It's odd to
see a rapper like Murs, the Los Angeles indie-label favorite, on such a big
label, especially this late in the major-label game. But despite the inclusion
of "Time Is Now," which features a guest verse from Snoop Dogg, and some
glossier production than usual here and there, Murs For President is pretty much the kind of album its
creator might have made for Definitive Jux or Rhymesayers: lots of good,
specific, thoughtful lyrics about politics and love (which dominate the album's
first and final thirds, respectively) that treat them like everyday concerns
rather than grandstanding. But only sometimes is the music up to the standards
of the words, such as on the flute-kissed, Scoop Deville-produced "The
Science," on which Murs dissects hip-hop's beginnings: "It wasn't always played
on every radio station / It was us making the best out of a bad situation /
Inner-city schools stopped teaching us instruments / We took turntables, and
start flipping it." Still, his narrative skills can keep things interesting,
especially on "Think You Know Me," in which Murs inhabits a trio of different
characters that society sees as menaces but that he views with more sympathy.