Ever since breaking into the hip-hop scene on North Carolina trio Little Brother's "The Listening" in 2003, prolific producer 9th Wonder has been popping up everywhere, laying down his trademark clever soul sample tracks on albums for local and worldwide legends. In the past few years, 9th has produced two new Little Brother albums, along with albums for Buckshot, Access Immortal, a remix of Nas's "God Son" album entitled "God's Stepson LP," and tracks for Jay-Z, Jean Grae and Memphis Bleek. It appears that hip-hop has found another golden producer with a bright future in 9th Wonder, who consistently pumps out Pete Rock-esque beats reminiscent of the sample-heavy sounds of the early to mid '90s. It's no surprise that he's featured in the title of most of the albums he works on, because all he needs is an emcee with a competent, consistent flow to make a hit record.
"Murray's Revenge" is the second collaborative album from Murs, the Los Angeles representative of the Definitive Jux family, and 9th Wonder. The first, "Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition," was released in 2004 and received widespread critical acclaim among the underground scene, so the two have teamed up again to deliver another solid album.
The only problem is that it sounds like a continuation of the first album, not necessarily as powerful as the new sound of the two together on the first release. Besides that, "Murray's Revenge" combines the pleasant sounds from 9th with witty, well-timed wordplay from Murs to make for an overall enjoyable listening experience.
The ten-track album starts with "Murs Day," with the L.A. native offering his creative introduction over a powerfully enlightening vocal sample. "Murray's Law" features a strong horn loop with Murs building up himself and his crew: "We keepers of the real, just consider us security." The next track, "Sillygirl" featuring Joe Scudda, is highlighted by a playful vocal sample and funny anecdotes about fair-weather female friends.
Little Brother emcee Big Pooh spits proudly nostalgic lyrics about the neighborhood hotspot on the next song, "Barbershop," over a nice but somewhat plain and undeveloped piano loop. "Yesterday, Today" is a nugget of gold right in the middle of the album with a catchy hook consisting of a combination of vocal samples and Murs' lines about the process of gaining respect in the game and from his peers.
The production on "Dreamchasers," a track on which Murs reminisces and tells stories from his childhood and early adulthood, is the most morose of the beats on the album to correspond with the hard, provocative chorus: "We live life like death ain't a thing / Fear and respect we collect like kings, / Relive stress with every breath I sing / And we all chase money 'cause we scared to chase dreams." The simply titled hometown ode "L.A." features a western-sounding harmonica loop and hard rhymes about "the hood where we do the most good / Magic Johnson be ownin' everything like he should."
Some of Murs' most heartfelt verses come with "Dark Skinned White Girls," in which he sympathizes with the large population of multiracial women, "rejected by the black, not accepted by the white world." The sentimental "Love & Appreciate" and the threatening "Murray's Revenge (The End)," touch on the difficulty of a developing relationship and top off the album with a vicious battle-rhyme royale.
One of the album's only shortcomings is the tendency of the songs to blend together into one indistinguishable entity. This could be due to 9th Wonder's somewhat formulaic sound (not as daring and deviant as the first album) along with less than outstanding delivery and content from rapper Murs. Although definitely a solid piece of work by both artists, "Murray's Revenge" will not receive the same widespread acclaim that the duo's original 2004 premiere earned.
Murs and 9th provide an enjoyable but not necessarily distinguished team, seeing as most rappers teaming up with the new jack super-producer are putting out albums of almost identical quality. It would not be too surprising to see the Carolina producer, in addition to putting out more records with his roots, Little Brother, laying down tracks for hip-hop's elite in the near future.
