Here’s a really great interview with Buck 65 from cokemachineglow. Aaron Newell does a great job at probing the topics that everyone wants to hear about. Rich carefully comments on a wide variety of things including the making of The Centaur, his struggles with self-expression, his relationship with Sage Francis and the time Biz Markie jacked one of his breaks. Link
CMG: There are some “circles” in contemporary, indie hip hop that are becoming more and more protectionist, especially since they know that their audience – any audience, for that matter – can be fickle, and once rumblings start about “falling off,” or any other cred-busters, they have to assert themselves somehow, they have to try to re-solidify their place. I remember hearing about Slug riling on an audience when he was sharing the stage with a Def Jux set. He screamed out “Fuck Dose One!” Even in the “independent” hip hop circuit, where things are by nature a little more experimental, there’s still politics, there’s still division.
B65: But now, though. It’s been interesting to see what happened when Dax had his accident. It’s given people perspective – not to make anything out of it, but you saw Def Jux put together a fundraising event for that. Which was a good thing to see – we can be bigger people. You know? Who cares about the politics. There’s much bigger fish to fry in this world.CMG: Sometimes it seems like that “authenticity” aspect is built up just so folks can have something to argue about. With you, however, you’ve stepped wide around that whole arena. You got your 30,000 records and DMC victories, your records made entirely of unheard-of breaks. But then you kept going, on into different things.
B65: I’ve always tried to maintain that attitude, but it’s strangely threatening to people. When you say “I’m not after the same prize as you.” When you say that, and people see it, they feel threatened and insecure – but I’m not here to threaten anyone. I don’t have any expectations whatsoever. The success I’ve had so far shocks me. But someday I’ll be back to making records on a four-track, records that no one buys. And when that happens I still won’t stop doing it. Because it’s a need inside of me. But I just want to do my thing. I have my hip hop ideals and passions and all that, but what I’m learning is that, largely, sometimes they don’t matter. And, sometimes, it’s even best to keep those things to yourself. But the biggest statement I can possibly make about music is made on my records. It should be clear on my records what I’m getting at with my music, and what I respect, and where I come from, and it’s the same thing that these “hip hop” people respect. It’s just expressed differently. But I communicate better that way, way better than I do like this, so I’ll be the first to say that I’ll be the first to put my foot in my mouth when I step out of the safety of the studio.
