Talkin' Honky Blues - Buck 65

...daily listening ever since.
Talkin' Honky Blues is an 18 track collection of snapshots and observations from the life of that rarest of gems, an open minded and clever rapper paying real attention to the craft of the written word.
Swinging between stripped and hefty hip hop beats, and subtle live instrument soundscapes, Buck 65 has created what I am glad to say is the best album from the Western continent I've heard in ten years.
...Waits meeting UK hip hops finest Task Force at their most introspective, with musical production like a mixture of Q-bert and Massive Attack, before Blue Lines gave them enough cash for the big studios.
Not to say that this album is in any way derivative I should add, I'm saying that its forceful and macho enough to satisfy those who like hip hop for its ability to make you listen, and incredibly lyrically clever and beautiful.
I've ... more

I'm taken by surprise.
Having done a great deal of music in my time, I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that there are no artists in the leftfield/oddball hip hop rap sector worthy of note.
Then a friend of mine introduced me to this album. I bought it the next day, and it's become the staple of my daily listening ever since.
Talkin' Honky Blues is an 18 track collection of snapshots and observations from the life of that rarest of gems, an open minded and clever rapper paying real attention to the craft of the written word.
Swinging between stripped and hefty hip hop beats, and subtle live instrument soundscapes, Buck 65 has created what I am glad to say is the best album from the Western continent I've heard in ten years.
In a nutshell, Buck 65 is a younger Tom Waits meeting UK hip hops finest Task Force at their most introspective, with musical production like a mixture of Q-bert and Massive Attack, before Blue Lines gave them enough cash for the big studios.
Not to say that this album is in any way derivative I should add, I'm saying that its forceful and macho enough to satisfy those who like hip hop for its ability to make you listen, and incredibly lyrically clever and beautiful.
I've studiously avoided learning anything about the artist other than that which the music tells me, so I'm unaware if hes a big unit shifter. All I can say is that, if this record had hit the British underground market, it'd be one of those that everyone owns ten years after the artist has died in poverty or gone back to selling petrol at the local garage.
As far as I'm concerned, everyone that has ever felt the impact of a well written lyric should own this record. Uplifting and sublimely well written.
NITG GB 140905 

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