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Danger Mouse & Murs: "To a Black Boy"
In a recent well-publicized case, Marcus Tate, an 18-year old black high school student, was charged on a technicality with statuatory rape and sentenced to ten years in jail for consensual sex with a 15-year-old white girl. In this unlikely reworking of a track from 1960s psych-pop group The Free Design, Def Jux emcee Murs teams up with Danger Mouse for the mission of honoring Tate in song. Those expecting Murs to use his penchant for detailing sexual misadventures may be a little disappointed: He takes the issue at face value and attacks the court which dealt the verdict. Murs considers Tate's intelligence ("Never known a convict with a 3.96 GPA"), location ("In Rome, GA/ Black boys having sex with white girls? No way/ In most any other state, it woulda been okay"), and lifelong situation ("Since birth, it seems the deck was stacked against you to fail/ With your father not there, mom's in and out of jail") when applying his near-flawless flow to an injustice he clearly cares deeply about. Danger Mouse doesn't fail to add his charity, supplying a gorgeous beat that chops a forest of acoustic guitars, with vocals and flutes suspended above.
- Rollie Pemberton
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