Meet Murs, an artist who is always hungry for more opportunities to conquer. Besides living the life of a hip-hop legend of the music community, he’s also deep in the real estate game with family members. Murs is the owner of Paid Dues Independent Hip Hop Festival, one of the largest of its kind.
His belief of charity starting at home is evident with his two adopted kids. Known as a shrewd entrepreneur, he strives to find opportunity in everything that he does. In this exclusive interview, Fever Magazine get deep into the mind and business of Murs.
On telling a little more about himself…
“I’m a rapper from Los Angeles, California. I started off independent. I started touring internationally in 1997. I’ve been putting out solo albums for 20 years. I’ve been a part of many groups. I’ve produced a couple of films. I’m an entrepreneur in every sense of the word.”
On how he got started in the music industry and how did it continued…
“Around 1993-1994, I was doing promotions for some clubs for a lot of underground events. From there, I started DJing. However, people thought I was a better rapper than a DJ. People kept encouraging me to freestyle and get on the microphone. “
On where he saw his career going at the time…
“I had no idea where it would take me. Every time I would try to get away from it, a new opportunity would present itself. I’m definitely addicted to taking every opportunity possible. So, when I got opportunities to go to Europe and Japan to make money for doing shows, I did it. Anything that was going to make me a little money weekly, I was definitely about it.”
About his collaboration with Tech9…
“Tech9 is the owner of the label, Strange Music. We collaborated first from days when I was booking acts for my Independent Festival. We built a working relationship from there. Since we have a mutual admiration for each other’s work, he saw fit to offer me the opportunity to sign with him when we were on tour.
From there, he brought me in as an artist on his label and we just continued to build. We have a couple of songs together on his new album called Dominion. We’ just been moving forward and making great music. “
Details about his new album…
“It just came out. The name of it is Captain California. The album is all storytelling which I feel like is a forgotten art in the hip hop community. It tells stories about things happening in the state of California and things I’ve experienced growing up. There’s a pretty broad range of topics – from love to gangbanging. Everything covers a wide variety of city life in California.”
How the world record for longest continuous rap marathon was broken…
“It was a campaign we worked on with Boost Mobile last year. It was to advertise unlimited music stream on their phones. I was working with a marketing company called 180LA to help come up with a campaign. We came up with a show called, “Where You At? L.A.” for four episodes.
We had DJ Quik, Compound, YG, B-Real from Cypress Hill, among others. Plus, we had a lot of artists from LA come on and tell their story. I interviewed them and they did performances. Then, the final event was me rapping for 24 hours – which I successfully set the Guinness Book of World Records for it.”
The behind-the-scenes action during the world-changing event…
“We had to hire eight monitors to come monitor me in four-hour shifts. I did two hours of rapping with 10-minute breaks in between. I had to be awake for 26 hours and rapping for 24 of them. Those 10-minute breaks don’t count towards the ultimate goal. It was a lot of work and practice.”
About the independent films, he’s done…
“Last year, I did a short film called Walk Like a Man. It was based off an album I’ve released in 2004. I just did my first full-length film in 2015 called Maul Dogs.”
His words of advice for artists striving to make it in the music industry is, “If you never give up, then you never lose.” Fans can find out more about Murs and what he’s up to by following him on Instagram @Murs316, Twitter @Murs, and Facebook @Murs.
