Did you know that Buck 65 worked with Sesame Street? A few years ago they asked him to do a rap for the show. Having been involved in a Jim Henson production is cool enough in and of itself but you know what? He did the The Grocery Rap and, according to Mr. 65, it is the contemporary version of the cartoon with the little girl that goes to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, a carton of milk, and a stick of butter. I havent seen that cartoon in ages but I still repeat the phrase to myself when I go grocery shopping and I am still a huge fan of Sesame Street (but boy do I hate Elmo and Prarie Dawn). So, when Buck 65 told his audience at Zulu Records that he was the voice behind this generations version of that cartoon I almost shat myself.
That pretty much set the tone for his show at Zulu. It was an hour of personal fables flavoured with magic realism, awesome music, and some discrete marketing. O yeah, and this delicate little poem that he said he wrote in Paris.
Buck 65s a rapper but his music seems more inspired by Johnny Cash and nursery rhymes than by NWA or Vanilla Ice (who, by the way, will be performing in Vancouver May 1st). Each song (or would it be called a rap?) would whisk me away on a field trip into his jungle gym of an imagination. And unlike other rap which at most gets me nodding my head, I totally felt like dancing (self-consciousness prevented me from hopping around the record store). Some tracks seemed to be a tirade of nonsense that I believe will only reveal coherence upon repeated listening at home and others were the deliberate and concise words of a strong conscience. Most were accompanied by electronic beats and completed with some scratching.
I dont know how long Buck 65 has been around for but he has a few albums circulating. According to himself hes only cracked the international market recently but I dont think hell be leaving the global arena any time soon. Now in the hands of a big label his talent will infiltrate all cultures. As well, he seems capable of entering most sub-cultures as his style seems to be understood by other demographics besides the obvious. I base this assumption on the fact that hes been invited to do a show with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra this summer how cool is that?
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