Interview: BUCK 65

Rachel Cook and Richard Watts catch up with alternative hip-hop artist Buck 65.

Hip-hop has long been synonymous with homophobia. Artists such as Diamond f have been accused of inciting violence against queers with lyrics such as, “Your faggot ass better stay to dancing/don’t even look at me, I might break your jaw for glancing,” and Common’s equally offensive, “Homo’s a no-no, so faggots, stay solo”.

Thankfully, Canadian hip-hop artist Buck 65 prefers a subtler, more intelligent approach to making music; with his latest album, Situation, proof that you don’t have to be pumped up on machismo to make great hip-hop.

So what makes him so different to other hip-hop artists?

As Buck 65 (born Richard Terfry) himself suggests, perhaps it’s the fact that he’s a man in touch with and comfortable with his own emotions.

“I was joking with my girlfriend recently that I’m more like a woman and she’s more like a man, in how those roles are classically defined anyway; but really that’s what differentiates me and my whole approach to hip hop at large,” he tells MCV.

“Almost by definition, hip-hop is a real macho world, and that has proven to be almost problematic over the years for me. If you’re talking with a really macho male in the hip-hop world they see emotions as a weakness, and by extension as something feminine; they then make this weird jump that a man who can talk about emotions must be gay. So people dismiss me as being gay, but I am very secure in my position and I see the insecurity as something that exists on the other side.”

Part of a wider community of alternate, or ‘conscious’ hip-hop artists, who avoid the sexist and homophobic stereotypes pumped out by most commercial hip-hop, Buck 65 has been recording and touring constantly since releasing his first recordings in 1993. Though no stranger to controversy (sparking a storm in music circles in 2004 by telling a journalist he ‘hates’ hip-hop) he seems more than happy to go his own road, writing rap songs that are as much influenced by the eccentric, storytelling flair of Tom Waits and the movies of director David Lynch as by other hip-hop artists.

Indicative of his left-of-centre approach to music is the title of his latest album, Situation. It references the Situationist International movement, formed in 1957 by a group of avant-garde European artists and thinkers who called for major social and political reforms; and who suggested that humanity’s behaviour will remain consistent as long as our situation remains the same.

“The title was a way for me to intentionally compare 1957 to 2007, to show how things have stayed the same for 50 years. There is a lot to be said about parallels,” Buck 65 shrewdly observes.

“The album was a way for me to raise questions and food for though but not so much to provide answers. But having said that I didn’t seek to make a concept record. I wanted people to be also able to enjoy it on a surface level, and if they choose to look deeper into it and hear the questions I am asking than hopefully that will be rewarded.”

Throughout his career Buck 65 has recorded under various pseudonyms, including Stinkin’ Rich, DJ Critical and Johnny Rockwell. Each pseudonym allows him to conveying his message via different personas, as opposed to sermonising as himself.

“I see myself as being something of a story teller, and different characters come up along the way. I strive to get the message across in a subtler way, that’s why I haven’t addressed homophobia head on,” he says.

“I don’t approach anything head on. I want to paint a picture free from judgment and allow people to come to their own conclusions.”

Buck 65 plays the Northcote Social Club on January 2. Bookings on 9486 1677 or www.northcotesocialclub.com

Interview by me; transcribed by Rachel. This article first appeared in MCV #364 on Thursday 27 December 2007.