If Mura Masa seems like he blew up overnight, he’ll be the first to remind you it actually took two years — or longer. “There’s a lot of groundwork and slow times,” he tells Kyle Meredith, “and then one thing happens and it all kicks off.”
That one thing ended up being a Grammy-nominated debut album stacked with unexpected collaborations, genre-bending production, and one very cool line in the credits: Creative Director. That dual nomination made him the first artist recognized in both the music and creative categories in Grammy history. “Even if I don’t win, that’s something,” he says, still slightly stunned by it.
The album itself — while sounding effortless — took far longer to piece together than he expected. Originally envisioned as a concept record, he quickly pivoted, realizing most fans don’t consume albums as cohesive narratives anymore. “Streaming has changed the way people listen,” he explains. “It’s all about taking pieces and making your own playlists.”
Still, it’s not just a grab bag of tracks — the album is unified by instinct, spontaneity, and a refusal to over-polish. “I’m learning not to be such a perfectionist,” he says. “That’s part of what took so long — I’d overthink everything.”
One of the record’s standouts is Blu, a collab with none other than Damon Albarn, whose fingerprints on genre fluidity are practically canonical. “He’s a legend, obviously,” Mura says. “But he’s so disarming and fun — he just sings the first thing that comes into his head and trusts it’ll be good.” Albarn’s vocals on the track? A demo take. “That confidence — that trust in your instincts — was huge for me.”
Those instincts have led to a sound that feels playful, strange, and oddly tactile. There are steel drums, strange synths, and what might be a trash can lid doubling as percussion. “I like raw sounds,” he says. “Things in their original form. Door knocks, whatever — if it feels good, it stays.”
That aesthetic, he notes, has roots in both punk and hip-hop, which he sees as kindred genres. “They’re both about expression, more than anything else,” he says. And unlike the old days when genres were tribes, Mura says today’s access culture — where anyone can jump between musical worlds online — has liberated young artists from those boundaries. “Nobody gives me guff for genre-hopping. It’s just normal now.”
Which is good, because genre-hopping is kind of the whole point. “The only constant should be: is it a really good song?” he says, channeling early Gorillaz logic.
Even politics has found a way into his creative life. “2018 is all about grassroots movements,” he says. “Not just politically, but musically too. Everything starts from real relationships, people on the ground, trying to build something.”
As for what’s next, he’s hoping the next project doesn’t take quite as long. “I’m trying to clean the slate,” he says, laughing. “Reset the mind, keep creating, and not overthink it this time.”
Listen to the interview above and then check out "What If I Go" below!
