cool hand bak

Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

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

 

Click Here