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Wut up my fellow hip hop heads, its ya boy C-quel a.k.a Half-Time on my first time out the gate representn’ Sixshot. I recently found out that interviews and concerts are damn near the same thing. Some of the similarities are: both events cause you to leave the event either satisfied or disappointed, both events provide you with an experience you wouldn’t trade (good or bad), and you leave both events with a changed perspective of the artist. This past week, I had the opportunity to chop up game with one of the members of Def Squad, Keith Murray.

When the interview with Keith Murray was complete, I left with the perception that he was a real cat just trynna perfect his hustle. It just so happens to be that his hustle is the music biz while our hustle is what we do on the daily. When you talk with Keith Murray you can’t help to get the “perfect stranger” vibe. The “perfect stranger” vibe is what you get when you are out doing ya thing wi th your crew or solo and you run into somebody that you recognize, but really don’t know. It’s a trip cause neither of you can pin point the exact time or place where you met because it was somewhere random. However both of you know a little something about each other because you both put 5 on the 20 sack. I have never met Keith Murray before or blazed it up with him, but I have twisted up a lot of dank [and unfortunately some not so dank sometimes] to his music. So for that he knows me as a fan and I know him as the cat on my cd.

Keith Murray, the self-proclaimed unda-ground prince, is making it known that he intends on furthering the torch by bringing the “high energy lyrical lexicons” that are gonna make you do everything from dance to cry. The prince’s goal is to achieve new shit in the underground by putting together a complete album. The new album has 17 tracks and includes appearances by the Def Squad Fam, Legion of Doom (LOD), and Jamie Foxx. It is scheduled for an April 1^st release when Keith intends on “break’n fool” Def Squad style. A key ingredient in the success of this project definitely lies within the strong chemistry present among the members of Def Squad (Erick Serman, Keith Murray, and Redman). Keith makes it clear that the mind set of the squad is “come hard, come correct, or get ya ass to’ up on the track.” He says that this mind set keeps it competitive in the booth and allows for the best to come out of each artist. When asked about how the music comes together, Keith confessed that he likes to come to the studio prepared (lyrics written and rehearsed), but if need be he’ll drop 16[bars] on the spot. Case and point is Special Delivery, which manifested when the trio (E-Dub, Murray, and Red) put their pens to the pad in the studio just before recording.

Longevity in hip-hop is a subject that can be placed in the same category as money and women. The category is, everybody always talks about having it, but only time tells who really does. Keith Murray has endured a 7-year stint in the game that has included two acclaimed solo projects and a Def Squad collaboration LP. During such time he has maintained his underground credibility and gained a global fan base, while managing to go rather unrecognized by the mainstream commercial market. Keep in mind that Murray has accomplished all this despite a 3-year stint in prison during the midst of his career. Keith Murray accredits E-dub, the Master of Longevity, for his guidance in establishing a long career in the game. For example, Keith says that Sermon was very influential in directing him on how to properly make and format a song. The undaground prince also emphasized the fact that the rap game is a business and that you must always treat it like a business while still being true to the HipHop culture. It is no secret and the prince can cosign to the fact that many rappers out there are fake characters and are not staying true to the culture.

It seems that Keith Murray knows his position as an emcee and an ambassador to the culture. He says with conviction, that in his early days before the record deal he could be found on the block rhyming and vows to maintain rhyming. Like many other “local” emcees, I also rhyme on the block and am anxious to take my rhymes to a much bigger block. So you know I had to ask the inevitable question, “How do I get into the rap game?” As you know, the response to a question of this caliber generally leads to a recycled answer filled with lots of hope and no direction. To my surprise, the prince’s answer was different. He gave a sugarcoated answer filled with a dosage of reality. The words of wisdom were simple, “stay persistent because persistence over comes resistance and when opportunity knocks answer, but don’t be to eager that you disrespect shit…cause everybody don’t wanna here you rhyme, play it cool your time will come like mine.” The benefit that I take from Murray’s comment is the self-actualization that everybody doesn’t want to here me [or any other emcee] rhyme. People may not want to hear a person rhyme because that individual does not fit their taste. Take a look at yourself, you don’t listen to every song on the radio or watch every video played. As an artist one should try and market themselves to the best of their abilities while maintaining consideration for the listener/consumer. Disagree, look at telephone solicitors and see how successful their pushy tactics are. Remember it is always a good idea to critic your strategy to ensure that you don’t alienate your potential fan base before you even get a chance to blow up.  On a different note, I felt reassured because it seems that a majority of people have to put in work before they can see the benefit. I am still putting in work and don’t plan on stopping till I reach my goal.

As for the future, Keith Murray seems to be focused on a paper chase. He plans on continuing to put out good music while bringing new talent into the game. Legion of Doom (LOD) is one of the acts that he has in development. They appeared on his last album and make an appearance on his new project. LOD are just a few of the individuals that comprise Headrush Entertainment, Murray’s company which is home to other artist and several in-house producers. Keith Murray also revealed that he has spent some of his spare time bang’n out beats, but has no plans of giving up the mic for the beat machine. Murray says that he is more interested in teaching people to be better in the business than venturing out into side projects like clothing lines.

Keith Murray has no plans of bowing out of the game any time soon, however I asked him how he would want to be remembered if he had to walk away from the rap game. Murray said that he would want it to be known that he put his all into his music and from that one can gain a perspective of him as both an artist and a person. Keith’s music definitely reflects his distinct individuality that depicts real pain and real changes.  Even though Murray has become a recognizable public figure, he still continues to be unrecognized for his contributions to the culture. Despite the lack of recognition Murray has received, he never fails to recognize his fans. Keith gave big ups to his fans both in the US and overseas (Europe, Switzerland, etc.). Finally I asked the prince how he felt about the future of the Hip-Hop culture in terms of the East coast reciprocating the love that the West has shown. Murray was very optimistic about the issue and said that he and the entire Def Squad will continue to show love to Cali and any other spot that gives love. He also said that while on tour he and the squad always make it a point to hit the clubs and shake hands with the people.

Check Keithmurray.com