Indie rap gets Paid

According to Brother Ali, if anybody was ever going to pull off an indie-rap all-star tour like Paid Dues, the only possible candidate would be Murs.

"He's sort of the one guy who's friends with everybody in the indie-rap scene, and everybody loves him," Ali said of his Los Angeles counterpart.

Talking to Murs two weeks ago, though, the rapper gave credit where credit is due on Paid Dues, which started as an L.A.-based festival two years ago but has transformed into an 11-city, 13-show tour this summer. The fourth stop on the indie-rap caravan is a two-night Minneapolis run Tuesday and Wednesday at First Avenue.

Murs vividly remembers getting a visit from the fire marshal during the inaugural year of Paid Dues. The event drew about 5,000 fans to the Shrine Auditorium (former site of the Oscars), and city officials were on full alert.

"They were nervous because, you know, it was hip-hop and a lot of kids," Murs recalled. "They were ready to shut it down, but the whole crew came in when Brother Ali was on."

Something pretty near miraculous happened then. L.A. officials found out what kids around the country have known for years: that not all types of hip-hop preach gang-bangin', bling-totin', drug-pushin' values.

"One of the fire guys said to my business partner, 'Gimme a Brother Ali CD, and we're out of here,' " Murs said. "Seeing Ali not only made them enjoy him, it made them say, 'Oh, this is not what we thought it was.' I credit Brother Ali for keeping Paid Dues alive."

"I'm hoping it'll finally clear up all the nonsense that has surrounded large rap shows for the past 20 years, which is the idea that if you get a lot of people together in the name of hip-hop, there's going to be a shooting or some type of large-scale incident," he said.

Murs even invited the Minneapolis fire marshal and other city officials to attend the shows here. "They'll see it's not what they think it is. They'll probably even leave with a CD and a new respect for our generation."

For the local Rhymesayers crew, which has been loosely involved in the planning of Paid Dues, the tour is a culmination of years of networking with peers in other cities.

"It shows our commitment to being a part of a bigger community of artists," said Rhymesayers vice president and tour planner Jason (J-Bird) Cook. "We've worked with these artists in one form or another all these years, but it's never been a national thing like this. It's always been us hooking up with Living Legends in L.A., Sage Francis in the northeastern states, the Def Jux guys in New York."

Of course, getting all of these rappers -- indie or otherwise -- to agree on how a tour should be run is nothing short of a colossal challenge.

Both the Rhymesayers guys and Murs cited the Warped Tour as inspiration for Paid Dues. The 13th annual punk-rock mega-tour (coming to the Metrodome grounds Sunday) has been a valuable supporter of indie-rap. Local underground star P.O.S. is currently playing Warped, and most of the performers on Paid Dues have also been on the tour.

"Warped is something the kids know is going to happen every summer, and they can always go and have a good time, whoever is performing on it," Brother Ali said, calling Paid Dues "our version of that."

Said Murs, "I know why mainstream rap can't have something like Warped, but there's no reason Atmosphere, Murs, the Living Legends, Heiroglyphics, Brother Ali, Los Nativos can't all get together and have a good time."

Murs, 29, came to organize Paid Dues after more than a decade of criss-crossing the indie-rap circuit. The real-life Nick Carter has been a member of the Living Legends clique and a close affiliate of the Definitive Jux Records crew (home to Dues performers Mr. Lif and Cage). Locally, he is well known for his two CDs with Felt, the free-spirited, tongue-wagging side project with Atmosphere co-founders Slug and Ant (these Paid Dues dates are among Felt's first gigs).

Murs' latest venture is a new record deal with Warner Bros., through which he will release his next album, "Murs for President," by next spring. While he wouldn't exactly call Paid Dues a summer vacation -- "Whew! It's been pretty stressful so far," he said -- he does see these shows as a chance for all the indie rappers to rest up before the fall rush.

And don't forget the fire marshal.