Photos By Jati Lindsay

Before MURS took stage at the Rock and Roll Hotel last Friday, he spent time talking to fans and trying his best to blend in with the eclectic and already anxious crowd that waited to see him perform. Besides being an incredible lyricist, a large part of his appeal can be attributed to his ability to create music that is easy to relate to and that caters to an average dude like me. Even though he hails from a city where gang activity is as common as the DC traffic during rush hour, his music is never saturated with tired, trite tales of street life and gang violence. Instead, he takes a contrasting approach, choosing not to speak from the voice of an aggressor but instead telling stories from the perspective of the common man dealing with both the struggles and conveniences of everyday urban life. It’s this commonality that makes MURS both rare and likable. Seriously, who can’t relate to songs about bitter breakups, alcohol and white women?!

Shortly after “kissing babies and shaking hands”, MURS took stage donned in a “Legalize LA” American Apparel t-shirt, his signature locks and began to tear down his set beginning with “H-U-S-T-L-E”. The crowd, a generous mix of male and female, hipsters and hip hop heads, rapped along in unison as MURS breezed through a couple newer songs as well as some of his earlier material.

Highlights included “Dark Skinned White Girls”, “Break Up [The OJ Song]“, “L.A.” as well as watching MURS try to jump around as much as possible while still nursing a groin injury. Even after a playful tongue lashing from MURS; frequent collaborator and the man responsible for making me a serious fan of MURS, 9th Wonder, made his way on stage. The two announced that they were beginning to head back into the studio to put together yet another collaboration. As well as this collab, MURS also announced that the third installment of his collab with Slug will be titled “A Tribute to Rosie Perez”.

Overall, DC was treated to a great performance from an veteran performer and seasoned lyricist. Next time MURS is in town, I suggest you check him out.

On Friday, September 11th, Murs returns to the Rock and Roll Hotel. You might remember that he threw down to the sold out crowd for the Murs For President tour with Kids in the Hall last year, so you know it’s going to be a good time. Opening for Murs is my favorite band ever, Whole Wheat Bread, whom we profiled at SXSW this year. Unfortunately, I’m going to be out of town for this one, but you should cop your tickets right now.

It’s been a while since we had a podcast…..I know people have been asking me about it, and we’ve been dark since May, HOWEVER, we return to the podcast game with a special guest–Nawledge and Double-O from Kidz In The Hall.

You might know Kidz in the Hall from their album, School was my Hustle, which dropped in 2006, or their new album, The IN Crowd, which dropped this year, and features guest spots from Phonte, Gym Class Heroes, Camp Lo, and of course, Estelle who adds her own touch to the first single, Love Hangover. We recorded this podcast on November 1st, three days before the historic Presidential election during their DC stop on the Murs for President tour. The Kidz talk about their favorite cities, their work for Obama, Estelle, and possible beef with Asher Roth?

This podcast also marks the return of Lady Glock to the Interview chair. We had a lot of fun doing this one, and I’m including the unedited full Podcast available for download so you can catch everything that didn’t make it in the official version.

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Say what you want about Kidz in the Hall, but the Ivy League duo puts on a good show. Even though the Zune posters that lined the venue made it look like they were the headliner, the duo played the VP role to the self proclaimed President, Murs. Even though the dudes are second string, they are very comfortable with their self described “Joe Biden” status. The combination of Double-O on turntables AND drum machine, and Knoledge on the mic, kept the crowd hype throughout their whole set. Even though tracks like “Love Hangover,” are on the chill side, the dudes kept their energy level high in times for Murs to take the stage.

The first thing you know about Murs is that the dude has a perennial smile. While other rappers try to “mean mug” for the cameras, Murs ALWAYS seems to be that dude that is always having too much fun on stage. Seriously, the dude was having more fun than many of the audience members.

This “funness,” marks a marked change from most hip-hop shows. Some of this isn’t surprising for a dude who famously rapped “I’m more Coldplay than I am Ice-T,” on his critically acclaimed album Murs 3:16 long before the UK band had any associations with rappers. Between songs, the dude talks about being in love, and experiencing heartbreak and revenge, in which he punctuated by lip-singing Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” to a puzzled crowd.

Even if his set did wander off into alternative rock, Murs is still a hip-hop artist though, and he kept his almost hour long set packed with a playlist that not only featured tracks from his latest album, Murs for President, but also had a healthy dose of Murry’s Revenge and the more popular Murs 3:16 (His song “Bad Man!” got the greatest response from the audience). He even dropped some tracks from his free summer mixtape with 9th Wonder. And of course, like most hip-hop shows, Murs debuted his sidekick/weed carrier Verses for a couple of songs.

The Murs/Kidz In The Hall tour has been successful so far, and their DC iteration proves that they can rock a crowd. See them in a city near you.

Remaining Tour Dates

11/11/08 Miami, FL Churchill’s Pub
11/13/08 Tallahassee, FL Platform 809
11/14/08 Orlando, FL Back Booth
11/15/08 Gainesville, FL Common Grounds
11/17/08 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks
11/18/08 Austin, TX Emo’s
11/19/08 Denton, TX Hailey’s
11/21/08 Kansas City, MO The Record Bar
11/22/08 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
12/11/08 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre

Murs completely smashes this Michael Jackson sample. Murs for President is in stores now.

Kid Sister/A-Trak (from Wired)

Santogold (from Spin)

Murs (from optionthis’ Flickr Photostream)