome to come and
challenge me. I really don't want to fight either, I'd rather keep it
musical but if you're a tough guy and you're talking tough then you can
come and beat me up if you really feel like you have to prove that as
well, I don't care. Anybody from 50 Cent down, I don't think they are
**** with me and that's just the way that I feel.
(E) : Are you open to battling people?
(M) : Anybody with a record deal I will battle, just because I don't
think that there is anything in it for me to battle somebody who
doesn't have a record deal or if somebody has a little independent
label and they want to battle me for their whole label, I'll battle
them for their whole label if not you can put out my next album on your
label. Bring the best artist from your label, who has a track record.
Don't bring me the new hot kid off the street with the hot one liners.
I don't give a **** about him, but if you have an established artist
who has a couple of albums under their belt, a couple of world tours,
then we'll see what's up. I mean I'm going off probably a thousand plus
shows right now in my whole career, about 5 or 6 albums, I've been
making a living off of this for a long time and I don't want to battle
any flash in the pan rapper.
(E) : OK, cool. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that
we will be looking forward to those. Anyway, I know that last year
you were a touring machine and it's looking like it's going to be
like that this year. How do you manage being on the road and away
from home so much?
(M) : Well, I just decided that this is what I want to do with my
life. I don't really have a life outside of this. This like my
calling and I don't really have a social life outside of this and
when I do try I don't know how to interact with anybody so I was
just down to make the sacrifice. I felt like I have put eight years
into this and I feel like I have sacrificed more than an average
person. During those eight years the opportunity wasn't really there
to do that many shows but last year I had the opportunity to do a
million shows so I just said **** it, I'm going to do a million
shows! I don't need to live anywhere, I put all of my shit in
storage and I just went out and did whatever I could.
This year it's going to be a little more balanced but I still don't
have a social life, I mean I eat, sleep and shit rap. Right now I'm
working on something with Danger Mouse and I'm working on something
with Z-Trip I'm just always working. After that I'm going to work on
the 3MG album, then after that I'm going to hopefully do Felt 2 or
the Underbosses and then Felt 3, and then maybe put out another
album and maybe a DVD. I'm going to stay busy for a while, at least
for the next year or so because this is what I do.
I mean when I was younger I would always get upset with my favorite
artist because they didn't put enough stuff out. People say that we
(Legends) put out too much stuff but I think whatever. I mean, I
remember thinking like, "Damn, why doesn't Del put out more stuff?"
I mean I wish he would put out an album every week, you know what I
mean? That's how big of a fan I am, I guess people that complain
aren't real fans or they're just a different type of music listener.
Whereas I'm the type of dude that if Del Had put an album out every
year I would have bought the ****, no doubt! I mean there
are people like Redman or Ludacris who put out an album a year but
they tend to sound the same. I hope that my fans like that I do one
something a year, it's like there is the Netherworlds which sounds
nothing like Gypsies Luck, which sounds nothing like The End of the
Beginning which sounds nothing like Murs Rules the World which
sounds nothing like Varsity Blues, which sounds nothing like Felt.
(E) : OK, so since you have been all around the world where is your
favorite place?
(M) : My favorite place to go, up until recently was Las Vegas. I
still love Vegas but I just can't do it like I used to. Ummm other
than that I'd say Australia. I really, really like Australia and I
can't wait to go back. Other than that I like everywhere else
equally. I got a couple of surprises on this last tour, I went to
Washington D.C. and there was a lot of Living Legends fans, a lot of
Murs fans which was amazing. Philly really surprised me, there was a
lot of kids that came out to the show. All the places on the My and
the Highway tour too.
(E) : Yeah, that should be a good show. So you did all of Murs 3:16
The 9th Edition with 9th Wonder. Do you like working with one
producer for an entire album as opposed to have multiple producers?
(M) : Yeah, I just discovered that actually. The projects that I
like the most out of everything that I've done are probably Murs
Rules the World, Felt and 3:16 The 9th Edition and they are all
pretty much done by one producer. Mum's the Word didn't do all of
Murs Rules The World but he produced it in the sense that all the
bears that weren't his, he brought me. Like he would say, "You
should do something over this beat."
I mean I'm not a music person, I'm more of a lyric person. When you
have one person directing the sound of the album sonically then I
think it works better. It leaves me to focus on what I do best,
which is writing, because I can't make a beat to save my life, and I
probably couldn't hum you the tune to any of my favorite rap songs.
I need that help, and when I do have it I think it comes out better.
Even with 9th, like I had been writing to his beats for seven months
because he had been sending me beats in the mail. When I finally got
out to North Carolina to record the album, the first song I did, I
thought that it was the shit and was going to be the first single
and everything and 9th was just like, "Naw-uh, nope." I mean he let
me do the whole song and then he was just like OK that was cool,
let's do the next one. Then when I'd do that next one he would say,
"Yeah that's it, that first one you did? Naw, forget it! We're
moving on." He would do this to me at least once a day. Everyday we
went into the studio he would be like, "Murray, you can't **** do
that song Murray, that shit is not happening." It wasn't that the
song was wack, it was just that he didn't feel that it matched with
the rest of the album. I would be telling him that I wanted to do a
specific beat and he would be like, "I gave that beat away. Do so
and so verse and this song to this beat." I would tell him that I
wasn't feeling it and he would say, "Well you HAVE to do it to this
beat." I had to swallow my pride and do it even though I wouldn't
think it would go with the beat. He would tell me to just do the rap
so I would go back to my hotel room and practice it.
First off **** don't understand, I would literally go to
the studio all day, go back to a hotel room in Raleigh-Durham and
re-write everything that I had been working on for seven months, I
mean I had a whole book of shit. I would pick out pages, re-write
shit, say it, practice it, rap until 4 in the morning, 9th would
come get me at 9 in the morning, then we would go and eat, record
all day, go back to the hotel and do the same thing over again and I
was really busting my ass.
Anyway I got away from my point but, yeah I like working with one
person especially when they are a real producer. A producer doesn't
mean somebody who does beats, it mean somebody who tells you about
your cadence, helps you with the hook or says, "Maybe you should say
it this way, no don't use that verse, use the first half of this
verse and the last half of this verse and make it one verse, but use
that as the second verse because it should be the first verse
because this is the feeling that I'm getting, you should deliver it
like this, take a breath right here and so on." That's a real
producer, some producers don't even play music but if they are real
producers then they just have a real ear for music and I love
working with them.
(E) : OK, so when 9th would say things like, no I don't like this
verse or you can't use this beat, how would you take that?
(M) : Well, I mean I've learned from working with Ant because he was
a little bit like that on the last album, Shock G is a little bit
like that. I have worked with a couple of "real producers" and I
want it to be open and I tell producers that. I tell them that I'm
not an arrogant rapper, and I know that I'm not the best thing ever
created, and I came to you because I like the way that you do music
so shape it into what you see. I'm like an instrument. That's what I
tell most producers, I say, "You tell me what to write about because
I can write about anything." I feel that I have demonstrated that
throughout my career, and I can do basically any style, whether it
be double time or straight up rapping to something that's 150 BPM's,
I can do it. I mean you want a street story, you want a funny story,
a song about sucking dick, you want a conscious story? I feel like I
can do anything with rap, I mean you want a 3-3 rhyme? I can do it.
You want 4-4 regular pattern? I can do it. So I just tell them,
"Anything that you want me to do, I can do it and I'm your
instrument, tell me what to do."
Most people don't have the vision to say anything or aren't
comfortable enough because most rappers are so arrogant that they
don't want producers to say anything. Like they'll be like, "Aww
shit son! That was hot! I had mad metaphors!" The only thing is that
their cadence was off and their delivery was garbage, but nobody
tells them shit because rappers are so arrogant. A lot of rappers
think that they're above the DJ, or graf writers or above producers
just because we're the ones with the mics. If they respected their
producers a little bit more and were able to humble themselves then
I think their music would come out way doper.
When 9th said all of that stuff, it was hard to swallow still
because I had been working for 7 months! After all that to hear him
tell me that I can't have a beat and not because he gave it away but
just because it didn't fit with the album, I was
like........****! I would always tell him that I didn't see
his vision but that I would listen to him, I would just be like,
whatever, this is your shit. That's the way that I feel, since I get
to talk, I think that's all the creative input I need. So he can
shape the record and if he doesn't want me to rap over that beat,
then that's fine because that's his only voice in the process of
making the album, so I don't want him to lose his voice. I mean he
rarely told me what to say or what not to say. He would say things
like, do a girl song to this beat or whatever.
The last song on my album is sort of a Mobb Deep-esque tribute song
and I'm not really a Mobb Deep fan anymore, I was when I was younger
and I thought it was dope. I mean I didn't see it at all. He would
be like, "Yo, this beat got a Mobb Deep feel to it." I would be
like, "Whhaaaaaaaat?!?!?" Even after I heard the beat I still didn't
hear the Mobb Deep feel to it, then Phonte got in there and he was
like say your verse like this and then he did his verse and then
they got the homey Joe Stutter to do the hook and then I was like,
"I see it now!" When the album finally came together I saw what 9th
was talking about and people are digging the production and the way
the album sounds so I know that he did his job.
By: Eamon Mulligan
Conducted on 03.03.04
(E) : Cool, so how did you and 9th Wonder hook up?
(M) : Through a wonderful young man named ID who works for Hiero. He
was shopping 9th's beats around and we just happened to run into each
other. I had actually been looking to get beats from 9th for about a
year before that. Anyway, he showed up at our show in Petaluma and he
had a beat CD and I listened to the first beat and originally I had
wanted to do just a remix with 9th or something but then I listened to
the second beat and then I got to the fourth beat and I told ID, "Get
this guy on the phone, we're going to do a whole project together!" So
I actually talked to him on the phone right there on the spot and he
was like, "Yeah, let's do it!" So then we did it!
(E) : So what was it like working with him?
(M) : He's a great guy! I had wanted to work with him and when I spoke
with him about doing 3:16 that was well before the whole Jay-Z thing
was even an idea, it would have been crazy if he had told us that or
even him at that point. It just so happened that after the whole Jay-Z
thing happened he didn't try to push me to the side or put my project
on the back burner or try to shop to work with bigger dudes or even
charge me more. He kept it all the same and he didn't stop taking my
calls. I mean he called me right after he left the studio with Jay-Z
and he was telling me what happened and everything. He was really,
really, really cool when he could have been a real dick head you know?
Or not even a dick head but maybe more of a shrewd businessman, but he
was real, real cool.
(E) : That's tight, so do you see any future collaborations happening
between the two of you?
(M) : Well, I don't want to speak out of my ass but I've never burned
bridges with producers before and I plan on working with everybody that
I've enjoyed working with again at some point so I hope that we will
work together again.
(E) : So there has been some controversy going around the Internet
about a song, well I guess it's more like one verse on the album, did
you want to talk about that at all?
(M) : I don't even want to dignify that with a comment.
(E) : OK, so what else can we expect from this album?
(M) : Basically to me it's more like Murs Rules The World with some
more storytelling, which is what I'm really good at, I feel that it's a
well rounded album. The End of the Beginning was me being humble and me
admitting that I was still learning stuff and now that's over. Now I'm
going to just go ahead and be a normal rapper and I've never said this
before about my stuff, but it's probably the best thing that's going to
come out this year, period. I don't foresee anybody else **** with
it, it's a dope ass album and I'm not going to say classic because
that's getting worn down and I'm not going to title my own shit
classic, but to me it's my best work to date and it's better than
anything that's going to come out or anything that I've heard and this
is coming from somebody that still buys every album that comes out
every Tuesday. I mean it's crushing everybody, my live show is crushing
everybody now, my album is crushing everybody and I'm just going to be
an arrogant **** from this point on, I mean to to my fans but as far
as other rappers are concerned; there is no more being humble, my shit
is definitely better than anybody else's shit. All these old
**** that are trying to put out shit and come back independent
and to try to keep it alive...they're not **** with this album. They
don't have th energy, they don't have the point of view and their words
are irrelevant and their beats are irrelevant. I feel like 9th and
myself are the best in our respective fields of up and coming artists.
We represent the next generation and what hip-hop should be sounding
like in the future and what it should sound like now. He's the best up
and coming producer and I'm the best up and coming rapper and that's
just they way I see it and combined we can't be **** with.
(E) : OK, understandable. So what music ARE you feeling that's out
right now?
(M) : There are a couple of songs off of Cee-Lo's new album that I'm
feeling, I really wasn't feeling the whole thing, I just bought it
yesterday. I actually got this Mike Realms CD that's pretty good, the
Grey Album is pretty good. I've really been in a Juvenile mood lately
so I gotta give him his props and the Suga-Free album is coming out
which is probably the most exciting thing for me in a while. Oh, Kanye
West of course! I have to stop myself from listening to that album
because if I listen to that I won't listen to anything else.
(E) : Yeah, that's how I've been too, just bumping that constantly.
(M) : Yeah, I try not to get too comfortable and stay open minded, but
that's probably the best thing out right now.
(E) : OK, since 9th did the Threat beat on the Black Album and you have
said that you are a huge fan of Jay-Z's, was there any talk of him
maybe introducing you to Jay-Z?
(M) : Naw, I don't even think it's cool like that with them. I mean he
put 9th on and they worked together that day, but I don't think that
they are pen pals or anything like that. I'm not sure if they have even
spoken since. It's more like a connection of people our age, 9th got in
through Young Guru, who is the chief engineer for Roc-A-Fella. So it's
like Guru knows about Little Brother and then through that knows about
me and it's sort of like a network of people our age and our generation
that are coming up on the next shit. I mean like Slug, myself, Legends,
Rhymesayers, Def Jux I think are are on our level. I mean people don't
really work outside of their weight class, well more like division. Jay-
Z is in a whole other division. He stepped down and brought somebody up
and I think that that is **** dope. It's always a good idea to keep
your ear to the streets, if I hadn't been listening then I wouldn't
have discovered 9th and I would have never known to ask to get a beat
from him. Now guys that he tried to shop beats to are coming back after
the whole Jay-Z thing. I mean these are some people's favorite rappers,
I won't say any names but a lot of people are coming back. Back then he
was telling them, "OK, I'll give you a beat for this much" and they
were telling him no, but now that the Jay-Z thing happened they're
calling and asking to get a beat for the same price still. Do it's all
bullshit.
(E) : Damn, I guess that's what happens though. Well, you have always
been pretty outspoken with your raps and I'm not trying to create beefs
but I know that there has been unspoken beefs in the past or little
hints dropped and do you have any beefs now?
(M) : No, I'm trying to get away from all of that. I really don't and
I'm not trying to say anything negative about anybody this year. All I
will say is that I don't think that anybody is **** with me on
anything, I mean if they want to fight, if they want to rap, if they
want to do a live show, if they want to go album for album, if they
want to go marketing strategies, I think I am the ultimate independent
rap machine, period! Nobody is **** with me and if you feel like you
want to challenge me or you have something to say then step up, but no
new people from the Internet or anything like that. Get your weight up.
I'm talking about people on my level who think that they can even ****
with what I'm doing, then they're more than welcome to come and
challenge me. I really don't want to fight either, I'd rather keep it
musical but if you're a tough guy and you're talking tough then you can
come and beat me up if you really feel like you have to prove that as
well, I don't care. Anybody from 50 Cent down, I don't think they are
**** with me and that's just the way that I feel.
(E) : Are you open to battling people?
(M) : Anybody with a record deal I will battle, just because I don't
think that there is anything in it for me to battle somebody who
doesn't have a record deal or if somebody has a little independent
label and they want to battle me for their whole label, I'll battle
them for their whole label if not you can put out my next album on your
label. Bring the best artist from your label, who has a track record.
Don't bring me the new hot kid off the street with the hot one liners.
I don't give a **** about him, but if you have an established artist
who has a couple of albums under their belt, a couple of world tours,
then we'll see what's up. I mean I'm going off probably a thousand plus
shows right now in my whole career, about 5 or 6 albums, I've been
making a living off of this for a long time and I don't want to battle
any flash in the pan rapper.
(E) : OK, cool. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that
we will be looking forward to those. Anyway, I know that last year
you were a touring machine and it's looking like it's going to be
like that this year. How do you manage being on the road and away
from home so much?
(M) : Well, I just decided that this is what I want to do with my
life. I don't really have a life outside of this. This like my
calling and I don't really have a social life outside of this and
when I do try I don't know how to interact with anybody so I was
just down to make the sacrifice. I felt like I have put eight years
into this and I feel like I have sacrificed more than an average
person. During those eight years the opportunity wasn't really there
to do that many shows but last year I had the opportunity to do a
million shows so I just said **** it, I'm going to do a million
shows! I don't need to live anywhere, I put all of my shit in
storage and I just went out and did whatever I could.
This year it's going to be a little more balanced but I still don't
have a social life, I mean I eat, sleep and shit rap. Right now I'm
working on something with Danger Mouse and I'm working on something
with Z-Trip I'm just always working. After that I'm going to work on
the 3MG album, then after that I'm going to hopefully do Felt 2 or
the Underbosses and then Felt 3, and then maybe put out another
album and maybe a DVD. I'm going to stay busy for a while, at least
for the next year or so because this is what I do.
I mean when I was younger I would always get upset with my favorite
artist because they didn't put enough stuff out. People say that we
(Legends) put out too much stuff but I think whatever. I mean, I
remember thinking like, "Damn, why doesn't Del put out more stuff?"
I mean I wish he would put out an album every week, you know what I
mean? That's how big of a fan I am, I guess people that complain
aren't real fans or they're just a different type of music listener.
Whereas I'm the type of dude that if Del Had put an album out every
year I would have bought the ****, no doubt! I mean there
are people like Redman or Ludacris who put out an album a year but
they tend to sound the same. I hope that my fans like that I do one
something a year, it's like there is the Netherworlds which sounds
nothing like Gypsies Luck, which sounds nothing like The End of the
Beginning which sounds nothing like Murs Rules the World which
sounds nothing like Varsity Blues, which sounds nothing like Felt.
(E) : OK, so since you have been all around the world where is your
favorite place?
(M) : My favorite place to go, up until recently was Las Vegas. I
still love Vegas but I just can't do it like I used to. Ummm other
than that I'd say Australia. I really, really like Australia and I
can't wait to go back. Other than that I like everywhere else
equally. I got a couple of surprises on this last tour, I went to
Washington D.C. and there was a lot of Living Legends fans, a lot of
Murs fans which was amazing. Philly really surprised me, there was a
lot of kids that came out to the show. All the places on the My and
the Highway tour too.
(E) : Yeah, that should be a good show. So you did all of Murs 3:16
The 9th Edition with 9th Wonder. Do you like working with one
producer for an entire album as opposed to have multiple producers?
(M) : Yeah, I just discovered that actually. The projects that I
like the most out of everything that I've done are probably Murs
Rules the World, Felt and 3:16 The 9th Edition and they are all
pretty much done by one producer. Mum's the Word didn't do all of
Murs Rules The World but he produced it in the sense that all the
bears that weren't his, he brought me. Like he would say, "You
should do something over this beat."
I mean I'm not a music person, I'm more of a lyric person. When you
have one person directing the sound of the album sonically then I
think it works better. It leaves me to focus on what I do best,
which is writing, because I can't make a beat to save my life, and I
probably couldn't hum you the tune to any of my favorite rap songs.
I need that help, and when I do have it I think it comes out better.
Even with 9th, like I had been writing to his beats for seven months
because he had been sending me beats in the mail. When I finally got
out to North Carolina to record the album, the first song I did, I
thought that it was the shit and was going to be the first single
and everything and 9th was just like, "Naw-uh, nope." I mean he let
me do the whole song and then he was just like OK that was cool,
let's do the next one. Then when I'd do that next one he would say,
"Yeah that's it, that first one you did? Naw, forget it! We're
moving on." He would do this to me at least once a day. Everyday we
went into the studio he would be like, "Murray, you can't **** do
that song Murray, that shit is not happening." It wasn't that the
song was wack, it was just that he didn't feel that it matched with
the rest of the album. I would be telling him that I wanted to do a
specific beat and he would be like, "I gave that beat away. Do so
and so verse and this song to this beat." I would tell him that I
wasn't feeling it and he would say, "Well you HAVE to do it to this
beat." I had to swallow my pride and do it even though I wouldn't
think it would go with the beat. He would tell me to just do the rap
so I would go back to my hotel room and practice it.
First off **** don't understand, I would literally go to
the studio all day, go back to a hotel room in Raleigh-Durham and
re-write everything that I had been working on for seven months, I
mean I had a whole book of shit. I would pick out pages, re-write
shit, say it, practice it, rap until 4 in the morning, 9th would
come get me at 9 in the morning, then we would go and eat, record
all day, go back to the hotel and do the same thing over again and I
was really busting my ass.
Anyway I got away from my point but, yeah I like working with one
person especially when they are a real producer. A producer doesn't
mean somebody who does beats, it mean somebody who tells you about
your cadence, helps you with the hook or says, "Maybe you should say
it this way, no don't use that verse, use the first half of this
verse and the last half of this verse and make it one verse, but use
that as the second verse because it should be the first verse
because this is the feeling that I'm getting, you should deliver it
like this, take a breath right here and so on." That's a real
producer, some producers don't even play music but if they are real
producers then they just have a real ear for music and I love
working with them.
(E) : OK, so when 9th would say things like, no I don't like this
verse or you can't use this beat, how would you take that?
(M) : Well, I mean I've learned from working with Ant because he was
a little bit like that on the last album, Shock G is a little bit
like that. I have worked with a couple of "real producers" and I
want it to be open and I tell producers that. I tell them that I'm
not an arrogant rapper, and I know that I'm not the best thing ever
created, and I came to you because I like the way that you do music
so shape it into what you see. I'm like an instrument. That's what I
tell most producers, I say, "You tell me what to write about because
I can write about anything." I feel that I have demonstrated that
throughout my career, and I can do basically any style, whether it
be double time or straight up rapping to something that's 150 BPM's,
I can do it. I mean you want a street story, you want a funny story,
a song about sucking dick, you want a conscious story? I feel like I
can do anything with rap, I mean you want a 3-3 rhyme? I can do it.
You want 4-4 regular pattern? I can do it. So I just tell them,
"Anything that you want me to do, I can do it and I'm your
instrument, tell me what to do."
Most people don't have the vision to say anything or aren't
comfortable enough because most rappers are so arrogant that they
don't want producers to say anything. Like they'll be like, "Aww
shit son! That was hot! I had mad metaphors!" The only thing is that
their cadence was off and their delivery was garbage, but nobody
tells them shit because rappers are so arrogant. A lot of rappers
think that they're above the DJ, or graf writers or above producers
just because we're the ones with the mics. If they respected their
producers a little bit more and were able to humble themselves then
I think their music would come out way doper.
When 9th said all of that stuff, it was hard to swallow still
because I had been working for 7 months! After all that to hear him
tell me that I can't have a beat and not because he gave it away but
just because it didn't fit with the album, I was
like........****! I would always tell him that I didn't see
his vision but that I would listen to him, I would just be like,
whatever, this is your shit. That's the way that I feel, since I get
to talk, I think that's all the creative input I need. So he can
shape the record and if he doesn't want me to rap over that beat,
then that's fine because that's his only voice in the process of
making the album, so I don't want him to lose his voice. I mean he
rarely told me what to say or what not to say. He would say things
like, do a girl song to this beat or whatever.
The last song on my album is sort of a Mobb Deep-esque tribute song
and I'm not really a Mobb Deep fan anymore, I was when I was younger
and I thought it was dope. I mean I didn't see it at all. He would
be like, "Yo, this beat got a Mobb Deep feel to it." I would be
like, "Whhaaaaaaaat?!?!?" Even after I heard the beat I still didn't
hear the Mobb Deep feel to it, then Phonte got in there and he was
like say your verse like this and then he did his verse and then
they got the homey Joe Stutter to do the hook and then I was like,
"I see it now!" When the album finally came together I saw what 9th
was talking about and people are digging the production and the way
the album sounds so I know that he did his job.
