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Everything I need to know about love, I learned while watching Murs perform at the Jackpot last night.
The rapper dropped heartfelt gems such as, "Never let your dick pick who you fall in love with." (For the ladies, he had: "Use it, don't abuse it.") Moments between songs felt as though the packed audience were, collectively, his best friend. With a toss of his free-form locks and a huge grin, Murs had Lawrence eating out of the palm of his hand.
Ignoring the insulation drooping from the particle board ceiling, Murs jumped around yelling, "I'm so excited to see you, I just want to scream!" before bounding into another song.
Murs, an indie rapper who still maintains underground street cred even after joining Warner Bros. label in 2006, punctuated a night of solid hip-hop performances at the small Lawrence venue last night. DJ Mahf, local rapper Steddy P, and Los Angelenos Verbs and Sick Jacken kept the crowd moving with rapid-fire verses, nod ya head beats and high-energy antics on stage.
Even with a "ruptured Achilles," Kansas City's Steddy P galloped around the stage. He dropped his crutches to the side and launched into a respectable set, bringing a few friends on stage to join him.
Verbs was up next, launching into a speed-dating version of a rap performance. Right after mike check ("Hi, hi, hey, hey, alright my name's Verbs"), he dived right into his first song, not even waiting for the audience to return from milling around the bar. He kept tally of the songs he performed and consulting with the DJ after each song; but, his talent was his quick set's saving grace.
Sick Jacken of Psycho Realm went hard with a visceral delivery that held everyone's attention. He led a chorus of "Fuck the Industry" and hyped the virtue of being an independent rapper; but, he also kept it light, asking "Where my crazy motherfuckers at?" and encouraging everyone to "Joke a little, smoke a little" in one of his songs.
But back to that messy matter of love. A good chunk of Murs' killer set involved songs dealing with love in all its many forms.
If any of the audience ever maintained a steady make-up to break-up cycle (until someone gets
knocked up), Murs had you with "The Break Up Song" -- also known by its less P.C. title "The OJ Song." "Vikki Veil" handled trying to turn a ho into a housewife when you date a porn star (which isn't as cool as it sounds, Murs cautioned).
But hip-hop -- everyone's true love that evening -- reigned supreme. "I rap better than everyone on the radio, and yes, that includes your favorite rapper," Murs proclaimed before launching into "Who's The Boss?", a diss track taking potbellied mainstream rapper Rick Ross to task for stealing Murs' beat to make a 50 Cent diss. Murs also covered Common's "I Used to Love Her," because, one: he wasn't feeling the second verse, and two: he hoped to "fuck Queen Latifah," just like Common will in the upcoming movie "Just Wright."
The audience loved every second of it, seemingly knowing every song Murs performed that evening. One fan's enthusiasm won the audience three encore songs at the end of the evening. After all, what's love without friendship? Friends don't leave friends hanging at the end of the night.
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