God Bless Kanye West.
The last time MURS was in the public eye, he was busy breaking world records for rapping 24 hours straight. But now he’s back in album mode. And on March 10th, he’s releasing Captain California — his second solo album as part of the Strange Music family, following 2015’s Have A Nice Life.
Last week, he proved to be a hip hop “Survivor” with over two decades in the game. And today, he’s giving us the green light to debut a new record from the album called “GBKW (God Bless Kanye West).”
“The whole album is based on my love of comic books,” MURS told us over email. “On Captain California, I’m making things colorful and vivid and telling stories where I sensationalize them without glorifying them.”
For the album’s second single, MURS sends his concerns out for Kanye West and others in the black community confronted with mental health issues.
“We pray for each other and I believe in the power of prayer, but we could really use more mental health professionals in our community instead of mocking Kanye West,” MURS said. “He’s having problems and he’s having to work through it. He’s like a football player playing hurt, to me.”
It’s ironic I’m writing this just as Kanye’s looking to return to the public light with his Yeezy Season 5 fashion show — his first public art event since his meltdown and subsequent hospitalization in November.
“GBKW” reaches a hand out to anyone who feels like they’re alone or struggle with a mental illness, letting them know they can talk to someone, like a mental health professional, if they need it.
MURS depicts the narrative of someone constantly on the run from gang violence despite being just another kid from the neighborhood, or, “a young black man trying to make it on his own.” Eventually, the kid — who started walking around with a gun after constantly getting harassed — is stopped by the cops, and the story takes its final turn.
Captain California is set to land on March 10 via Strange Music. Listen to “GBKW” below and pre-order on iTunes.
