Good Music

*Good Music*, Murs’ second full-length is a sprawling journey through Los Angeles’ hip-hop underground that finds the talented MC collaborating with a host of like-minded MCs and producers and trying on a variety of rhyming styles, all of them far removed from the knowingly skeptical persona he would eventually adopt on albums like *Murs 3:16 -The 9th Edition* and *Murray’s Revenge*. If *Good Music* finds Murs suffering from something of an identity crisis it’s certainly a pleasure to hear him cut loose on tracks like “That’s Him” and “24 Hours” that see Murs trying out unorthodox rhyme patterns at dizzyingly fast tempos. If nothing else these more experimental numbers prove that Murs is a fiercely technical MC, a fact obscured on his more recent outings which feature a seemingly laconic and conversational style of delivery. Tellingly, *Good Music*’s most rewarding tracks are those that see Murs pioneering the very style that brought him fame. On “Tomorrow” and “My Story” Murs excels at spinning unrepentantly emotional stories of growing up in Los Angeles, exploring his adolescent experiences with the same level of insight that Common brought to 1994’s *Resurrection*.