When someone drops the name “Nick Carter”, visions of Backstreet Boys — not Murs — arise. Love and Rockets, Volume: 1

Murs

DD172/BluRoc Records

Grade: B+

When someone drops the name “Nick Carter”, visions of Backstreet Boys — not Murs — arise.

OK, so the Nick Carter of Murs — short for “Making the Universe Recognize and Submit” — isn’t the ‘90s boy band member, but he should get just as much attention. The underground hip-hop artist from Los Angelos just released his seventh album.

After struggling for the past 14 years, Carter finally received some commercial attention for his 2008 album Murs for President, which hit No. 45 on U.S. charts. A mix between Ice Cube and Atmosphere, Murs’ ablility to cover a wide range of topics is one of the reason it’s able to attract fans of various genres.

As the title suggests, this album moves away from the tradition of the past six albums, and it’s clear that the new hairdo is not the only thing that has changed about the West Coast rapper. Cutting off his signature dreadlocks, Carter has ushered in a new era with producer Ski Beatz, who provides a wide assortment of beats to complement the artist’s well-rounded style.

As in previous Murs albums, storytelling is still one of the rapper’s weapons of choice, but the new Murs also embraced a laid-back style, something more typical of Californian rappers. The change led Ski Beatz to incorporate more horn and saxophone samples, giving the music a feel similar to that of ’90s rap.

The first track, “Epic Salutations,” exemplifies Murs’ new taste, with a flow softer than his earlier more famous tracks, “H-U-S-T-L-E” and “3:16.” The song shows that the formerly hard Murs is now willing to have fun with his craft, switching his storylines from cruising around Cali in a Caddy to flying around space in a rocket ship.

He may be a changed man, but Murs still knows how to relate to his fans, and songs like “Remember 2 Forget” show that Murs is just a regular guy who goes through the same highs, lows and breakups that we do.

Murs also takes time on the album to pay his respects to West Coast rap. The track “Easy-E” pays homage to West Coast rappers Ice Cube, Corrupt, Hieroglyphics, Souls of Mischief, Plan B and, of course, Eazy-E over a laid-back beat — the type of beat that have become synonymous with the hip-hop produced on the left side of the country.

Although most of the album has a relaxed, mellow feel, the customary in-your-face sound of Murs is still found on the track “316 Ways,” in which Murs takes four minutes and eight seconds to describe “316 ways to kill the industry.”

A solid album from start to finish, Love and Rockets, Volume: 1 proves that artists can still produce quality albums without the aid of mainstream record labels. Released under Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash’s record label, DD172/BluRoc Records, Murs had the freedom he wanted to put out an album that really reflects his style.