Rapper Murs on music, touring, and life

Once a part of the rap super-group Living Legends. Murs has made a name for himself as a solo artist. Walking the streets of Boise, Idaho, he says it is one of his favorite cities to visit, although he has only been there five times in his life. Born under the name Nick Carter, he created his rap persona Murs, which stands for “Making the Universe Recognize and Submit,” or one of many other alternative definitions.

Murs is now on tour with his new label Blu Roc, which was founded by Damon Dash. The tour will bring Murs back home to Los Angeles the week of Thanksgiving.

Like most of his fans, Murs considers himself an "underground hip-hop artist," but adds that “my music is always changing and I'm evolving with the projects.” The rapper, who, has worked with 9th Wonder, will.I.am, and collaborated with the group Atmosphere on the project Felt.

“I just create what I feel,” he says in an interview with The Corsair. He Believes hip-hop is just as great now as it was back when he started rapping in the ‘90s. When it comes to his own personal music taste he's influenced by reading, traveling, and listening to other music such as Elton John, Jack White, Insane Clown Posse, Flaming Lips, Vampire Weekend, Rilo Kiley, and D'Angelo, among many others.

Murs weighed in on the juggalos, fans of the group Insane Clown Posse, who were recently classified as a gang by the FBI. Murs feels the juggalos have been misjudged. “I definitely consider myself a juggalo.”

“There's enough things for the FBI to do than to mess with some hip-hop kids,” he says. “I don't feel like it’s a gang, I've never seen them beat anyone up, I've only seen them be good to each other.“

Though he tours often, he realizes he has a larger fan base is in Los Angeles, which provided inspiration for one of his better-known singles "L.A."

His belief is that not all hip-hop has to be influenced by the old school and that greatness can be created from scratch. "Salvador Dali didn’t spend time talking about the masters, he created what he created,” Murs says. ”He didn’t have to have his art look anything like them.”

As for a Living Legends reunion, Murs claims it has been discussed, but the he still needs to speak to the rest of the group - up to seven other people. Murs gives credit of his career to the fans "100 percent, I have to give them all the credit."

"I definitely try to make positive and inspiring music and empowering music at times,” Murs says. “And sometimes I'm just making music for fun, it depends what kind of frame of mind I'm in."

Family plays a large role in his life, as a kid he claims he just kind of did his own thing, and he continues to do his own thing now.

He enjoys the route music has taken him and is open to suggestions and new possibilities. "Wherever the music takes me and however it makes me feel is what I’m going to express,” Murs says.

“I have my own groups of experiences, I have my life that I’ve lived, I have the things that I’ve seen and I have my opinion,” he says. “When a certain beat or track or instrument moves me a kind of way that creates a flow of that idea, that energy.”

When asked if he would learn to play any instruments, as a musician with such a varied taste in music, he hopes to one day learn how to play the banjo, "because Kermit the Frog plays the banjo."

Murs will be playing at the House of Blues in Hollywood on Nov. 24 for the Hip Hop & Love tour.