Rating: NNNN
Only Action Bronson, the ample Queens, NY, lover man with a penchant for piff and puttanesca, could have made Blue Chips. A loose concept record tracking Bronsolini’s borough excursions in explicit, rib-splitting rap detail, it’s a vivid novella – like he’s channelling a less sad sack Misha Vainberg, the fat, fly Russian protagonist of Gary Shteyngart’s Absurdistan. Except, as Bronson’ll have you know, he’s Albanian.
Producer Party Supplies cues a nostalgic, well-worn soul palette. From Aaron Neville to the Flamingos, samples are often left intact and unadorned for Bronson to straight rap to. The effect is stunning, cinematic, forcing you hang onto every word as the chef-turned-rapper pins self-aware barbs (“At times my only friends are drugs and a cannoli”) against gassed-up gastro gags (“I’m on the art and food scene / Fuck rap, laying back eating poutine”) and Casanova conceit (“Facially, I’m like a young John Kennedy”).
Top track: Thug Love Story 2012
