Buck 65, Situation

He is often seen as a hip-hop artist who integrates folk, country and the blues, but it makes more sense to see Buck 65 from the opposite perspective: a Tom Waits who happens to rap, if you will. It's an aesthetic that has served him well, but on his 11th album, things have got more than a little stale. As ever, Buck 65 is keen - perhaps too keen - to ensure that the listener realises how much of an outsider he is. This is a pose that swiftly gets tiresome, especially when it involves namechecking Che Guevara. But what hurts Situation most is the sense of deja vu about his tales of freaks, graveyards and other standard blues imagery. There are isolated moments of beauty - the spare piano loop of Ho-Boys, though nothing new, is evocative and effective - but little sticks in the mind or stimulates the emotions.