Los Angeles rap veteran Murs, member of the Living Legends collective and founder of the Paid Dues Festival, has one of the most recognizable names – and styles – in underground hip hop. His recent work with producer 9th Wonder on two albums, Murs 3:16 and Murray's Revenge, has earned him critical acclaim and die-hard fans. As he prepares to drop his latest, Murs for President, the dreadlocked MC talks to us about being a nerd, his love for skateboarding and how he met Chingo Bling.

You call your style "sitcom rap." You've also said you're a "nerd from the hood." Can you explain what makes your style so unique?

I don't know, that's just my life. I was fortunate enough to have my mom marry a not-so-good guy in order to get us out of the neighborhood where I grew up. Then we moved to a place where it was all white kids. That's when I really got into comic books.

But she divorced him 'cause he was an asshole and then we had to move back to the black neighborhood. So when I got there, I was into different things.

But I was also just happy to be around black people. But I didn't want to fight black people about being in gangs or whatever else – it's like, we're all black! I used to get in fights [in the white neighborhood] because I was black, and now you want to fight me, too? I didn't understand it. So, I got more into music because I didn't share the same experience that everybody else shared.

I can only be honest, so that's how it translates into my music, because I was never "cool," I was never "hardcore." The kids I went to elementary school with, when I moved back to the neighborhood, they didn't want to be my friend anymore because I was "weird" and they were "cool." But now, they all want to give me beats and they want me to work with their artists. The times I was getting chased and getting shot at, they never had my back. Now they're like "I have this new artist, you should come and do 16 bars with them." I'm like, "Fuck that."

How do you feel about artists like Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell, who are the ones mainly associated with skateboard culture, when you were one of the first rappers to show your love for skateboarding?

I was a little, what's the word, "perturbed" at first – you know what I mean? But you know, I wasn't really mad, because if I get mad, that means I have to punch you in the face, and I don't want to punch anybody in the face. And they don't know who I am, they're too busy, like, being rich and stuff like that. When I go to places like skateshops, the kids know, the skaters know. I know pro skaters and they don't respect [Lupe and Pharrell]. There are guys who make shirts dissin' them. They think those guys are jokes.

I think it's cool because they're influencing more black kids to skate. Like when I'm in South Central, I see all the kids with skateboards. Before, they didn't have em, because it was just "nerds" and "weirdos." They didn't want to be like me, but they'll be like Pharrell, because Pharrell doesn't get made fun of. I got made fun of, so no one wants to skate because of me. I think it's cool, it doesn't matter who does it first, skateboarding is a great sport and the more people that get directed to it, the better.

So you don't think they're taking advantage of its popularity?

I mean, yeah, they're trying to take advantage of it, but the truth will shine through, you know what I mean? The real kids know who's real and everyone knows I made [a skateboarding] song first, so there's no need for me to get mad about it. And it made it in Tony Hawk's Underground, that's all I care about. They can have all the money and the diamonds.

You've also spent time in Oakland – you've said it's where you learned to really hustle, can you talk about your days in the Bay Area?

I learned in Oakland that everyone is black. Even the Mexicans are black! Even the guys with the Sinaloa hats or the Oaxaca hats with the Mexican flag would be like "Ey, blood." You dress how you dress, but everyone sounds the same: white people, Phillipino people, Chinese people. That's the first thing I learned about Oakland.

Then I realized the difference in weed prices and I realized I should really focus on my rap career, because selling weed was not as easy. I was selling weed and tapes on the streets. I was selling more weed than tapes at first, but the more shows I did, the more tapes I sold, which is good, because you could buy a hundred [blank cassette] tapes for $100.

L.A. is really divided, but in the Bay Area, everybody is just about making money and having fun, so it's a lot easier whether you're in the dope game or the rap game or going to school. It's just easier when people are unified and respect each other as humans.

When you wrote the song "L.A.," you said everyone who has made songs about Los Angeles aren't really from L.A.

Yeah, Xzibit isn't from L.A., 2Pac isn't from L.A.

So what was your mindset when you wrote "L.A."?

There's a beat that 9th Wonder – he picks all the beats – made me rap to, and he kept saying, "This has to go on Murray's Revenge." And I was like, "I don't know what to rap to this shit," because it was a slow reggae sample. The sample says "No matter what the future may bring." So whenever I go to North Carolina (9th Wonder's hometown), we sit up for hours and they'll tell us gang stories they hear about L.A. Wherever I go, people are always like "You're just so L.A." So I was like, wherever I end up, if I move to North Carolina, I'm always gonna be from L.A. I'll always stand out.

I've lived all over. I've had hella Latino friends, hella white friends, Phillipino friends, I've had the most complete L.A. experience and I don't think anyone's ever translated that into anything decent. So I felt like I owed it to my city to make a song – even though [Los Angeles radio DJ] Julio G dissed me by saying "My friends made songs about L.A. that are even better." I'd like him to show me. Most of his friends probably made songs about gang banging, and L.A. is way more than that. We have porn stars, we have palm trees, we have beaches, it's not all about gang banging and bloods and crips. So I think I've made the most complete L.A. song, except for maybe "How To Survive South Central" by Ice Cube. That's pretty great. But it's just about South Central.

You've worked with Chingo Bling a few times, he's appeared in the Paid Dues festival and your "Hustle" remix with E-40 and John Cena. How'd you meet?

I lived in South Tucson, Arizona for a while, where's it's all Mexican people. So all my friends were Mexican. My Spanish is a little bit better than most black people's. So I was listening to Chingo Bling, and if you don't speak Spanglish, you won't understand it. Like he said, "My rhymes are like a female illegal, they're mo hotta (mojada)." And I was like, "Oh, that's funny, you're hilarious, dude."

So somebody called him and he called me and then we talked. He's a dynamic businessman, he's really smart and really into hip hop. And he's a really good rapper. So I paid him to be on the "Hustle" remix and he did his verse, so I was just honored to be on the song with him. Because I had all [his] mixtapes and Chingo Bling for President and all that other stuff. I was waiting on Tamale Kingpin and everything, like it was a big deal to me.

Then he called me one day and he was just like: "Man, I didn't know you had so many fans. I'm out here in Puerto Rico and kids are like 'You did a song with Murs, that's dope.'" He told them, "I didn't even know who Murs is, I just did the song." So then he was like, "Man, if I could, I would just give you your money back." I was like, "It's cool, just come down to the Paid Dues festival and I'll pay you to come out and do the show."

The Latino fan base is a majority of my fan base, but it's so rare that they're represented on stage, so I try to be conscious of that. So anyone I can incorporate – whether [the fans] like it or not – I'm gonna try to have Psycho Realm, 2Mex and F.I.L.T.H.E.E. IMMIGRANTS, somebody that represents what's in the crowd. For [Latinos] to just be looking at a bunch of black people all day, it's OK, but I'm sure you feel there's something missing. Anytime I find anyone who's dope and speaks Spanish, I try to expose my fan base to them, 'cause most of my fans, at least in L.A., are Mexican and Salvadoran. Latino kids, you know.

So Chingo performed, he got booed. They didn't get it. So he started battling fools outside. He still walked around and was like: "Thank you Murs, I'll come back next year, thank you for having me." Then I went to one of his shows in South Gate, which was way different. And you know, with the whole brown and black thing in L.A., I stuck really close to him. I was like "I'm not trying to get caught up in here by myself."

It was dope working with him and I hope to work with him again, but he's so famous, it's hard to catch him. He has all those chains and all those chickens. He still owes me some boots, though.

Chingo, I want my boots, fool!

So as you prepare to release Murs For President, what's your take on the current state of hip hop?

It's really sad. It's just sad. It's fun but it's sad at the same time. There's just a lot of negativity, people promoting the wrong things. People promoting misogyny – I'm all about promoting sex, that's how we make more humans, you know what I mean? But there's proper ways to promote it. You don't always have to degrade women and stuff like that. You don't have to talk about killing people and selling drugs, I think it's wrong. And it's lame and stupid. And if you say any different, then you're a liar.

All these rappers who say they know better should be ashamed of themselves. All these rappers j**k off a lot, you know, I'm sure they do. But they don't get on stage and talk about that. That would be "keeping it real," that's telling what's really going on in your life, but you're kind of ashamed of that, that's something you keep it to yourself. And so should you selling crack and going to jail, keep that to yourself.

American people have no shame. That's why we're not respected around the world, because we come out and do the most ludicrous things on television, and we look like idiots. Our clothes are too big and too gaudy. There's people starving and you're gonna wear diamonds? We don't have any perspective. American people have lost perspective and I'm here to provide a little perspective for the hip hop generation or anyone else who's willing to listen. We can still have fun, just keep things in perspective. We're out of control.

Why should people vote Murs for president?

I'm more fun that the other rappers. Period. More fun. More positive. When you're positive you can have more fun. When everybody's not fighting and shooting each other, you tend to have more fun. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Watching this video [points to TV displaying Lil Wayne's "Lollipop"] is slightly disturbing, though. Why does everybody have to have their shirt off? Why does everyone have to have a chain?

It's time for a change, we've had 10 years of some real bullshit. It's been fun, everybody likes to dance, but it's my turn now. Because it's my turn, that's why you should vote Murs for president. You know if somebody's been on the playground swings for hella long? Now it's my turn, like, "You can't be on the swings forever! Let me try." [Points at Lil Wayne on TV] He smiled!