Interview: Murs and ¡Mayday! Discuss Mursday!

Murs and ¡Mayday! make quite the unexpectedly interesting combination, but they are just what hip-hop needs. Releasing their collaborative album, Mursday! just two days ago and becoming number one on iTunes within an hour of it’s debut, many would expect that the rappers would be bragging but they are just as excited as their fans are. Building a small idea about an album into such a successful journey has really shown a different angle to Murs and ¡Mayday!. They are humble and well aware of everything their fans need and want and with Mursday! they gave them everything in one package.

Mursday! is an electrifying, pleasurable and just overall a fun album. The rappers have put together a project that most won’t be able to do and that’s what makes it that much better. RESPECT. sat down with ¡Mayday! and Murs right before the album came out and got into their heads a bit.

Tell me how the ideas of you guys collaborating came about?

Wrekonize: Bernz hit up Murs and said, “Yo we need to do a song together on Strange.” Everyone liked it and the feedback was good. Then Bernz hit up Murs on Twitter and said something like, “Hey the song we did was great. We play it live every night; great vibes.” Murs hit him back and said, “Thats cool. Lets do this ‘Mursday’ album and get it poppin.” Also people saw the conversation happen on Twitter so they were saying stuff like, “Yeah do the whole album. We’d love that.” And the feedback was so good that we hit up Strange Music and Murs was talking about signing with Strange for awhile and he has that relationship with them so at that point it was a no brainer.

Tell me about the project Mursday

Bernz: I want to say it is like if you had your own parade. If it was your day. The greatest day ever. It would be Mursday. We wanted to make a fun album that didn’t take us too seriously. Murs wanted to mix up with us and the stuff we did before we signed with Strange Music. When we signed to Strange our music took a bit of a dark turn. It sounded a bit harder and he wanted to mix it up with fun. We were always referencing back to like greatest hip-hop duos and we would argue who was the greatest hip-hop duos or best trio and YouTube their music before we would start our session. Beastie Boys, anybody that was a collaborative group. We definitely tried to bring that element of hip-hop back.

How was it being in the studio together?

Bernz: It was little bit of initial compromise. Like what given and take is. For the record, Murs never said ‘No,’ [and] even when he said it, it was a yes. We were wondering when we were writing the hooks and making the beats that if he liked it, too. But he never said no he was always like, “Do whatever.” I think that’s what made the project better.

What is the concept of the album that is important to each one you guys?

Murs: To me, what’s important is that we bring back having fun in hip-hop. A lot of is not centered around greed and excess but just regular good old fashion fun. We use a lot of the techniques like the Beastie Boys. So when people hear it they want to have fun. The album is like a party. Mursday! is a holiday but it is for anyone and not just for bunch of people throwing money on naked women. It’s like that legendary house party that everyone talks about. That’s how it was. We went down to Miami and created that house party so that it could live on forever. This summer when it comes out it’s that summer record that you can either put on next summer or when it’s cold, you put that record on and it still feel good. Like making a turn up very real. People think the turn up means popping bottles and standing on couches. No the turn up like standing in the line for the bathroom and meeting a girl while standing in the line and then you guys make out in the washroom and shit and by the end of the night she is already with your other friend. You know stuff like that. Drinking Jack Daniels that you all pitched in on and making some punch. That’s what we kind of did. I brought my style and they brought their style and we pitched in and partied everyday in Miami for three weeks and made an album.

Wrekonize: Not making the album sound cohesive or someone who just met. A lot of the time when you collaborate it comes out sounding like it doesn’t mesh well; that we just linked up to do the album and sounding like two separate entities. So keeping it focused and unifying with it and come out as one unit that was the goal and I feel like we did a really good job at it. The three tracks we released already the feedback we got was as if Murs has always been part of our group. So to make it sound together and sound like we all fighting the same fight. That was the goal on the album.

What type of reaction are you guys hoping you will receive from the fans to the music?

Bernz: I really want to party with this album. That is the kind of reaction I want people to have. I want everyone to want us to come to their house party and rock out in the club. Like that’s where I feel like the album translates itself the best. It feels like a communal experience and everybody is like having a fun time. We went and debuted our live performance at SXSW. We had like four amazing showcases out there and the reaction was just great. Nobody knew who we were but they were partying from the time we got on and because people love Murs already. So I feel like we are winning the game when we come out like that. To top it off the music is so fun and infectious that we are out there not taking ourselves seriously. In the middle of SXSW there were 100 million people taking themselves way too seriously and rehearsed everything they did a million times. It’s like everyone just had a great time and it made me excited for whats to come.

What is your favorite track on the project?

Murs: I think my favorite track at the moment on the project is “Fool’s Gold.” It was a song that was supposed to be on their first project then on their second project. That was that one song that got thrown around a lot. It’s just the chorus is so strong that we didn’t have to go heavy on the lyrics so we kind of like played around with it and the hook is the dope. That was my favorite and then I was like, “I get to rap on this beat? That’s dope!” And by the end of it, it’s been around for them for four years and they kept talking it down then, “I was like ok I guess that song is not that dope.” But as I play it for other people, they think the song is a jam. So now I’m back as a champion. It’s “Fool’s Gold” for the win!

Bernz: I like the single we came out with, “Tabletops.” I love the process of how the beat came in. That beat came off in the beginning is a whole other beat, that piano section and we didn’t like how the beat came in so we stripped that and created a whole new beat with a horn player. It wasn’t a beat that we just stumbled across. We had a vision for it and were like, “Man we could start the album with this.” I just think it fits in well with the album. It was like our “Hey Ya.” Like that going to church, fun song.

Wrekonize: I am coming to a conclusion that even if I am a happy cheerful person, I like somber and chill kind of music. I mean we make all kinds of music but I always seem to gravitate towards the songs that are just moody sounding. I mean I’m not a depressed person by any sorts of imagination, but there is a song called “New Year’s Day.” That is my favorite right now. It’s a song about partying so hard knowing tomorrow you don’t have to do anything, because it’s a holiday. But the song is chill. The sound is different; a party song that’s not really hard body at all. It’s got great horn work and I love the hook as well.

What’s one of the things that excites you about going on tour?

Bernz: I think it’s getting to know the fans. Since we’re from Miami, kind of locked away on the outskirts of the country so it’s easy for us to forget that people are even listening. For us to go out on the road is a chance for us to experience people face to face and get feedback. It’s also a chance for us to understand how certain songs are doing in an actual arena where live music is played. Plus, it just feels good that people come out to have a great time and our show gets to provide that. That’s it. The people are the best.

What does MursDay! mean to you?

Murs: Not just for backpackers, not just for radio listeners, it’s a celebration. It’s for everybody you know what I mean. Everybody who loves fun in hip-hop is gonna love this.

Bernz: MursDay! represents what I’ve always wanted in a group and in a collaboration. We’re firing on all cylinders, there’s this great energy. I feel that this is the moment the world to find out who ¡Mayday! is and thanks to Murs, we’re getting a lot of attention. It’s an opportunity.

Wrekonize: I’ve been rapping since I was 18, 19 and in hip-hop it’s more about collaboration, it’s so natural in the genre. It never always remains personal to the degree you want it to be, you always wish you could’ve done more. With this project, it’s been natural, organic and we feel there’s this personal feel that’s there.