| Avclub |
 On Fornever, the fourth collaborative album by MURS and producer 9th Wonder, the duo is smart enough not to tinker with a winning formula. “Cigarettes & Liquor,” “The Lick,” and “Live From Roscoe’s” find MURS playing hood sociologist as he explores, respectively, the irresistible pull of instruments of self-destruction like cancer sticks and malt-liquor bottles, and the self-contained universe of the corner store and waffle house. MURS is part of a vocal minority of rappers who rhyme about women within the complicated, sometimes frustrating context of relationships, rather than viewing them as mere conquests. On “Vikki Veil,” he pays for nights of carnal bliss with boundless insecurity after falling in love with a porn star, while on “Let Me Talk,” he gets into the kind of PMS-fueled domestic squabble that generally precedes a long stint of sleeping on the couch. But the pimpadelic Suga Free scores the album’s meanest, funniest line when he observes of a hood rat, “Her son’s retarded, right? I can’t lie / One day a butterfly landed on his nose and brought a tear to my eye.” MURS pointlessly remakes Common’s seminal hip-hop allegory on “I Used To Love Her (Again),” adding nothing but a line about Auto-Tune and making it rain. On that unnecessary cover, he simply recycles hip-hop’s past; elsewhere he smartly, subversively reinvents his beloved genre in his own prickly, iconoclastic image....full text |
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| Allmusic |
| After the paranoid tendencies of Murray’s Revenge and the lackluster, politically charged Murs for President, Murs teamed up with his old pal, 9th Wonder, for a spirited full-length that harks back to the days of 3:16: The 9th Edition. Maybe it’s because it was recorded in L.A., on Murs’ home coast, or due to the fact that the two have a brotherly chemistry that lends itself to wisecracking good times, but Murs sounds reinvigorated and -- for the first time in a while -- glad to be where he is as a rapper. Instead of wasting time boasting or targeting adversaries, Murs concentrates solely on storytelling. The rhymes on Fornever are frank, funny, and relatable, with each of the ten songs revolving around a specific subject; be it convenience store shopping (“The Lick”), fighting hangovers at an office job (“Cigarettes and Liquor”), lust for Asian females (“Asian Girl”), or the old time favorite, drama-filled relationships. His girlfriend won’t let him watch football and forces him to sleep on the couch in “Let Me Talk,” he faces issues while dating a porn star in “Viki Veil,” and in the album’s strongest track, “Used to Love Her (Again),” he talks about his greatest heartbreak; the steady devolution of his all-time deepest love, hip-hop. The album has all the makings of a hip-hop classic: it's lofty with an easygoing, nod-nodding vibe; it's concise, consistent; and 9th Wonder's production is a top-notch blend of Motown soul and Native Tongue boom-bap. Fornever is one of those rare, late-career triumphs. There are no weak tracks and it’s entertaining throughout; every bit as much as Murs’ best early outings....full text |
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| Latimesblogs |
Gunning for the title of "hardest-working man in hip-hop," Murs has released 30-plus albums and EPs over the last 15 years, including collaborations with Slug of Atmosphere and his own crews 3 Melancholy Gypsys and Living Legends. Yet arguably his most memorable moments have arrived in tandem with the North Carolina producer 9th Wonder.
"Fornever," the duo's fourth collaboration and the first of 10 albums that Murs plans to release in 2010, does little to expand upon an already established template. As consistent as the Southern California climate and equally affable, 9th Wonder's soulful, sun-kissed beats blend like barbecues and backyards with Murs' relatable raps about subjects as varied as his affinity for Asian girls and the perils of cigarette addiction and dating porn stars ("Vikki Veil").
Rather than broaden their sonic boundaries, the pair mix things up by wisely enlisting a spate of highly quotable collaborators, including seminal local staples Kurupt, Verbs and Sick Jacken. But Pomona's Suga Free contributes the album's most rewind-worthy bars on "Let Me Talk," inveighing against excessive flatulence and rhyming "Impala" with "Medulla Oblongata."...full text |
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