It's hard to understimate Murs. For years, his highly coveted raps drew admiration from underground fans from all over. His astuteness in storytelling and golden tongue propelled him to be one of the strongest rappers in Los Angeles.

In the past, Murs teamed up with a bevy of hip-hop artists and producers for collaborative projects. By pairing together with the likes of Fashawn, Terrace Martin, 9th Wonder, and Atmosphere, he vacuumed any dubious thoughts regarding his skills as a rapper. Now, Murs is back on his own ready to forge a new legacy with Tech N9ne's independent label Strange Music. 

For his ninth solo endeavor, Murs teamed up with his childhood friend and producer Jesse Shatkin, who previously worked with Kelly Clarkson, Pink, and Sia. With Jesse onboard, Murs is ready to stymie detractors with his first offering with Strange Music. His new album Have A Nice Life showcases his elite storytelling abilities and unapologetic candor regarding his marriage, crime in America, and more. 

Myspace sat down with Murs and had the opportunity to speak to him about the writing process behind five of his favorite records from his new album, Have A Nice Life. 

1. "Mi Corazon"

"Man, I've been trying and trying to do a version of this [old song]. I've been trying to rap [in] Spanish for awhile now. A lot of my fans are Spanish and majority of my fans are Spanish speaking. They're from LA and are mostly Central American and Mexican.

"During my mom's generation, there were a lot of black and white separation. But between then and now, LA culture is Latino culture, Chicano culture—that's the heart. You can't say Los Angeles without speaking Spanish. So I just always wanted to do something and I tried to do this remake.

"I wanted to do another remake but no one wanted to do it with me. But then, Jesse put that beat up and I felt it. You know, with living in LA and recording the record, I was like, 'I'm gonna go for it. F*ck it.' I know enough Spanish. I can check my congregation now with Google. So I just wrote it and I got some Spanish-speaking homies that I put it together for and said, 'Does this make sense?' They were like, 'Yeah. What are you doing?' I was like, 'Don't worry about it.'

"['Mi Corazon' is] my favorite song. I grew up being obsessed with Chicana women. I love, love love Latin women. I love Mexican and South Central American girls a lot. During my time growing up, it wasn't okay to date a girl like that. Blacks and Mexicans didn't get along. You know, black and brown. It was kind of my fantasy. Like what if?

2. "Skating Through the City"

"I was out in Miami and after like the first day, I was like, 'Play me some beats, play me some beats. I need some beats for my album.' They started playing beats and I heard that one. That was the chorus that came to my head.

"And for me, I suck at skateboarding. In skateboarding, there's no word for fan. You're either a poseur, wanna-be, or you're a skater. I consider myself a fan of skateboarding more than I ever was a skater. Since there's no other word for it, I've been a skater since 1985-86. I still suck at it. It's like I can play basketball. I can dribble, I can do a crossover, I can make a three-pointer two out of ten times, but I'm a fan. There's no word for fans. Skateboarding is such an individually empowering sport that there's not a word for fan."

3. "Okey Dog"

"'Okey Dog' is a story that I've been wanting to tell for a long time. It's a true story. It's about one of the most amazing individuals I knew growing up. Yeah man, the beat came on and it was kind of a beat that Jesse forced on me. He was like, 'You gotta rap to this.' So I came up with the hook and the 'Okey Dog' record I started writing many times over the years and it came out.

"Even making me do it to the beat, I didn't like the beat that much at first. So I didn't think it was gonna make the album. I played it for my A&R. He loved it and he played it for the label and they loved it. I was like, 'What the f*ck?' So then, I had to call up to the pen [jail] and get the homies' permission to put the song out. Never in a million years did I think that they would choose this song as the first single for my record and wanna shoot a video for it. Now I gotta make sure my street politics are okay. So yeah, he was able to download the song, listen to it in the penitentiary, and watch the video—the whole sh*t. It was hilarious. 

4. "The Worst" 

"Now to this day, the past two years of my marriage have been really, really rough. You know, I told my wife that I've never been as close to stepping outside of my marriage than I've been recently during the past year. I'll say last year was even worse.

"I talked to people that are married and they said that you go through ups and downs. We had a down couple of years. We had problems with one of our adoptive children going back to foster care. It's been rough, man. And the transitioning over to a new label and all the politics and sh*t going on with Paid Dues.

"It's hard doing what I do and being faithfully married. I haven't touched another woman still in like five years or something. I haven't had sex with anybody other than my wife, which is crazy for me and my sexual past—to say the least. To go and to be monogamous—like, truly monogamous for five years now—it's all about battling temptation. It's crazy to me because I wrote 'Walk like A Man' before one of my good friends died and then he ended up dying. So I hope that doesn't happen with my marriage.

"That's kind of why I like to write cautionary tales to myself because I can go back and listen to my music and see what I can subconsciously was trying to tell myself. At the same time, on a musical level, Bernz and ¡MayDay!, we all tour together. He was like, 'You need a Biz Markie/Old Dirty Bastard [type of record.] You need to sing on something.'

"They are, sonically, the most snobby motherf*ckers ever. They will criticize anybody trying to sing on a record because they're so good with the poppy hooks and sh*t. I was like, 'You want me to sing?' I was like, 'F*ck no. I"m not singing in front of these motherf*ckers.'

"They played that beat and Plex—one of the guys from ¡MayDay! made that beat. They played it for me and I was like, 'F*ck.' I had a hook right away. I started drinking Jack Daniels, went in there, and started singing my little heart out for the first time ever—which was good for me because when I was younger, my mother used to tell me I couldn't sing a couple of times. It broke my little heart. That was so discouraging. Now I feel like I closed the cipher out and overcame that obstacle in my past. I'm at peace with that." 

5. "P.T.S.D." Feat. E-40

"This was done by Curtis King. Curtis sent it to me and I was sending the beats to Jesse and my friend Terry, sometimes. Terry was like, 'Oh, this is the one.' Jesse was like, 'This is the one.' I was like, 'I don't even like to rap double-time.' But they both liked it and I like Curtis. So I was like, 'I'll try.'

"I couldn't think of anything and we were on tour with ¡MayDay!. This motherf*cker came back stage and was asking me can he be on stage. I was like, 'Bro. You can't come on stage. You can sit-down in the area with the press and take three pictures. But then you gotta go.' He was like, 'Oh, well I know Tech [N9ne] and I know...' I was like, 'I don't give a f*ck, bro. I have P.T.S.D. You can't be in my periphery or I'll f*ck you up. It's gonna f*ck up my show.'  He was like, 'What? You've been to the service?' I was like, 'Bitch? No, I'm from LA [laughs].'

"He had the look on this face and I was like, 'Get the f*ck out of here, man.' It turned into a real thing. Then, the next day, we were coming from somewhere from up north. We had a long ass drive. I had to do it on sleep. So I was mad that I had to drive and I was mad at that motherf*cker. I was just angry. I was like, 'Oh, now I can write to this beat that I hate wanting to write to.'

"It all kind of came from that. Then, when I finished it, I only wanted to do that one verse. You know, E-40 is my Rakim. Anytime I can rap with him, I would love to. It sounded perfect for him. He came through and smashed it. Like God, I love listening to him rap. And he was on topic, which was dope to me.