It's almost as if Buck 65 goes out of his way to be different.

A Canadian rapper described as "the hip-hop Tom Waits" on account of his husky-voiced storytelling, he sings about BMX-ing and ichthyology (the study of fish), and once proclaimed he hated hip-hop.

Now, after a few years out of the public eye, he's back with Situation, a concept album inspired by the year 1957.

It was the year teen culture began to blossom, he says, the Beat Generation emerged and the Cold War began. Sid Vicious was born then and pin-up and bondage model Bettie Paige was at the peak of her popularity.

"The more I began to look at it, I began to come to the conclusion that arguably, culturally, in modern times - certainly in the West - maybe it's the most important year in history," says the man named on his birth certificate as Richard Terfry, "I think 1957 really has had a way of shaping the way we see the world and our expectations of art and pop culture - it gave me a lot to think about and it resulted in a record."

If it sounds off-kilter, consider his previous record for performing on Sesame Street and trying out on-stage dance routines pilfered from Christina Aguilera.

"When writing a song, considerations of hip-hop or street credibility never cross my mind," he says.

"That being the case, no point of view, emotion or instrumentation is off limits for me. If I find an idea, memory or emotion interesting enough to want to write about it, I just try to turn that into music in as clear and honest a way as possible."

The album has received mixed reviews from critics and for long-term fans it may prove an eccentricity too far.

His often expressed view that hip-hop has its roots in blues and folk, demonstrated most directly on 2003's guitar and harp-laden Talkin' Honky Blues, turned off certain, more traditional, followers - and then there were the now-infamous remarks about hip-hop.

"The more I've educated myself about music, the more I've grown to hate it," he told an interviewer. "The people behind hip-hop don't know anything about music theory or have any appreciation for other kinds of music."

After the inevitable backlash from the hip-hop community (his former labelmate Sage Francis stated that "Buck has had his head up his a*** for many years now"), he issued a hasty apology in which he claimed to have been provoked.

Still, he did not worry about the potential for further fan alienation in making a concept album - "I never think about anything else when I'm writing a song other than what inspired it in the first place".

And maybe he even invites the controversy. He certainly longs for the "out-and-out furore" of 1957, as compared to our current fusty climate. We seem to be waiting "sometimes almost to a fault" for a sea change, he says, be it political, personal or cultural.

But he adds: "I'm not the man for the job. I'm just here to provide food for thought."

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