Murs and 9th Wonder - Fornever

One of the most consistent staples of West Coast Hip-Hop, Murs re-unites with one of the hottest producers in the game, 9th wonder, to bring us their 4th collaboration, "Fornever."  Since Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition, their first project together, the rapper and the producer have honed their sound and really established a great relationship that has given us some pure classic cuts.  This chemistry is no more recognizable than on the album's opening track, which finds 9th in his zone of comfort with a soulful, catchy beat. Murs and West Coast brethren Kurupt trade witty punchlines across the beat with no hook, which gives Murs a chance to showcase his potent flow. With flames like "Classic competition, man we killin compositions/Catalog consistent, its compellin you to listen," MURS wastes little time luring the listener.  Both come hard on the track, and with a beat that is damn near perfect, the album gets off to a running start.  

However, the album has trouble sustaining this level, either because of a few ill-conceived beats, or sub-par song concepts.  On "The Lick," MURS takes a generic beat and adds generic rhymes about nothing particularly interesting. Even worse, the song is the albums's second, which makes it stand in stark opposition to the invigorating title track.  Similarly, "Asian Girl" finds 9th blending oriental-like sounds on a song about why everyone wants an Asian Girl, with MURS doing his best to dumb it down even further than the track's title suggests.  It's not that these tracks are bad per se, they are just highly generic, and in an album with 10 songs, listeners will have little tolerance for filler.

That being said, that perfect 9th/MURS chemistry is apparent more often than not. "Let me Talk" and "Vicky Veil" deal with MURS' outlook on women and relationships, which in my opinion is when he is at his best ("Silly Girl," "Break Up," "Part of Me," "Marry Me").  Both tracks are examples of 9th finding the perfect beat to express what MURS wants to convey, which really hammers MURS' bars home.  "Vicki Veil" is MURS' caution to his fans not to date porn stars/adult actresses via a personal story, and is another one of the album's standouts.  Interestingly enough, MURS also gets away with doing a remake of Common's cult class "I Used to Love H.E.R." with "I Used to Love H.E.R. (Again)" The track is loyal to the original, but not to a fault, and with a nice beat from 9th, it goes over very well.  Lines like "She's just not the same lettin all these groupies do her/and make it rain on her, and try to autotune her" make the track a perfect 2010 version of the song.  Finally, Fornever's last track "Live from Roscoe's" brings back Kurupt and another banger from 9th, which ends the album on a simliar high note as the opener.

Overall, it is clear that 9th and MURS are both talented, and make quality music when they come together. However, not every track works as well as the ones we all know and love, and by album's end, the listener is left wanting more than the 10 tracks.