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" Easily recognizable for his stream-of-consciousness, hyper-literate flow, Buck 65 has been making and releasing alternative hip-hop music for more than 20 years. His latest album, Neverlove, out September 30, finds him using his eclectic, folky style to navigate the emotional aftermath of divorce. It runs the gamut from anger to joy. &amp;quot;Heart of Stone,&amp;quot; about the ways in which divorce will harden you, is one of his catchiest songs to date, weaving his words with singer Jessica Lee&amp;#039;s soaring chorus. Watch the video for the track below:      We sat down with Buck to discuss songwriting, life, and being a Canadian rapper. ON THE BREAKUP THAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM: I was a wreck when I wrote the songs on this album. My wife left me &amp;quot;Dear John&amp;quot;-style and I was devastated. So most of the songs are about the end of my marriage and the divorce. But that doesn&amp;#039;t mean that the whole album is a bummer. You go through a lot of ups and downs with something like that \u2014 at least I did. Some of the goofiest, happiest songs I&amp;#039;ve ever written are on this album too.  ON HIS STYLE:  Being a country boy from a remote place is a big part of it. I grew up in rural Nova Scotia. Then I moved to Paris and lived there \u2014 not speaking English \u2014 for six years. When I was young, I went through a Beat Generation phase, like everyone else. So I dabbled in automatic writing. And then I met a girl in Paris whose great grandfather was Francis Picabia. He was one of the original Dadaists. Dadaism and some of its offshoots like Situationism became a huge influence.  ON HOW HE WRITES SONGS:  I always start with the music. From there, I work on the chorus, which usually involves coming up with some sort of melody. Melody has become more and more important for me over the last few albums. Then, if I&amp;#039;m ever stuck while writing verses, I can dig through the mountain of scraps of paper I&amp;#039;ve built over the years. Each one has a few words or a phrase that fell from the sky. I also write a lot of songs in my dreams. I&amp;#039;m not quite sure how that works.  ON THE STATE OF HIP-HOP AND DRAKE:  I think this might be the best time for hip-hop ever, even though it&amp;#039;s harder than ever to make a living from it. It&amp;#039;s so diverse now. And that diversity is embraced \u2014 or at least tolerated \u2014 in a way it never was before. There&amp;#039;s so much stuff out there that I love right now. And it comes from all over the world. The playing field is quite level. There was a time when being from Canada was a liability, but not so much now. It never hurt me, to be honest. And I think Drake made things a lot easier for kids coming up today. It&amp;#039;s really great that he wears the Canadian flag on his sleeve the way he does. He&amp;#039;s a very proud Torontonian. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/videos/a29764/buck-65-heart-of-stone/?click=feed>