Dre' Murray's (Free) "12 Days of Christmas"

Former Houstonian Dre' Murray has been celebrating the "12 Days of Christmas" by giving away a free, original song download every 24 hours since December 13.

I connected with the Christian rapper via e-mail to ask a few questions about this piecemeal project.

1. First off, why are you basically giving away a full album's worth of songs as part of your "12 Days of Christmas" project? Also, how did you miss the using the obvious "Murray Christmas" pun for your title?

Basically, I had a lot of unheard material sitting on my hard drive and a lot of new ideas for some dope collaborations. I thought that this would be the perfect time to give something away to the people.

I'm really kicking myself about missing the "Murray Christmas" pun title. I think we were so focused on the "12 Days of Christmas" theme that we didn't really dig for anything else. On top of that, the idea for doing this didn't come together until the last week of November, so there wasn't much time to plan. It's not over yet though.

2. Why aren't any of these actual Christmas songs?

In my opinion they are Christmas songs. They may not be what people would call "traditional" Christmas songs, but essentially each song has content that uplifts the very reason we celebrate Christmas which is Jesus coming into this world to save men from sin. Each song deals with that in some way, so technically they are Christmas songs.

Don't get it twisted though, I like some of the traditional Christmas songs just like the next man. So, don't think that I forgot about those. I still may try to sneak something in there.

3. You were born and raised in Houston. What's your favorite H-town Christmas memory or story?

I don't think I have a favorite memory per se. I just remember everyone stopping by my house because my grandmother lived with us. I looked forward to seeing each family member whether they bought me a gift or not.

I just loved have everybody together in one place, and that was something that usually happened on Christmas. I don't really get to see my family that often anymore, so that is something that I miss.

Download all 12 songs at: http://dremurray.bandcamp.com/

This song isn't a part of the dozen mentioned above, but gives you a good idea of Dre's style nonetheless.