Portrait of a Young Buck

Twelve years ago, in a cramped Halifax club, the Canadian rapper Buck 65, aka Rich Terfry, etched a memory into my brain. Playing a hometown show to release his album Talkin’ Honky Blues, he brought a full band, some matching coveralls from Mark’s Work Wearhouse and hours of sweaty energy.

The place was sweltering and the big, oscillating fans at the back did nothing to cool us down. After the first couple of songs, Terfry wiped his brow and said, “We’re sweating to the oldies tonight, huh?”

It was a line that would have been cheesy coming from anyone else, but somehow, in the gruff, Tom Waits–style drawl he had recently affected, it sounded perfect.

He paused the show to demonstrate his Mick Jagger impression and it brought the house down. For years afterward I would perform the gag for my friends and, on one unfortunate, drunken occasion, for a waitress at Maxwell’s Plum pub in Halifax.

After that concert I considered Terfry...