Words by: LC Weber
Buff1 is a tough emcee with come-out-swinging swagger and an arresting ability to win the favor of the most cynical crowd. From the smoke-filled halls in his home of Michigan, to the sateen sheen of Hollywood clubs, Buff spent the past year performing the hell out of his first solo effort, Pure. Now Buff brings There’s Only One — a follow-up that pushes onward sonically and lyrically, but doesn’t deviate from the character or soul of last years underground smash.
There’s a lot of surprise surrounding your putting out There’s Only One so soon after Pure. Explain the importance of putting this album out now.
What’s the difference, sonically, between There’s Only One and Pure?
B1: This one is a little more aggressive – I’m a little more aggressive, straight-forward, a little more arrogant in my approach. I challenge people a little bit more on this one… the listener, other artists, black people, everybody.
Why do you think artists are putting out just songs and not putting out albums?
B1: I really don’t know. I mean, I’m not knocking anyone’s hustle – it seems to be working for them because they are getting a lot of attention doing it, but it’s not really for me. I come from an era where you have to make a classic album to get people to recognize you.
It seems like putting out singles is a blind way of approaching a new blueprint?
B1: Yeah, I personally don’t get it. Maybe I’m alone, and I’m sure I am. There’s even people close to me in my camp who think I should follow a blueprint of putting out songs, but that’s just not how I want to do things. It’s not that I can’t put out songs like that – it’s clear that I can come up with material in a short amount of time. I mean, I put out an album’s-worth of material on a mixtape in ’05, an album’s-worth of material for my second mixtape in ’06, dropped Pure in ’07 and now I’m dropping There’s Only One in ’08. So coming up with songs is nothing – it’s just not the way I want to do things.
How do you feel about people file-sharing and trading your music around on line?
B1: That’s a very difficult question to answer because it helps, promotion-wise, for an independent artist. But we, the independent artists, need the money more than anyone else so it’s a double-edged sword. I mean, even a major label artist will tell you that. If I had to choose, I would say it may actually help me a little bit more than it hurts me. In a perfect world you’d have to buy my music every time you want to hear it, but that’s not the way it goes right now.
If you had to choose two tracks from There’s Only One – one that would comfort people who are afraid you’ll pull too much away from Pure, and one that will set a new standard for a new direction – what two tracks would you choose, and why?
B1: If I had to choose one track to comfort people who didn’t want to leave Pure behind, it would probably have to be “The Sky,” because it’s fun, it is a simple loop and the subject matter is not too deep. There’s singing on it – it’s a real feel good song.And the track for the new direction… I would say “Raindance,” because I am challenging black people to be more responsible about not only the music we choose to enjoy, but more importantly to be responsible for what goes on in our communities that aren’t so desirable. In addition to that, the sound of it is bigger and more aggressive and more powerful than a lot of the stuff on Pure.
And you sing on this album?
B1: I do. I also sang on Pure, but this time I didn’t try and hide it. I’ve never tried to deny that I was singing, but I never wanted to be the main vocals. But this time I wanted to be. It was very purposeful. On the last song on the album, “Once,” I wanted it to be as personal of an expression as possible. I mean, you’ll get me on every song I spit on, but for this song in particular I figured what better want to let someone know who I am than really put myself out there and sing. It’s a more vulnerable form of expression, especially for a rapper.
