“The Madness,” a track with four, yes four, rapid fire verses and a tight hook laced with lines about eating Crispix cereal with breast milk and putting a Roman Candle firework in a woman’s butt especially caught my attention. And there were a handful of songs that I loved just as much as any rap song I’d ever heard. There was nothing corny or wack about his music-just a raw rap album from top to bottom. And Bronson’s lyrics captivated me.Īs a fellow rapper, I was impressed by his ability to mix street slang with food and pop culture references, and also by how ill his flow was. I instantly loved the production style-it felt like a throwback to the days of slick samples and hard drums, but it wasn’t retro. It’s easily my favorite rap album in years. Lecter, it hasn’t left my whip’s disc changer. Since that day last August when I first downloaded Dr. One thing was very clear after watching the video: He was not your average rapper. Lecter and find out more about this Action Bronson. I was possessed with a sudden desire to check out Dr. The combination of the festival footage and the performance clip really intrigued me. Bronson was tearing through his lyrics effortlessly, while rocking yellow sunglasses on his head, a tank top, and shorts-the same outfit he had worn to Meatopia. Plus, after all the festival footage, there was a clip of him rhyming live on stage, and he was killing it up there dolo, with excellent breath control and no hype man. He was a smart, likable, and cultured guy, with an easygoing way about him, and a witty sense of humor. It was this video, which featured Action going around to the different tasting booths and interacting with the chefs and other festival goers, that really piqued my interest. Either way, I was just like, “Yo, this dude is crazy.”īut then, I was on Twitter and saw someone post this clip of him at Meatopia, an outdoor food festival in New York City. The visuals of this overweight, bearded white guy carving a woman up and throwing her in his trunk distracted me from how dope the actual song was, and didn’t really clue me in to what he was all about as an artist. Initially, when I saw the “Brunch” video, I didn’t know what to make of him. Being that I too am a white rapper, I was curious to hear him, especially since one of my closest buddies said Action’s style reminded him of mine. Then, within the span of a week or so, I had three different friends reach out to me, either asking me if I had heard of Bronson, or sending me links to his latest video, which at the time was “Brunch,” off his first album Dr.
I had heard of him from seeing his stuff on UpNorthTrips, a site I contribute to, but had never clicked on any of the content because-let’s face it-I was sleeping on him. I first got put on to Action Bronson sometime toward the end of last summer. Still I can state with absolute confidence and sincerity that Action Bronson is my favorite rapper of all time.
He’s fairly new to the scene, so of course I could never compare his body of work to someone who’s been releasing albums since the early ’90s.
And that’s not to say he’s the nicest ever. But never has a rapper captivated my interest like Action Bronson.
Even if their favorite isn’t one of those three obvious choices, it’s still probably someone someone who was around during our formative years, like Big Pun or Redman.įuck that, though. Most hip-hop heads my age who grew up in New York would say their favorite rapper is one of the holy trinity-you know, Biggie, Jay-Z, or Nas. Especially considering the fact that I’m 34 years old, and have been listening to rap music nonstop for the past two decades. Saying that Action Bronson is my favorite rapper of all time is a very bold statement. Furthermore, Complex ranked Bronson's joint album with Party Supplies, Blue Chips, as the 12th Best Album of 2012 (So Far) as recently as this past June.] The writer does not speak for Complex Magazine as a whole, although we do maintain that Action Bronson is a great rapper. Note-The opinions expressed in this article reflect the opinions of the writer and the writer only. One writer's impassioned plea about why he likes Bronsolino more than Biggie, Jay-Z, and every other MC.