Combine underground West Coast lyricism with dusty soulful East Coast beats and you get ForNever, the fourth collaboration between veteran Los Angeles emcee Murs and North Carolina superproducer 9th Wonder?. Each a prolific artist in his own right, fans of independent Hip Hop will know exactly what to expect from this album. Murs’ familiar brand of topical, highly conceptualized lyrics covers nearly every subject, from “Cigarettes & Liquor” to dating porn stars (see “Vikki Veil,” a track inspired by his real life experience with adult actress Roxy Reynolds), while 9th Wonder’s smoky, sample-friendly, boom bap production provides the head-bobbing soundscapes that set the mood for whatever topic Murs comes up with.

ForNever is musically satisfying thanks largely to 9th Wonder’s beats, but the lyrical content is hit-or-miss. Tracks like “Let Me Talk” provide a humorous yet realistic take on relationships that should be universally relatable to anyone who’s had to deal with the opposite sex. Featured artist Suga Free laces the track with some of the album’s more memorable lines, delivering a warning to a scorned female friend in his unique staccato flow: “Whatchu say you gonna do to my Impala? I’ll jump out this car so fast and dropkick you in the medulla oblongata.” On “The Problem Is…” Murs teams up with Chicano emcee Sicc Jaccin (of Psycho Realm/Soul Assassins fame) who comes correct, waxing poetic about the problems of the world: “How is it we can get any ammo for any size of gat/but we can’t get a decent school where we can knowledge at?”

But there are quite a few disappointments as well, as many of the topical themes on which Murs has based his nearly two decade long career in the game come off as gimmicky, corny or just plain ignorant. “West Coast Cinderella” borrows from Ice Cube’s “Gangsta’s Fairytale” concept by telling the story of “Cindy,” a girl in the ‘hood tormented by evil stepsisters. But unlike Cube’s clever ode to mother goose, “West Coast Cinderella” lacks the edge and crude humor that made "Gangster's Fairytale" so memorable. “I Used to Love H.E.R. (again)” is a complete lyric-for-lyric rehash of the early-‘90s Common classic which totally fails to do the original any justice whatsoever. Unless you’re Snoop Dogg? covering a Slick Rick? classic, cover tunes are usually a no-no in Hip Hop, and Murs’ failed attempt at filling Comm’s shoes is a perfect example why. Perhaps the lowest point of ForNever is the album’s first single “Asian Girl.” An ode to “yellow fever” replete with gratuitous references to every Asian cliché from sake to kimchi and slanted eyes, “Asian Girl” is most offensive in its apparently self-hating closing line: “Step your noodle game up, if you got yourself an Asian girl then you done came up.” The question being, “came up” from what? It seems as if Murs, in all his dreadlocked glory, is telling listeners not to waste time on Black or Latin sisters but instead “upgrade” to Asian women. Not a good look. Maybe next time Murs can spit about the virtues of Asian women without reducing them to stereotypes and clichés, and without marginalizing women of other races in the process.

Regardless of its (many) flaws, ForNever is a decent Hip Hop album by 2010 standards. The beats are dope and the lyrics, while not always on point, at least attempt to cover themes the average rapper won’t. Underground heads and fans of 9th Wonder beats and Murs’ topically themed lyrics will not be disappointed, but for the uninitiated whose tastes don’t stray far from the beaten path, ForNever is likely to impress as little more than just another 10 tracks of backpack rap.