Who’s That Big Dude Who Can Out-Rap You While Making Bucatini Pasta?
F*ck, That’s Action Bronson
Action Bronson is the best rapper you are paying NO attention to.
Bronson can rap. Bronson can cook. Bronson can host the f*ck out of a TV show about him rapping and cooking; well more like talking about food. If you listen to Action Bronson’s music (spoiler alert), it’s hard to think that he’s only really been in the rap game for a few years. Check out his discography.
And yet dude sounds like a seasoned veteran. (let the food puns begin)
Before we get into the music and the TV show you should get a flavour for where it all started. Man, I can’t decide if this is going to get cheesy or corny.
Back in 2009 Bronson started putting up videos of himself in the kitchen making what looks like really good food. The story goes Bronson worked at eatery to eatery before landing at his father’s restaurant, literally. In 2011 he broke his leg which inhibited him from cooking and so he took rap more seriously. That same year he independently released Dr. Lecter, his first full length album. Statik Selektah (you need to listen to Statik Selektah’s productions) took notice and collaborated with Bronson on Well Done.
If you’re a hip hop head then you know how good New York hip hop radio is. Man, does Well Done ever remind me of that. I love this album. Clearly I am bias when it comes to hip hop but my winters involve snow and freezing cold temperatures, so you know what side of the continent I reside in.
In 2012 it all gets very interesting for Action. He signs to Goliath Artists who manages artists such as Eminem, Blink-182, and The Alchemist. Later that year Bronson releases a mixtape with Alchemist. He also signs to Vice under Warner Bros.
And then the Vice machine took over *N.O.R.E. voice on drink champs*. The billion dollar media company took Bronson and what he was doing with his YouTube following, combined that with one of Vice’s sub-channels, Munchies, and catapulted “F*ck, That’s Delicious” into cable television. With Vice becoming what MTV was to pop culture in the early to mid 2000’s, all of the sudden Bronson was becoming this staple character in Vice’s catalog of content, thus putting himself on a rare pedestal, the likes of Johnny Knoxville knows all too well.
Kanye, Pusha T, Drake — they all have partnerships with clothing and sneaker companies. Bronson has food. When you watch his Munchies show you see first hand how much these chefs geek out over Bronson going into the deeper meaning of food and the way in which the culinary world functions, this all coming from a rapper by day, foodie by…well, the rest of the day. 2 Chainz probably wrote “I’m Different” specifically for Bronson — probably.
Look no further than Rap Genius to not only see Bronson’s lyrical prose but his actual commentary on his music, which at times is just as hilarious and intelligent as his commentary on life and food within “F*ck, That’s Delicious”. It also doesn’t hurt that he is the top contributor to his own lyrics on the site.
Action Bronson’s music still remains at a cult following status
Even with “Mr. Wonderful” debuting at number 7 on the Billboard charts, I don’t hear anybody anywhere talking about Bronson’s music. Especially with a feature from Chance the Rapper — everyone’s favourite bandwagon to jump on. With millions of views on YouTube which has translated into a full fledged cable TV show, Bronson remains overlooked in the hip hop community. I’ll let you figure out why this remains as is. I also don’t hear anyone talking about his ping pong skills but that can definitely remain as is.
OK so there weren’t as many food puns as I promised. But the one thing that is for certain is that when Bronson’s music is continuously played over and over again on the radio, I won’t say I told you so, I’ll say do you smell that? It smells like a beautiful concoction of a mother’s love mixed with Albanian pastries *Action Bronson voice*.
