Buck 65

Buck 65's Man Overboard, his Anticon debut and follow-up to Vertex, has been completed and ready to roll for nearly two years. Large portions of the album were performed at last year's Canadian Music Week, while the album has been abundantly bootlegged on the internet. Needless to say, there has been much anticipation, which many could not wait out. In an attempt to maintain the album's relevance, Buck 65 has replaced some tracks off the original bootleg with tracks from his unreleased EP, Boy Girl Fight (also fairly bootlegged), and some newer tracks. Buck 65 has commented that Man Overboard is his most complete album to date. He's referring to the original - the new, released version is not as solidly unified, but some of the new tracks are better than the tracks they replaced. Basically, Man Overboard follows the same blueprint as Vertex and Language Arts - one long collage of songs, beats, cuts and answering machine interludes. The beats are Buck's most laid back yet, but with a tendency towards some low-end sounds. Plus, there's Buck's quality attempts at drum & bass, on the latter portion of the CD. Man Overboard is the most honest and beautiful album to come out in a long time, especially Buck's track about his mother, who died of cancer shortly before recording the album. It's all right to cry. But, whatever you do, don't sell Buck 65 short by judging him using the typical criteria. Give Halifax's hip-hop highness a chance to blow your mind.