View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2007 CD release of Situation on Discogs. Terfry is the rare musician that can name-check Moliere or Goddard and not. Buck 65's latest album is also his very best – mature, swerving, unique. The Bike For Three! Record, Situation (2007) and Secret House Against.
Rap musician, music producer
While hip-hop has gone through many changes since its inception in the late 1970s, few artists have turned the style on its ear in the same way as has Canadian-born MC/DJ/producer Buck 65. His style, which involves MCing and DJing simultaneously and delivering the lyrics in a manner akin to lounge crooners or poets, remains unmatched.
Born in 1972 in the farming community of Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia, Rich Terfry (a.k.a. Buck 65) absorbed primarily hard rock and heavy metal throughout his childhood. As a fan of heavy metal, he was a member of the Kiss Army (that band's fan club), and enjoyed records by Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. But by the early 1980s, Terfry's interests had turned to hip-hop, and soon his record shelves were stocked with releases from the Sugar Hill and Enjoy labels.
While growing up, he spent a lot of time on the baseball field, and at 16 he was scouted by the New York Yankees. However, in his last year of high school a knee injury set him back, and his professional baseball plans were derailed. Terfry began to focus all of his energy on hip-hop, making his own recordings and practicing his scratching and mixing skills as a DJ.
In 1989 he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and began studying biology at Dalhousie University. While there, he picked up a weekly slot on the campus's community radio station, CKDU, and under the name Jesus Murphy hosted 'The Bassment' and later 'The Treatment' programs.
Terfry got his start by MCing at roller-skating rinks and square dancing hoedowns in nearby towns, and when he was mistakenly billed as Buck 65 (the square dance caller originally gave him the name '65 Buick, to compliment his strong work ethic), the moniker stuck. However, he performed and DJed under a number of aliases, and his first recordings, including 1992's Chin Music EP, were made under the name Stinkin' Rich.
While he attempted to approach hip-hop from the traditional side—battling against other MCs and DJs—Terfry's style emerged as one that was unlike all others. His lyrics were tinged with satire—marks of his well-read, well-educated background—and veered away from subject matter typical of the rap music of the time.
People eventually started taking note of Terfry's talent. In the early 1990s the Halifax music scene was exploding, both in the hip-hop and indie rock genres, and like the bands around him, Terfry started distributing his music independently. His early recordings traveled around the steadily growing underground community, catching the attention of the band Sloan. After signing to DGC and taking their own success to great heights, Sloan started the Murderecords label to foster the talent of Canadian artists. Terfry's seven-inch 'Stolen Bass' and the Game Tight album both appeared onMurderecords, and as Stinkin' Rich, Terfry was soon making a name for himself.
By 1996 Terfry had met fellow jack-of-all-trades Rob Squire (a.k.a. Sixtoo), and they began collaborating as the Sebutones, mixing all forms of music into their experimental hip-hop hybrid. Sebutones ushered in Terfry's new style, and his first record as Buck 65, titled Language Arts, kicked off an unofficial six-disc concept series focusing on the theme of communication.
Language Arts appeared in 1997 on the Four Ways to Rock label. 'This record is the first of the continuous, mix-tape style albums,' he told Exclaim!. 'The idea to make a record in this way came in part from the format of my radio show at the time: very dense and turntable driven.' It also proved to be the perfect forum to mash together all of his alter egos on one disc, including Stinkin' Rich, Achilles, DJ Critical, and Uncle Climax.
The second album in the series was 1999's Vertex, where his fans were first introduced to one of Terfry's most popular tracks, 'The Centaur,' a story about a creature who is half-horse, half-man, and who performs in adult films but only wants to be appreciated for his complicated mind.
It was at this time that Terfry's popularity south of the border began to take hold, and the independent hiphop label Anticon decided to release 'The Centaur' as a ten-inch single. It proved a strong release and in 2001 the label put out his next full length album, Man Overboard.
By 2002 Terfry's hard work had started to pay off. With growing recognition in Canada and the United States, Warner Brothers signed him to produce Square, and also agreed to license and reissue the major albums of his back catalog, making readily available what had once been rarities. Square was an especially abstract addition to the Language Arts series. Arranged like a square for 'maximum vinyl compatibility,' as he told Eye magazine's Andre Mayer, the four songs would each take up one side of a vinyl record—in keeping with Terfry's hip-hop ethos. 'I make no bones about the fact that I make music for people with a bit of patience,' he said. 'I'm also realistic about the fact that it's rare. I've got my work cut out for me.'
Terfry had also moved to Paris at this point, and with only high school French skills in his repertoire, he had to reinvent his stage act for his new European fans. But he knew that his heroes, filmmaker David Lynch and singer Tom Waits, had made their first marks first overseas, and he intended to follow in their footsteps.
Along with studying the theatrical personas of singers like Waits and France's Serge Gainsbourg, Terfry examined the silent films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, in order to learn to communicate using actions and mannerisms. Because of his persistence, the Buck 65 live show was a smash hit. Along with DJing and MCing simultaneously (a style that hip-hop fans often refer to as ambidexterity), Terfry presented his songs like an actor or Beat poet, making for an entertaining show regardless of the music he was playing.
While in Paris, he recorded 2003's Talkin' Honky Blues, another anomaly of a disc that mixed his old style with a growing interest in country and folk music. The record earned Terfry a Juno Award (Canada's version of the Grammys) for Best Alternative Album, proving that his style was becoming even more far-flung, and making him increasingly difficult to market to mainstream American audiences. In fact, his distaste for hip-hop in the conventional sense kept him miles away from it.
He told Exclaim! 's Carla Gillis, 'The focus in hip-hop these days is so narrow. Musically, it's got a very specific sound, but you're also supposed to dress in a very specific way and talk about very specific topics. To go outside of those parameters, you're instantly labeled as a weirdo or whatever else. ... I'm mad at hip-hop because of all of that.'
For the Record . . .
Born Rich Terfry in 1972 in Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia; married; wife's name: Claire. Education: Studied biology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, c. 1989-92.
Began rapping and DJing in high school; made early recordings as Stinkin' Rich; released Chin Music, 1992; and Game Tight, 1995; started Sebutones with Sixtoo (a.k.a. Rob Squire) and embarked on Language Arts series of experimental hip-hop records, 1997; released breakout disc Square, 2002; signed to U.S. label V2, 2004; released re-recorded hits collection This Right Here is Buck 65, 2005.
Awards: Juno Award (Canada), Best Alternative Album for Talkin' Honky Blues, 2004.
Addresses: Record company--V2 Records, 14 East 4th St., New York, NY 10012, phone: (212) 320 8502, website: http://www.v2music.com. Website--Buck 65 Official Website: http://www.buck65.com.
He signed a deal with the V2 label—home of the White Stripes and Moby—to release an introductory album for American audiences, where he re-recorded a collection of his old songs, freshening up their productionand providing new fans with a taste of his expansive oeuvre. This Right Here is Buck 65 appeared in 2005 and was shortly followed up with a proper album, Secret House Against the World, at the end of that year. The record involved much collaboration with Chicago-based post-rock band Tortoise, and their instrumental prowess further expanded Buck 65's innovative take on hip-hop. 'I think my definition of hip-hop is now irrelevant or obsolete,' he told Exclaim!, 'and that's a really tough pill for me to swallow.'
Selected discographyAs Stinkin' Rich
Chin Music (EP), No Records, 1992.
'Stolen Bass,' Murderecords, 1993.
Game Tight, Murderecords, 1995.
As Buck 65
Weirdo Magnet, Four Ways to Rock, 1997.
Language Arts, Four Ways to Rock, 1997; Warner Bros., 2002.
Vertex, Metaforensics, 1999; reissued, Warner Bros., 2002.
'The Centaur,' Anticon, 1999.
Man Overboard, Anticon/Metaforensics, 2001; Warner Bros., 2002.
Synethesia, Endemik, 2001; Warner Bros., 2002.
Talkin' Honky Blues, Warner Bros., 2003.
This Right Here is Buck 65, V2, 2005.
Secret House Against the World, V2, 2005.
SourcesPeriodicals
Exclaim! (Toronto, Canada), April 1, 2002; September 1, 2002.
Eye (Toronto, Canada), February 6, 2003.
Now (Toronto, Canada), August 5-11, 2004.
Online
'Buck 65,' All Music Guide,http://www.allmusic.com (July 5, 2005).
Buck 65 Official Website, http://www.buck65.com (July 5 2005).
Additional information was provided by V2 Records publicity materials, 2005.
—Ken Taylor
The media loves anniversaries, and 2007 has provided a few good ones for the cultural establishment to chew on, from fashionista to fine art. 1967: Summer of Love 40 years later! 1977: Punk rawk turns 30! 1997: Britney’s legacy reconsidered! Well, maybe not that last one. Either way, Buck 65 has added one more to the heap with Situation, a concept album about 1957 and the lasting effects of that year’s events on America at large 50 years down the road. What events, you say? Well, only the breakout of Elvis and the first white rock ‘n’ roll hit songs, the emergence of the Beat Generation with the publication and subsequent obscenity trial of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, the disappearance of pinup girl Bettie Page, Chairman Mao’s Great Leap Forward, Sputnik and Laika, the foundation of the Situationist International movement... jeez Louise, what a melting pot of widespread cultural upheaval, huh? Fortunately Buck’s got it all laid out for us on his website with a handy little video and PDF tip sheet that lays out a statement of purpose for the whole album as if it were a thesis proposal.
Problem is, that’s exactly what the whole thing feels like: an ambitious U.S. History II final project for some open-minded young teacher from someone who studied up on his share of the KRS-One knowledge way back when. Buck has clearly done his homework here; the research and thought-process are crystal-clear if you take the time to read the background literature and think through every lyric. And as a succinct people’s history, the results are pretty impressive. But the whole thing reeks of Sufjan-style book-report music, and with a few exceptions, Buck’s lyrics take too much exegesis to enjoy on their own merits.
Take “1957,” for example, the first ‘real’ track, which summarily lays out Buck’s preoccupations with the year in “We Didn’t Start The Fire” fashion (red flag already, right?). The verses beat the pants off Billy Joel, but when the chorus hits, it’s just “No joke/ Hit the low note/ We all go to heaven in a little row boat.” Huh? If you do the work he’s asking for here, thinking as seriously as he did about the project, you’ll find that he could be name-checking Tom Waits and Radiohead, both of whom have used the same line in past songs and who are probably going back to their original source material in Dante’s Inferno. Think a little more, and maybe he’s obliquely referencing the cyclical view of history in Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of The West, the intellectually in-vogue text that the Beats were picking up from the high literary modernists right about that time, which makes sense because T.S. Eliot combined the spiraling decline of the Inferno with Spengler’s theories in “The Waste Land”... whoa. That’s some heavy lifting, and we’re only on track two. And even with all that freight of allusion to back it up, “We all go to heaven in a little row boat” isn’t exactly a chorus to get a crowd moving. The same problem extends to a lot of the vocal hooks on the album, especially on the next two tracks, which follow interesting verses with a repeated “Dang diggy dang” or “Ooh, ahh, ooh, ahh” -- it's tough to pull off a chorus like that unless your name starts with Ol’ Dirty and ends with -astard.
Situation might still be palatable if the beats were up-to-snuff. But what to say of Skratch Bastid’s production? Words like “competent” and “serviceable” come quickest to mind. The intro gets you fired up for some serious post-Shadow boom-bap in the vein of RJD2, albeit without the sneaky horn section that’s always lurking around the corners of his best tracks. The first few tracks deliver on that promise with a surprising Dust Brothers rock-guitar sucker punch to boot (on “Dang”), but a lot of the beats slide by on little more than tired piano lines and a lazy, sparse thwack, devoid of character. This minimal approach might have worked with a fiercer MC and even more up-front drums in the time-tested mold of Eric B. and Rakim, but Buck’s flat, raspy flow can’t sustain any momentum.
Another big problem is that despite his way with words, the guy just isn’t a charismatic MC. Buck got slapped with the tag of “hip-hop Tom Waits” early on, but beyond the immediate tonal similarities of their grimy timbres at surface level, he hasn’t inherited any of the elder’s lusty, maniacal passion or visionary weirdness. It almost feels like an injustice to compare him to Def Junkies like Aesop Rock and El Producto, even if few of the other white boys in the game can summon such prodigious intellectual resources. Buck just doesn’t have the angry, raging fire in his belly that gives life to their dense lyric nor the fury that pushes through the occasional weak flow to keep you rapt at attention, like you might get hurt if you weren’t.
Buck’s got a scattering of real decent tracks here, like “1957,” “Shutter Buggin’,” “Cop Shades,” and “Mr. Nobody.” For the most part, if one of these songs came up on shuffle, I wouldn’t skip passed it or turn it off. His ambition’s got the better of him this time, though: it’s tough to care about the overarching (and admittedly interesting) theme when the component songs aren't satisfying themselves.
1. Intro 2. 1957 3. Dang 4. Lipstick5. Shutter Buggin’ 6. Spread ‘Em7. Ho-Boys 8. Way Back When 9. Cop Shades 10. The Beatific11. Mr. Nobody 12. The Rebel 13. Benz. 14. Heatwave 15. The Outskirts 16. White Bread
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