Album Review: Blue Chips – Action Bronson & Party Supplies
Action Bronson is the nicest fat white guy on the scene since Kevin from The Office. With all the references to haute cuisine, you’d think he’s Mario Batali’s cousin from New York that can rap his ass off. Dude drops some of the illest food related references. In fact, I’m surprised he wasn’t on the last season of Top Chef trying to get Tom Collichio to roast a Dutch with him. My first introduction to him was through a cooking video where Bronsonelli teaches how to make seared ahi tuna. Shit’s jokes and a good way to learn how to properly sear a tuna steak. There’s a bunch of others, such as The Bronson Burger you can check out if you wanna learn to cook from a rapper and have a few laughs.
Bronsalino put out two quality efforts last year, one being the critically acclaimed Dr. Lecter and the other being Well Done with Statik Selectah. Both were awesome in their own right. My personal opinion is that Well Done was better produced and therefore Action went apeshit on most of the beats. Only one track that had a bit too much of a simp vibe for my taste. It’s kinda tough to maintain credibility when you go from talking about guns and drug money to falling in love with a girl you met in cooking school.
The beats on Blue Chips are kinda simplistic in their production. It seems that Party Supplies’ production aesthetic is more attuned to repetitive loops rather than dynamic beats with more variation in drum patterns and use of samples or synths. For some tracks, this works. Hookers at the Point , the first video off of the mixtape, illustrates when this type of production works well. The first track on the tape however, shows when this type of production doesn’t. The beat on Pouches of Tuna feels like an overly long intro to a beat that just never drops. When I listen to the track, it feels lazy. From Bronson keeping his outtake on the track to Roc Marciano’s verse, it just doesn’t seem like a good first impression.
The record moves onto better production and a more dynamic rhymes laced with references to food, professional wrestlers, obscure athletes and the finer things in life. The short length of each track keeps it moving along nicely. Action even addresses the similarities in his vocal tones to Ghostface Killah, whom he has been compared to numerous times. He even goes far enough on Ron Simmons to tell listeners Don’t ever say my fuckin’ music sound like Ghost’s shit. On Wu’s last record, Ghost and Bronson both appear on the track Meteor Hammer , where I’m pretty sure Ghost doubled up his vocals to sound different than Action Bronson. He should be honored to be compared to the Wallabee King. Ghost is as ill as it gets.
Overall, this record isn’t great in comparison to his previous joints. Well Done was so fucking good that it’s a hard act to follow. It probably would have been smarter to ride the buzz from his last two efforts and chill on putting anything else out for a few months. I dig it, but then again I appreciate his lyricism and put most of the fault on the production of this album. Party Supplies isn’t doing anything new or inventive. His beats don’t make me want to nod my head hard enough to knock my brain out my nose holes. They just kinda fall flat. You can be ill as fuck with the words, but if you’re rapping over some Speak and Spell beats nobody cares. Guru (R.I.P.) was ill as it gets, but GangStarr with out DJ Premier wouldn’t have been the same. Same with Mobb Deep. Havok and Prodigy are raw as fuck but Alchemist brought that shit with every track that made it classic. Plain and simple, Bronson needs a steady producer to take him to the next level and build on his previous efforts.
Personal favorites on the album are Steve Wynn, 9-24-11 and Intercontinental Champion. If you haven’t heard him yet, knock this shit a few times then check out Dr. Lecter and then Well Done. Listen to the record and download it for free here.
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