Murs Details Growing Up In Los Angeles, His Love For Vans

West Coast rapper Murs recently caught up with Off The Wall TV and spoke about growing up in Los Angeles, his early troubles making it out of an all-Crip neighborhood, his artistic aspirations and the importance of a great pair of shoes.

"People I looked up to most were probably Mystik Journeymen," he said of his old roommates in L.A. who convinced him to sell his music for rent money even before he was out of high school. "He told me, 'As long as you have music, and I'm giving you a way to record, there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to make a living.'" He touched on his inspirations—life, but mostly cinema and literature, saying that it shocks him that more rappers don't read books—as well as traveling around the world. "I'm always trying to travel in this epic saga to perfect my craft," he said.

And he also spoke about how a new pair of shoes helps him get ready to get on stage. "I get a new pair of Vans, I'm ready to go on tour," he said. "It's kinda like beats—I hear a certain beat I wanna rap to it, when I see a certain pair of shoes I know that those are the ones I need."

Check the video—with a freestyle at the end—above.