This has been one seriously huge month for rap, and Action Bronson is the latest to join march Madness. His new album, Mr Wonderful, is now available for streaming or purchase.
I’ve listened to the album twice already this morning, and I absolutely love it. This is his major label debut, but it couldn’t sound further from a major label rap album. It flows so smoothly from bluesy vocals to sensual rap, from vicious train-of-thought lines filled with insults, hedonistic living and drugs, to intimate introspect, dealing with depression, dreams and dark desires. It’s so much more than a rap album – there’s a lot of singing, a wonderful amount of psychedelic guitars, bass solos, rhythms and flows lifted straight from the 1970s, and a lot more. There’s even a Billy Joel sample (which Bronson legally obtained after writing Joel a handwritten letter, in which he described him as “the best lyricist ever.”) There’s guest production from Mark Ronson, The Alchemist, Party Supplies and more, while Chance The Rapper, Big Body Bes and Chauncy Sherod are among the guest vocalists.
The album is out now through Atlantic/Vice and you can stream it on Spotify for free.
I highly, highly recommend that you do.