Although it has been attempted numerous times in hip-hop, creating a successful collaboration album with two established artists is rare.

So when Murs and his manager were discussing the idea of teaming up with another artist on his next project, they knew they had to find a complimentary partner. Enter Fashawn.

On “This Generation,” Murs assumes the role of savvy veteran.

Fashawn sets the tone for the energy in most of the songs, at the same time holding his own aside his lyrical-heavyweight counterpart.

Even though Murs had already been in the game for 10 years before Fashawn released his first studio-recorded mixtape, the left-coast duo mesh tremendously well together. On a majority of the tracks, they take a back-and-forth approach that takes their music back to the essence of hip-hop.

Murs and Fashawn decided to name the album “This Generation” because of their agreement on Generation Y’s uniqueness. The two wanted to capture their mutual feelings of the current state of hip-hop and how hip-hop has become a melting pot of sounds.

The twosome take your ears straight to classic Cali rap with the track “64 Impala,” but take you across the country throughout the entire album.

Murs said in an interview that hip-hop does not sound like the particular place an artist is from anymore. His and Fashawn’s goal was to just make music that represented our generation, not just the West Coast.

By all means, do not mistake Murs and Fashawn’s admission to a blended sound with lack of West-Coast pride. Murs has pulled so many important strings behind the scenes for a lot of California artists, like Pac Div and now Fashawn. Murs is known for putting up his own money to support independent West Coast rappers.

In 2009, Fashawn’s first studio album was also a collaboration. Like the Blu album I wrote about last week for “Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them,” Fashawn released “Boy Meets World” with production done completely by L.A. producer, Exile.

We live in a time period in which you can be around the entire world in minutes without leaving your seat. Our generation knows less mystery and has a thirst to expand.

Murs and Fashawn have expanded from their West Coast based music on this collaboration and have appropriately named the project after what they believe to be the cause for expansion, “This Generation.”

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