The Stool Pigeon music newspaper

Buck 65 spent this morning being grilled by Icelandic journalists. Now he’s halfway through signing 500 copies of his new album and he’s suffering from hand cramp. All day he’s only had time to eat one bowl of cereal and he still hasn’t found a moment to make his apartment look nice in preparation for his girlfriend’s arrival that night.

He’s been running around a lot lately: he has a new job (as a radio presenter for CBC, the Canadian version of the BBC), a new girlfriend (who he very sweetly gushes about during the interview), new side projects (Dick Thornton and Bike for Three) and a new album, Situation.

Buck 65’s last official release was 2005’s Secret House Against the World, although he also self-released a mix tape called Strong Arm on his website last year. But there’s more. “I’ve been working in the studio the entire time and I’ve completed two albums,” he explains. “Situation is the first of those two, the other is also ready and I’ll release it as soon as I can. I also scored two films in that time for big projects. It’s been very time consuming but very rewarding.”

As the starting point for Situation, Buck (Richard Terfry) looked back to history for inspiration and plucked out the year 1957. It isn’t the concept album his label Warner Bros. would have you believe, however. “Nah,” he ’fesses up. “The record is not intended to be a concept album, even though it’s been marketed in a conceptual way.”

Still, he enthuses about the eye-opening historical, cultural and musical movements that were kick-started in that year: the emergence of the Beat writers, the explosion of rock’n’roll, and the ever-pervading rule of Chairman Mao. “You can only really open Pandora’s Box once and 1957 definitely set a new standard and shit,” says Buck. “It shaped a rebellious youth-led popular culture, one which has been in place ever since.”

Making his name as part of the Anticon collective, which also included Sole, Alias, Why? and former collaborator Sixtoo - all famed for their avant-garde take on hip hop - Buck 65 has progressed to incorporate a head-scratchingly disparate mixture of genres in his music including bluegrass, honky-tonk, folk and country.

“I started out making very simple hip hop music a long time ago,” he explains. “But, like anyone, you make friends and get into relationships and things change. I’m not and never have been a purist. I’m not this one thing and one thing only, and that’s all I’ll ever be. We’re not one-dimensional creatures.”

Recently, Buck has fallen head over heels in love and that, he explains, also has a part to play in how his sound has evolved: “I would say new love is joyous but it’s equally agonising and I find myself being more emotionally raw than before - more so than normal. Because of that, I’m pulled gravitationally stronger than ever towards creativity. If your heart is in one place - and when you’re in a relationship your heart resides with your loved one and world you create together - then each new thing you learn will change you and influence you.”

Situation may well be the most successful mix-and-match of his hotch-potch man-bag of musical ideas. The album revolves around a girl he sings about in the track ‘Lipstick’ - a porn star raised in an orphanage who is loosely based on pin-up model and bondage star Betty Paige. She disappeared in, you’ve guessed it, 1957. “Nice and naughty, dark angel, enticing body, hot commodity,” he raps in that unmistakable scratched-up husk of a voice of his. “Queen of hearts, everyone’s seen her parts / Nothing on but red lipstick.”

But he also takes inspiration from himself and the people around him. ‘Shutterbuggin’’ is based on his old boss - a family man who owns a newsagents which seems to make most of its money selling porno magazines - while the song he most identifies with is ‘Mr Nobody’, especially the line where he grumbles: “I hate kids / Standing in line in the grocery store.”

So, is this Buck 65 in children-hating shocker? “No, I really love kids,” he insists. “I desperately want some of my own but sometimes in everyday life when there are teenagers hanging around, I just get intimidated by their aggression and obnoxiousness. I definitely have a cranky side like everybody has.”

But he’s always had a writer’s eye and ear for a good character. His albums are packed full of them and his playful live shows are akin to stand-up - great stand-up at that - because of his uncanny knack of bringing each and every one of them to life using just his voice, gestures and humour. So, where does he find these characters? “I mostly find them right in front of me or right behind me,” he explains. “The only way I can give my songs humanity is by putting something of my own in it. I can’t really understand the human condition better than within myself.

“It’s always been important for a character to resonate: I need to believe it myself first and foremost. So I need to put something honest in there - I can’t just rely on my imagination. There needs to be some soul and I can only take that from myself. I haven’t yet developed my skills as a vampire who can take other people’s souls and put them into songs.”

For right now, though, it’s back to signing his name. He’d better get used to it if he carries on producing music as spine-jitteringly good fun as Situation.