Buck 65: Hip Hop meets the Blues

I stood leaning against the wall of the small, crowded club in Orlando, a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale in one hand, a scrap of paper to be used, supposedly, for notes in the other. The club, officially called The Social but known as Sapphire to the locals, is known for its variety of alternative music including indie rock, blues and folk, and underground hip-hop. The Social’s musical diversity and “mature” atmosphere (a 21 and over crowd and a martini bar?! Do martinis come in bottles?) make it the perfect venue for an artist like Buck 65. While his music varies from pure hip-hop to blues to country and everything in between, I view Buck 65 as a story teller with a turntable. Often referred to as the Tom Waits of hip-hop for his raspy voice, experimentation, and do it yourself attitude, he defies standard genre classifications.

A good friend of mine has remarked on several occasions that there are only two forms of truly American art: the blues and hip-hop. Yet, I can’t help but think that one helped spur and has a direct connection with the other. “Before the Blues, the emphasis was on the group experience and traditional themes and stories. Blues artists asserted themselves as individuals. Blues artists quite often echoed the same ‘Me Against the World’ attitude that people today would associate with 2Pac or Biggie Smalls”.

In the smoked filled club, I find Buck 65’s music hypnotic. The stage is minimal - just a microphone and stand, the musician, and his instrument: a set of turntables. The show is personal. It is impossible to not pay attention to Buck 65’s simple yet multi-dimensional and beautiful beats weaved in with his deep, rough voice. If I were to close my eyes, I would almost believe that there had to be an old man on stage, captivating the audience with is his rhyming narratives. I tried to jot down notes on my scrap of paper, but I had lost my pen and the beer, smoke, and music was all too surreal to be interrupted by any attempt to put feelings into words.

Hip-hop blues seems pretty natural to me. A DJs scratches are reminiscent of rhythmical blues guitar; repetition and rhyme serve to drive home the point of both blues musicians and hip-hop emcees. Sampling and “borrowing” are integral in composing blues lyrics and creating hip-hop beats. In Buck 65’s song “Driftwood” on his album Vertex, he describes his beat making process: “I’m on the lookout for beats every little second / check country and western, even heavy metal records”. Beats are composed of bits and pieces of other songs, twisted and melded together, and added on to, much like the lyrics of blues songs.

In blues and hip-hop, there is a theme and tone of having lived, of possessing some experience that gives the artist credibility as a musician. As a white, Canadian artist, Buck 65 has probably not had the same experiences as black delta blues musicians or even black rappers. However, his lyrics often create brief images of nostalgia, emptiness, and resignation:

I'm a lot like my dad
I would have to say
He's been wearing a beard ever since mum passed away
She would'a hated it
Inspiring, he likes to go to church
To hear the choir sing 'Roses and Bluejays'
Winner comes, game over
He's in the driveway removing snow with a flamethrower (Buck 65, 2003)

His words are effortless and unpretentious, but the images created are full of emotion; they stir something deep inside.

Even with the despair of life that is usually considered the major theme in blues music, most musicians understand the importance of having a good time. This is usually manifested in blues music through innuendo or in contrast to more melancholy images. Transience, women, and liquor are often topics explored in Buck 65’s lyrics, things not all too unfamiliar with blues musicians. He sings in “Protest”:

The sun is shining on full blast, it’s garbage day,
Air in my tires and all my cares are far away,
You’re looking like a million bucks, feeling good and sorta frisky,
Plus enough money in my pocket for a quart of whisky (2003).

The disparity between being bogged down by life and embracing its pleasures is generally a theme that emerges in music that is inspired by poverty.

I wonder if those standing around me were feeling the same way I felt. I wonder if their senses were as attuned to the experience of music as mine were. I rhythmically rock my head back and forth to the scratch-scratch-scratches of the turntable and the revel in the warmth of his gruff, disjointed voice. When that all to familiar drum introduction to his song “Wicked and Weird” plays, my heart jumps instinctively. It is by no means Buck 65’s best song, but it is one of his most upbeat. I looked around that the crowd’s reaction. Those who had drifted off were now standing tall and wide eyed and there was a low cheer of excitement throughout the audience. Then, in a collective booming voice, they all began singing: “Driving with a yellow dog, I95 / He's got a smile on his face and big shiny eyes / Up at a decent hour, I never ate yet / Got a little Johnny Cash in the old tape deck…”

Hip-hop has been influenced by the blues in different ways and is manifested differently in certain regions of the country. Southern hip-hop artists like Outkast and Goodie Mob more explicitly echo blues themes and styles. Highly experimental artists such as Buck 65 and Busdriver use the blues in more creative ways, embodying not only rhythm and lyrical styles, but also breaking the conventions of any particular genre with a stand alone attitude. Even independent blues artists (most notably Chris Thomas King with his albums 21st Century Blues... From Da Hood (1994) and Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues (2002)) have incorporated aspects of hip-hop into their blues music. The lines between musical genres continue to blur as more artists look to the past when creating the sounds of the future.