Talkin' Honky Blues

Chances are, you don’t know Buck65 yet. You may, but I doubt it. If you do, you surely know one thing: Buck’s old, in rap years nearly dead. He’s also a Canadian, living in Paris at that. He’s devoted to baseball, girls, music and film - all things that guys his age have usually grown out of. Thank God, he didn’t. Buck’s a MC/Producer/DJ who looks more like a dapper Steve Buscemi than any LL Cool J or Dr. Dre. On his albums he often has a split personality. He’s brilliant. He once toured with Radiohead, and oh yeah, in the past five years, he has arguably the most wonderfully prolific body of work with his five-album Language Arts series. Sorry Hovito. Eat it Pharrell. With his Language Arts series fully developed, Buck moves on with his second major label album, Talkin’ Honkey Blues, and you can bet Thom Yorke has his copy. Too bad Jigga don’t.  

No scratch interludes, all the songs are cut into individual tracks; no phone messages, all the songs actually have titles; this isn’t the normal Buck. You don’t know Buck though, correct? If you do, you surely know that Buck is known for demanding fortitude out of his fans, the most solid affirmation of such being last year’s marathon four-song album, Square. Artists change, typically for the worst. Buck, however, might have the change thing figured out; Honkey is both his most approachable and operative album to date.

Sure, Buck’s charm is in his left-field approach - how could his new style be blatantly accessible and still have what it takes to be a Buck65 album? Take the first track, autobiographically titled “Leftfielder” for example. For once, Buck starts right in; wonderfully poetic, he paints a picture of his new-worldly, unadorned, and often adventuresome attitude: “leftfielder, living in a suitcase / comfortable shoes, photo album and toothpaste / road atlas, learning my way around / kissing the pavement, lucky, cause I may have drowned.” The lyrics are still very much Buck, but they seem more serious, confident and forward-moving. They also happen to be Buck’s most high-brow lyrics to date.

Buck just can’t help but include some kind of dissertation on what stands to otherwise be his “pop” album, including a very complex series of songs scattered throughout the album entitled “The Riverbed Series.” The ostensibly Huck Finn-spirited songs of excursion and experience offer up a plate of Buck’s charm and perfectly balance out the remainder of the album which is at times the antithesis of Buck’s typically formidable approach.

After watching the short film that accompanies Honkey, it’s obvious that Buck65 is as expectant as ever; not only does he know that he’s deserving of acclaim, he seems positive that his time has come. Honkey is likely Buck’s pseudo compromise to what would work best for his monetary success. Positive attitude aside and classic body of work considered, Buck, you just weren’t made for this world. Keep it up.    7.5/10

Written by G. William Locke