Murs continued his 20-year stint in the rap game with the release of his Captain California album earlier this year. While it’s a project that he says can’t please everybody — from his day one fans to his Strange Music audience — Murs tells Unique Access Entertainment that he prides himself on his storytelling, especially on songs like “Colossus” where he drew inspiration from people he knows in real life serving time for drug-related crimes. Murs says that he emphasizes telling all sides of a story, but doesn’t condemn those who don’t in their music.
“They’re very real,” Murs said of drug’s consequences. “I can still appreciate the rap that’s out there ’cause some of the rappers celebrate it. Like Migos celebrates it, but they’re still going to jail. You see, they don’t have to rap about the reality of it because you see it happening to them. You see them going to clubs getting in fights with people who are envying them. You see them going, catching cases for defending themselves against people who envy them. So they don’t really have to rap about it all the time because they’re living it. I think there is a room for drug dealers.”
Murs then salutes Gucci Mane for coming out of prison last year with a changed lifestyle. After establishing himself as the Trap King, Guwop has since celebrated a life of sobriety while still selling records. Murs refers to “I Can’t” off The Return of East Atlanta Santa to make his point.
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“I love what Gucci’s doing right now because his narrative’s changing,” Murs explained. “It’s also reflective, ‘They wanna talk about drugs, but I can’t.’ People like that are really authentic. I’m not against that kind of rap, but for me, if I’m gonna make shit up, I’m gonna tell the complete story. A lot of people are making shit up and just telling one side. They’re like romance novels for middle age white women in the Midwest. That’s how a lot of gangsta rap is.”
Another reality that Murs confronts on his Captain California album is gentrification. Living in Los Angeles, he has seen the effects of gentrification first hand. He shared the story of a particular time he was impacted by the change of culture in his neighborhood after he got in a fight with a woman.
“I had to leave her house and she lives like 10 blocks north of the neighborhood I grew up in, so I just started walking, walking and walking,” he explained. “Then it was like 4 in the morning, as it became five in the morning, people coming out of their houses, it’s the house my mom used to own. I’m like, ‘You guys are renting from us.’ These people are looking at me like I’m some piece of shit. I was like, ‘Bitch, this is my motherfucking neighborhood.’ You see the house they’re trying to sell for $900,000, it has bloodstains and that’s where the homie L got popped. I was there. We were shooting dice. ‘You’re in charge of me.’ It was crazy how people were looking at me and treating me.”
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Watch the full interview of Murs talking about drugs in music and gentrification above.
