Welp, it seems it's once again time to go through another project in the Murs catalogue. Thankfully, I don't mind this at all, as every album up to this point besides the dull and almost plasticky Sweet Lord has been pretty great to say the least, and even well over ten years into his career, it seems his rapping is as on point as any hungry young MC - I mean, Fornever was a great project, one I feel doesn't get enough credit for having really great lyrics and production pretty much throughout. However, looking at various websites where the career of Murs has been discussed, it seems a lot of people who were fans of the guy around his '03 to '06 prime period thought he completely fell off around 2010, citing Fornever as one of the worst projects in his entire catalogue, and putting other projects from around this era with it. I can't really work out why that might be, but I guess it could be to do with Murs losing his gangsta edge and becoming a rapper all about positivity, oftentimes writing love songs, storytelling cuts with happy endings, or simply fun songs to party to with a celebratory vibe. Or, it could be the opposite of that - I mean, sonically Fornever doesn't do a whole lot different from what we heard on the first two Murs & 9th Wonder collaborative albums, so that could be a complaint too.
The main point is that a lot of fans weren't feeling what Murs was doing, and I guess that he therefore felt a) more depressed than he had been previously, and b) like he needed to do a throwback to his early days, before he was ever signed to a major label, and even before he started working with 9th Wonder. And it's a combination of these that might well have been what led to the release of Murs' 2011 EP Varsity Blues 2, an effort that was a lot shorter than his usual work, at 6 tracks, and also had a more diverse producer line-up in comparison with both Fornever (entirely produced by 9th Wonder) and his collaborative album with Terrace Martin Melrose, which I have not listened to because it's not a solo effort. Maybe I'll check it out someday. This album had a different producer for every song - contributions from Aesop Rock, Droop-E, Terrace Martin, Foundation and more were all to be found on here. And, on the other hand, no features were listed at all - the vocals on this project were to be handled by Murs, and Murs alone.
Now, as you may have already gathered, Varsity Blues 2 was marketed as the sequel to Murs' 2002 EP Varsity Blues, an album that similarly had a different producer for every track, and similarly was largely performed entirely by Murs himself (although that project did have the one feature). Now, that was a project that I enjoyed a hell of a lot, with every song besides the last gaining heavy rotation for me for quite some time. The album had its fair share of depressing moments, but it balanced that out with some of the more fun and upbeat tracks too, which made it the entertaining and concise listen that we ended up getting. As for this one, I really have no idea what it'll sound like. I know it may not have the same energy as the original, but I'm also hoping we get something a bit deeper and darker than what has appeared on Murs' latest few projects. And with these expectations in mind, I think it's about time we get ourselves into this EP...
1. Varsity Blues 2 (prod. Aesop Rock)
The music video for this song titles it as simply "Varsity Blues", but then other sites such as Discogs list it as the title track, which would make sense as there was already as song called "Varsity Blues" on the predecessor to this EP. This was the only "single" released for this project, and even then the video was only released on the same day as this full album - still, being an EP it makes sense he wouldn't promote it as much. This cut was produced by one of the most popular underground hip-hop artists out there, Aesop Rock, and he hands Murs a beat that is actually dope as hell - this instrumental is percussion-heavy, and with a weird, slightly spacey atmosphere that feels skeletal yet equally rich and perfect for Murs' vocals. As for Murs himself, he doesn't sound too different to his work on Murs For President and Fornever, but his lyrical content certainly is, as he reflects not only on his past life, but also speaks on his current situation, and his frustration with the fan's poor reception to his music. The chorus exemplifies this the most: "They say I'm only good when the session is depressing, so I crucify myself, so that you can learn a lesson". This track was particularly powerful, and the production was a nice change from the softer beats Murs had been using on previous projects. This was a really nice opener.
2. Red Dot Blues (prod. Issue)
I believe "Red Dots" was the name of one of Murs' earliest ever songs, so I'm thinking this might be some sort of reflective song based on that title alone. And... I was completely and utterly wrong. How often does that happen? This song begun with a weird tap-dancing sort of sound, before transitioning into a fucking godawful instrumental that consists of poppy synths and apparently the sound of a 90 year old woman moaning with pleasure into a microphone, which makes for seriously one of the most unpleasant things I have ever heard, full stop. Thankfully, this soft growl of sorts doesn't permeate the whole track, but whenever it's on it becomes very difficult to focus on what Murs is saying. And this isn't a good thing either, as on this song Murs tells a rather tragic story that I presume is fictional, but I guess you never know. Murs had just broken up with his girlfriend whom he had kids with, and he found out she had a new man. So, he pulled up to their house with a gun, went inside, and starts shouting at his ex about "how could she leave him??", meanwhile with her current man on the floor having been pistol whipped. This is a little hypocritical coming from the man who is all pro-women in a lot of his music, but still - his storytelling is invigorating on here, and even though there's no real ending, I'm still happy with what he did with this one. The "I feel so awful, I could off you" at the end is stupid, though, and my God does that beat suck. So it's problematic, but not bad.
3. She's So Lost (Yumi's Blues) (prod. Foundation)
This song went on to appear on Murs' 2012 studio album Yumiko: Curse Of the Merch Girl, so this isn't going to be the last time I'll cover it on here. I'm assuming that Murs wrote this one song for this Varsity Blues 2 EP, and then liked the concept so much that he threw together a whole album based on it. Well, this track certainly doesn't give me high hopes for that project, because this honestly kinda sucked dick. I don't know why Murs constantly insists on coming up with these bullshit song concepts that aren't hip-hop at all, and instead sound like some shit he observed in a Texas bar while watching an country band play various renditions of the same song over and over. This storyline is so uninteresting, I thought I was going to cry. I honestly don't give a shit about this, and the overly dramatic instrumental with guitars that come in during the chorus for whatever reason, is also really unpleasant. I thought I was supposed to be getting "Underground Raw Shit" here? Not "Uninteresting and slightly Racist Storytelling". Yeah, this was weak.
4. Bummed Out Blues (prod. Karl Berringer)
WHAT THE FUCK. On this song, Murs raps over some cheesy ass piano keys about his blues - I mean, that title really didn't need the "bummed out" in it, did it? The chorus on here consists of what might be a sample, or might be original singing, but I don't know as I'm not into folk rock music. That's right, my friends, that's pretty much what this damned chorus consists of. I'm scared too. The verses on here are OK, I guess, but without any music value at all to enjoy here and some fairly lethargic rhymes from our host too, including bars such as "under so much pressure it was easy to fold, all my funny style friends left me out in the cold", which is just lazy writing, there isn't much at all to enjoy here. Still, it's an improvement from the last song I guess?
5. First Love Blues (prod. Terrace Martin)
I believe that this is not actually an original song, but rather the same exact track that appeared on a compilation Murs did in 2008, called Murs & the Misadventures Of the Nova Express. The song is "1st Love", and it's actually one of Murs' most popular tracks - I'm surprised I only noticed the similarity in titles right before starting the song. Anyway, this was by far the best song since the opener here, and I would actually probably say the best song yet on this EP. The production from Terrace Martin was quite saddening and poignant, and Murs' storytelling (covering exactly what you'd expect from the title of the song) is also engaging, with the twist at the end being the cause of tears in many, I'm sure. This song is straight from the heart, and the fact that I'd missed it up until now is shocking - this is easily one of the best songs Murs has done post Murray's Revenge, and surely one of the best love songs in hip-hop full stop.
6. Dodger Blues (prod. Droop-E)
For the final song here, E-40 affiliate Droop-E provides a half-dramatic, half-subdued instrumental that I find to be fairly interesting in that it doesn't know what atmosphere it wants to provide, and over it Murs "breaks up" with the city of L.A.. Of course, it wasn't difficult to work out that he was addressing a city rather than a lover, as the true object of the song is revealed during the chorus in the sample. Admittedly, I was intrigued by that line "I made a song for you, it didn't even chart" - until I worked out that the song he was referring to was obviously "L.A.", I was interested to see what he was talking about there. The concept of this song is actually cool, and Murs executes it well, criticising the city for its effect on him, and even stating that he's glad he's moving away because he doesn't want the city to have the same negative effect over his kids. This track isn't one of Murs' best, but I still found it an intriguing and well-written ending to this EP.
This EP was... alright. I honestly don't think there's really much I can say here. It's pretty much just a fairly alright EP where the best song is one nabbed from a three year old compilation, and the only other songs worth checking out are the intro and outro. Honestly, after the opening track, my hopes were raised quite a bit, as I genuinely found that to be even more engaging than a lot of the music on the stellar Fornever album, and I was hoping for a project filled with that great hardcore production, and Murs rapping about his real life problems. Unfortunately, the next two songs consisted of fantasy tales spit over horribly mainstream and uninteresting instrumentals that really made me question if Murs still had it in him to make dope music. And this is right after a dope song had just played! Sure, "Red Dot Blues" wasn't a bad story, but sonically it was pretty horrible, and things got even worse with that next track, a piece of music I just don't even want to speak about. And even though "Bummed Out Blues" bought things back down to Earth, that track had the absolute worst production and hook work on the whole project. Thankfully, the final song was good, but I was honestly annoyed at how they chucked "1st Love" on here with a different name - I mean, you can't throw a three year old song on a supposedly brand new EP and expect to get away with it, man. I was honestly fairly disappointed by this, and the only song I can see myself regularly revisiting on here is the great title track, which showed an invigorated and passionate Murs over some actually dope underground hip-hop production. The rest of this sees the man whimsically drifting between real life and fantasy over some of the most trite and unpleasant instrumentals he has ever set his hands on. This really doesn't excite me for what's to come.
Expectations: Subceeded
Best Track: "Varsity Blues 2" (I refuse to name the song that had been released well before)
Worst Track: "She's So Lost (Yumi's Blues)"
Catch up on other more positive Murs reviews (and that on Sweet Lord) by clicking over here.
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