The album’s release date is still to be determined but Murs describes his relationship with Warner Bros. Records positively. “It’s nothing like people think it is,” he says. “They’re not pressuring me to make anything. They’ve taken off songs with big names, from Three Six Mafia to songs with Ne-Yo.” He feels Warner has let him have a space to fill with what works best for him, “They have Mike Jones. They don’t need me to be Mike Jones.”  Warner has also been a good fit for Murs for more practical reasons. “It’s more about the equipment, that’s what these kids don’t understand,” he says. “DJ Quik got to mix my record and he’s one of the best. Like older sixty-five, seventy-year-old white men who know their machinery respect Quik as an engineer. That’s why I went to Warner Bros.”

“Right now, with independent hip-hop, what kids are putting out on the Internet through ProTools is kind of like Clerks, a black and white movie,” he says. “Clerks 2 is just as funny as Clerks to me but Kevin Smith was able to set up a whole Mooby’s world and bring you into that world.”  This is the improvement Murs is looking to make through the backing Warner has provided.  “That’s what I’m saying to these kids who said I sold out,” he says. “The world is bigger than the little box you put me in.” 

Murs’ label mate Talib Kweli, managed to achieve crossover success for his debut release with Warner last year. “Kweli could have made a lot more going with Koch. But I think he also thinks it’s important to be out there competing against the ignorance,” Murs says.  “It’s one thing to sit back in your little indie hip-hop thing and do your tours, in the indie world and complain about mainstream hip-hop. It’s another thing to make the sacrifices and say, ‘I’m going to deal with all the bullshit and all the bureaucracy just to show people that if you’re tired of it, get in the game and do something.’”

Photo by Jay Three Photography

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