Buck 65 - 'Square' (wea)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
The Legitimacy Police should have no problem compiling a case against Buck 65. Call this hip-hop? Call yourself a rapper? Where's your guns, your money, the misogyny? Hell, there's not even a 'Parental Advisory' sticker! Obviously, our Buck, AKA Richard Tefry, hasn't been paying attention, as this album, refreshingly, features nothing of the sort... Call it politically correct, call it honourable, even moral if you like, but dull it certainly isn't.
On first look, this may come as something of a surprise. Taking the CD out of its splendidly furnished case and placing it in your stereo confirms your initial fears - yes, this CD is an hour long, and only contains four tracks. Perhaps you're in for a tough listen... Pah, what a laughable idea. This is a joy from beginning to end. Frankly, if you ever hear a more innovative hip-hop themed album in the rest of your life, it'll be a miracle.
Having the album split into only four tracks, 'Squares' proves not a device designed to put the listener off, but - instead - simply a methodology ensuring this album is listened to as its maker intended - a whole piece of work. It's not that the squares couldn't easily be further divided into more manageable tracks, but this would allow the listener the luxury of being able to pick and choose - which just isn't on the agenda; you get what you're given, sunshine, and very grateful you should be too.
Apart from the non-violent aspect of this record, musically, it turns the hip-hop genre on its head even further; take away the beats and the rapping, and this luscious, minimal, often acoustic instrumentation could fit on a Tom Waits album. This could well be described as 'Prog-Hop'. Lyrically, it's hard to beat also; what other rapper could come up with something quite as cryptic as 'the decision was made for me to begin interpreting real life just as I would a nightmare' without sounding like an utter fool?
It's obvious by now though that Tefry isn't afraid to stand out from the pack. When he deals with the subject of one-night-stands and casual sex, it's not a tale of numerous conquests, but instead a fantastically disturbing diatribe against the shallowness of the situation without a 'bitch' or 'ho' in sight. 'It's a match made in purgatory, what more do you want to know?' Such a brave stance, controversial for all the right reasons, is more than enough, thank you.
Neither is it all 'Bible'-bashing, holier-than-thou ethics - for example, roughly 10 minutes through 'Square One' we get the perverse but oddly moving tale of a man who 'sometimes cries into his own cumbersome hands' because such a disfigurement renders him unable to perform basic household tasks. Even so early into this entirely fantastic album, thoughts of orthodoxy are out the window.
What it lacks in predictable hip-hop conventions, it more than makes up for in originality and sheer guts. Buck 65 seems so intent on breaking down every boundary there is that under no circumstances should we let him out of our sight for one minute... God knows where he'd end up next.
Artists in this article: Buck 65
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