Buck 65

The rapper raised in Nova Scotia as Richard Terfry almost tripped over his own ecumenism
on 2005's Secret House Against the World -- lots of keyboards, with singing to match. On
this "hooked on drums" return, his worst offense against the basics is a concept: 1957 --
among many other things the year the Situationist International began. Fortunately, the title
is the last we hear of that. The concept is just a rubric to help him control his ins... More >

The rapper raised in Nova Scotia as Richard Terfry almost tripped over his own ecumenicism on 2005's U.S.-unreleased Secret House Against the World--lots of keyboard, with singing to match. On this "hooked on drums" return, his worst offense against the basics is a concept--1957, among many other things the year the Situationist International began. Fortunately, the title is the last we hear of that. The concept is really just a rubric, a device to help him control his insatiable appetite for colloquial poetry. It permits him to write songs about Betty Page and shutterbug porn, right, but also beatniks, hobos, gray-flannel conformists, and cops in shades--while tossing off rhymes like "apocalypse"-"rocket ships" and "Drown in doubt. Down and out." Buck 65's percussive funk and gruff flow serve language that deserves no less. Anybody who can write a song that shows the Beatles the door is worth a check-out, right? "Nowhere Man," meet "Mr. Nobody." (Grade - *** 1/2)