Action Bronson - "Easy Rider" (Official Video)

Ride the Harley into the Sunset/ Ride the Harley into the Sunset

To be honest, and my brother agrees, Action Bronson is pretty hit and miss depending on what producer is behind him. Fortunately on the single Easy Rider he's got Party Supplies who produced Blue Chips 1 and 2 back in his corner.   Party Supplies seems to be his Caramilk secret.  Party Supplies is the Mickey to Bronson's Rocky and frankly he should never step in the ring without him- but if he does he should always recall (preferably in a tripped out montage sequence) the lessons he taught him: "Get up you son of a bitch!"  His productions behind other producers from 2013's meagre Saaab Stories (prod. Harry Fraud), to 2012's critically acclaimed and not-totally-shit Rare Chandeliers (prod. The Alchemist), back to 2011's Well Done (prod. Statik Selektah) tend not to deliver the best results.  And it's sort of surprising that Ghostboy Ghostface can't make a hit without Party Supplies but here's hoping against hope.

The album should kill based exclusively on this short film rendition directed by Tom Gould, you find Bronsolito admittedly at his best form narrating about 'taking acid for 10 days straight up in the Indies...wearing very loose pants, wearing very loose pants'.  This Albanian immigrant ex-chef born Arian Asslani is admittedly more than a Vitiligo ridden Ghostface.  His timbre and gruff tone constantly evoke Pretty Tony but his rhyming couplets are all his own.  "John Coltrane played with that Cocaine phase/ I know your grass from that opaque taste".

The video/short short fim, from Bronson's forthcoming Mr. Wonderful (after the one and only Paul Orndorff), really has to be seen to be believed.  The short version is that Bronsolito wakes up a Vietnam veteran in a VA hospital, fairly quickly has a hot Polynesian drop acid on him and then he straps a four square of blotter to his forehead under his American bandana (a la Jimi Hendrix mythos) and take off on his Harley into the sunset, while tripping balls and evading 'The Law'.  Along the way he meets his Spirit Guide, gets beaten down by Hell's Angel proxies al a Hunter S. Thompson, until reclaiming his mystic guitar.

The only thing missing is a member of Los Lobos.  Preferably David Hidalgo.

Action Bronson & Party Supplies (Blue Chips 2 download)

Action Bronson is a white rapper.  You don't need to see his mug or listen to his voice to know this.  If you listen to that deep down voice (of yours inside) you realize that like skydiving and rock climbing no self-respecting black man would subject themselves to a name like Action Bronson.  It's a white rapper name like Aesop Rock or El-P, only Bronsolino doesn't sound anything like the brainy Aesop or the producer rapping of El Producto.  Action Bronson sounds like a black man, one black man in particular- Ghostface Killah. They both have the same strangled dusky tone which admittedly would be impossible to fake.  His flow, cadence and delivery it should be said also borrows heavily from Pretty Tony.  Fortunately he also shares something of Killah's lunacy and flair for self re-invention.

Blue Chips 2 is the mixtape sequel to a mixtape you will likely never listen to nor have cause to- like Best of the Best 2.  Blue Chips 1 was released ages ago (March 12, 2012).  Born Arian Asllani, the Albanian cum Queen's NY former chef's schtick might be thin gruel over time but the partnership with production duo Party Supplies seems to bring out his best profile.  Standouts like lead track Silverado and Jackson & Travolta showcase the producer's and MC's chops alike.  The tape is peppered throughout with tight samples ranging from Peter Gabriel (Sledgehammer), Phil Collins (Pseudio), Tracy Chapman (Give Me One Reason) and Elton John's Island Girl.  Party Supplies (DJ Justin Nealis) deploys six of the 80's radio staples on the aptly titled Contemporary Man.  Nealis is responsible for one of Danny Brown's most memorable tunes Grown Up. On Amadu Diablo he flips the acoustic guitar intro of Chapman's Reason to brilliant effect.  Elsewhere the Pharcyde's Passin' Me By provides the hook for one of the slow rollers (Through The Eyes Of A G) which periodically lets the gusty proceedings breath.

Bronson's known for collaborating with predominantly sample-based producers like Harry Fraud (Saaab Stories EP released June 11, 2013), Statik Selektah (debut Well Done - and the mafiosa draped Rare Chandeliers with The Alchemist.  [One of his best featured collaboration's is on two cuts - Elimination Chamber and Daily News- from Domo Genesis and Alchemist's own collabo No Idols].  It's this collaboration with Nealis though that provides Bronson with the best plate to serve up his bizarro bravado. 

Sean Price - Mic Tyson (video, tracklist)

STFU pt. 2 - prod. The Alchemist

Out October 30th is Sean Price's long awaited follow up to his 2007 solo release Jesus Price Supastar.   Price's only other solo outing was 2005's Monkey Barz.  Although Price, originally affiliated with the Boot Camp Clik and a member of the duo Heltah Skeltah,  is a frequent and prized guest on others records his own catalogue is a little thin.  Apart from his membership in two Hip Hop supergroups (Boot Camp Clik and Random Axe), three solo albums and three mixtapes (most notably 2009's Kimbo Price), the Brownsville, Brooklyn native seems never to have quite gotten his due.

This is a crying shame.

Price brings humour, bravado as well as a nimble and streetwise sense to his often dense internal rhyme structures.  Prized as a rapper's rapper it's no surprise the calibre of both producers and MC's who vie to work with him.  The tracklist for Mic Tyson, from which Price has been debuting tracks in his live show over the past couple of years, demonstrates his range of collaborations:

 Mic Tyson Tracklist: 

01) Genesis of the Omega (prod. by The Alchemist)
02) Bar-Barian (prod. by The Alchemist)
03) Pyrex (prod. by Amp)
04) Price & Shining Armor feat. Ruste Juxx (prod. by Wool)
05) Title Track (prod. Eric G)
06) Straight Music (prod. by 9th Wonder)
07) STFU Part 2 (prod. by The Alchemist)
08) Hush (prod. by Khrysis!)
09) Solomon Grundy feat. Ike Eyes & Ill Bill (prod. by Eric G)
10) Frankenberry feat. Buckshot (prod. by Stu Bangaz)
11) BBQ Sauce feat. Pharoahe Monch (prod. by Evidence | Co-Produced by Babu)
12) Bully Rap feat. Realm Reality (prod. by The Alchemist)
13) By The Way feat. Torae (prod. by Evidence)
14) Battering Bars feat. Pumpkin Head (prod. by Beat Butcha)
15) The Hardest Ni**a Out  (prod. by Beat Butcha)

A Mic Tyson Deluxe-Edition album is currently available for pre-order through Itunes in advance of the album's release date October 30.

iTunes Bonus Tracks:

16) Haraam (prod. by Team Demo)
17) Remember feat. Freddie Gibbs (prod. by Statik Selektah)
18) I See (prod. by Quelle Chris)