Believe Everything You Hear

Looks like Murs gets to be the first to make the leap from my favorites on the sidebar onto the main page. No doubt Murs 3:16 - The 9th Edition, the album he released earlier this year with beatsmith extraordinaire 9th Wonder, deserves the spotlight. Murs himself considers it his best work yet, and I concur wholeheartedly. It's an album that, along with Doom and Madlib's Madvillainy, reminds us that beautiful things happen when emcees turn over all production duties to a single producer. Murs 3:16 makes it abundantly clear why more and more hip-hop heads are turning to the underground for new, real shit: the artistry, the intelligence and the diversity of style and ideas are simply more pronounced where the sun don't shine. Sure, there's a select few still making magic in the mainstream (Nas' new double dropped today!), but mostly it's mo' money, mo' mediocrity. Luckily, as Murs'll tell you, independent hip-hop is only gonna get doper.

Murs - "The Pain"

This particular track is my favorite from Murs 3:16 and, indeed, one of my favorite songs of the year. 9th Wonder basically outdoes all contenders at crafting the beat around a sped-up classic soul sample in that way that's been all the rage since The Blueprint hit shelves. Here he uses a fantastic Percy Miracles vocal that brilliantly meshes with the tone and content of Murs' verses. Murs fills in the blanks with some of the most honest and, dare I say, vulnerable raps I've ever heard. And, of course, it's tremendously rewarding for me as another who's "more Coldplay than I am Ice-T" to hear Murs cut to the heart of the "nice-guy" dilemna. Simply put, I think it's stunning.

More info on Murs is available here: Murs' Website