January 27, 2012
#7: Action Bronson - Dr. Lecter This rapper’s profile got a lot higher this year, and a lot of it had to do with the songs on this album. It’s not the only thing he released this year, but it’s the record of his that got the most play on my stereo, for sure. Truthfully, I still haven’t even gotten his collaboration with Statik Selektah, Well Done, which was released in November. But that’s OK, because even after the many listens I’ve given this album over the course of the past year, I’m still finding new and interesting things hidden within its grooves even now. I get the feeling that a lot of other hip-hop fans are sleeping on it, though. The easy dismissal that I’ve heard applied to Bronson too many times this year is that he sounds exactly like Wu-Tang Clan superstar Ghostface Killah. This criticism reminds me of the Katt Williams routine where the comedian talks about people who buy a Chrysler 300 because they can’t afford a Rolls Royce Phantom and they think the 300 looks enough like a Phantom that people won’t notice the difference. “It might look like a Phantom,” Williams says, “until a Phantom pulls up next to it.” His point is that, once confronted with the higher-priced genuine article, no one’s going to get confused about which is the budget version. Similarly, when listening to an Action Bronson record, you might think that he sounds like Ghostface, but as soon as you listen to Ghostface for a minute, you’ll realize that the difference is kind of obvious. Unlike in the comparison between the two cars, though, the hierarchy isn’t as clear. It’s not that Action Bronson is an inferior budget-model version of Ghostface Killah—it’s just that the two of them are significantly different. The quality of Ghostface Killah’s material isn’t in the least bit of doubt, but Action Bronson has plenty of charms of his own. And in a lot of ways, the very things that distinguish Action Bronson from his contemporaries also point out some of the more negative aspects of the state of hip-hop in 2011. For example, Dr. Lecter consists of 15 songs, none of which top the 4-minute mark, adding up to a cumulative running time of 44 minutes. Out of 15 songs, two feature a single guest verse each from two different members of Bronson’s Outdoorsmen crew, and two more are Outdoorsmen posse cuts; the other 11 are Action Bronson solo numbers. These qualities demonstrate a stark contrast between Dr. Lecter and the typical overlong, skit- and guest-laden hip-hop album of 2011. Between this fact and the production emphasis on old jazz and soul samples that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Mobb Deep album from 15 years ago, this record is a throwback in the best possible way. And while I’ve heard people criticize Action Bronson for not having too much to say, in a year in which the message presented by one of the most talked-about rappers of the year revolved around homophobia and rape glorification, an album full of old-fashioned wordplay and tongue-twisting verbal gymnastics seems to me to be just what the doctor ordered. Towards the end of the album’s opening track, “Moonstruck,” Action drops this couplet: “Known for sinnin’ in cinnamon women in ten directions, Cinderella pendants, the love flow tremendous.” Yeah, I know it’s little more than a Heavy D-style “overweight lover’s in the house” lyric tarted up with shitloads of in-rhyme, but that’s good enough for me. The song that has the most serious lyrical content is “Ronnie Coleman,” a song about overeating and the shame that can come from spending most of one’s life overweight, which I relate to very strongly. When Action says, “Every five minutes look in the fridges as if magic happened. Sneak a cookie, rip the bag, and fix the plastic wrapping. I don’t want no one to know that I took it, cuz I’m an overeater…” and trails off without finishing the line, I know exactly what he’s talking about. But despite that serious moment, for the most part this album is a joyous, entertaining blast of hip-hop energy, a concise and pleasurable listen that never gives me a reason to feel guilty. Works for me.

#7: Action Bronson - Dr. Lecter

This rapper’s profile got a lot higher this year, and a lot of it had to do with the songs on this album. It’s not the only thing he released this year, but it’s the record of his that got the most play on my stereo, for sure. Truthfully, I still haven’t even gotten his collaboration with Statik Selektah, Well Done, which was released in November. But that’s OK, because even after the many listens I’ve given this album over the course of the past year, I’m still finding new and interesting things hidden within its grooves even now. I get the feeling that a lot of other hip-hop fans are sleeping on it, though.

The easy dismissal that I’ve heard applied to Bronson too many times this year is that he sounds exactly like Wu-Tang Clan superstar Ghostface Killah. This criticism reminds me of the Katt Williams routine where the comedian talks about people who buy a Chrysler 300 because they can’t afford a Rolls Royce Phantom and they think the 300 looks enough like a Phantom that people won’t notice the difference. “It might look like a Phantom,” Williams says, “until a Phantom pulls up next to it.” His point is that, once confronted with the higher-priced genuine article, no one’s going to get confused about which is the budget version. Similarly, when listening to an Action Bronson record, you might think that he sounds like Ghostface, but as soon as you listen to Ghostface for a minute, you’ll realize that the difference is kind of obvious.

Unlike in the comparison between the two cars, though, the hierarchy isn’t as clear. It’s not that Action Bronson is an inferior budget-model version of Ghostface Killah—it’s just that the two of them are significantly different. The quality of Ghostface Killah’s material isn’t in the least bit of doubt, but Action Bronson has plenty of charms of his own. And in a lot of ways, the very things that distinguish Action Bronson from his contemporaries also point out some of the more negative aspects of the state of hip-hop in 2011. For example, Dr. Lecter consists of 15 songs, none of which top the 4-minute mark, adding up to a cumulative running time of 44 minutes. Out of 15 songs, two feature a single guest verse each from two different members of Bronson’s Outdoorsmen crew, and two more are Outdoorsmen posse cuts; the other 11 are Action Bronson solo numbers. These qualities demonstrate a stark contrast between Dr. Lecter and the typical overlong, skit- and guest-laden hip-hop album of 2011. Between this fact and the production emphasis on old jazz and soul samples that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Mobb Deep album from 15 years ago, this record is a throwback in the best possible way.

And while I’ve heard people criticize Action Bronson for not having too much to say, in a year in which the message presented by one of the most talked-about rappers of the year revolved around homophobia and rape glorification, an album full of old-fashioned wordplay and tongue-twisting verbal gymnastics seems to me to be just what the doctor ordered. Towards the end of the album’s opening track, “Moonstruck,” Action drops this couplet: “Known for sinnin’ in cinnamon women in ten directions, Cinderella pendants, the love flow tremendous.” Yeah, I know it’s little more than a Heavy D-style “overweight lover’s in the house” lyric tarted up with shitloads of in-rhyme, but that’s good enough for me.

The song that has the most serious lyrical content is “Ronnie Coleman,” a song about overeating and the shame that can come from spending most of one’s life overweight, which I relate to very strongly. When Action says, “Every five minutes look in the fridges as if magic happened. Sneak a cookie, rip the bag, and fix the plastic wrapping. I don’t want no one to know that I took it, cuz I’m an overeater…” and trails off without finishing the line, I know exactly what he’s talking about. But despite that serious moment, for the most part this album is a joyous, entertaining blast of hip-hop energy, a concise and pleasurable listen that never gives me a reason to feel guilty. Works for me.

7:56pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z-FUayFTshCj
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Top 20 of 2011 
  1. andrewtsks posted this