“Been on the honor roll, sculptures of my body out in Nagano
My shawty features like Madonna, Lo designer
Bending these young Lola Fellanas over. Ace the test
Baste the breast with the juices
Under the influence of fly shit, I glide like Ovechkin
Disqus hoody, puff hibiscus, balance be the crispest
Baby girl, you’re wylin if you sniff this
You gotta take a piss test, piss right through your fishnets”

You know, life works in mysterious ways in which we can’t imagine and can’t even to begin how and why certain things happen. Take this for example; I was on Twitter (and shout out to @WEALTHYAndretti & @CHICVGO for this, because without them, this profile doesn’t happen) and They were telling me about this girl who was a singer-rapper; she goes by the name of Tennille (@10iller). Since, I’m open to listening to a bunch of people whoever they suggest to me (although, Lana Del Ray & Rita Ora are hyped up failures to my ears), I downloaded this mixtape that ‘Andretti’ (not his real name, but I’m not gonna just air it out like that) had sent to me (10FDOOM). I’m not gonna lie, at first it wasn’t really catching on to me, but as the mixtape went along, I started liking it a bit more and more. I make the comparison of her voice to Odd Future’s Syd the Kid (which I featured in an artist profile earlier this year) and her rapping style was really mellow and laid back, so it was just a different vibe, and to be honest, I’m going to give her a few more listens, maybe download more mixtapes, then I may spread the word. People may like her.

The main point behind this is, as I was listening to her mixtape, on one of the songs (Chess Game), I heard this guy spitting on the verse and it was RAW, so I’m at home like “hold on…who is this?” I looked at the song title, and it was a dude who went by the name of Action Bronson. I had seen the name before around twitter because people who discussing who the good white rappers were right now (aside from Eminem). Action Bronson was apart of the mix, and beforehand, I think I was on a hip hop blog site (this I actually do remember) looking at a list of the most underrated albums of 2011, and his Dr. Lecter album was on there. I didn’t think anything of it to listen to him, so it wasn’t until literally yesterday that I actually heard a verse from him. People were telling me that he was reminiscent of Ghostface Killah because of his voice and delivery. That’s a crazy statement, but listening to him, I can’t lie; it was true. I was advised to download his music (like I wasn’t going to do that anyways), but more specifically: Dr. Lecter (which I had mentioned before), Blue Chips, & Well-Done (with Statik Selektah). He has a lot more aside from just those three (I haven’t had the chance to download the rest, but will), but they’re a great starting point if you’re getting to know him. He’s also going to be at the Soundset festival; coincidence? No such thing.

His history (I read a bit of it, but if you want full in-depth, Wikipedia is your friend) is pretty random. He went from being a chef to a rapper. That’s the weirdest transition I’ve ever heard of. It’s not like he was working at like a McDonald’s and all of a sudden wanted to rap, I’m talking about ACTUALLY cooking real food for people, and then he just..ya…it’s crazy (he has a song called Jerk Chicken on Dr. Lecter; I laughed….very hard). It’s funny how the 3 titles are food related (kind of): Blue Chips (I’m assuming chips that are blue), Well-Done, which is a food preference as to how you would like your meat cooked (my personal favourite), and Dr. Lecter. This one you have to think about, but if you know your movies, you understand it completely: Hannibal Lecter – Cannibal….he eats people. Action Bronson -Rapper….he (LYRICALLY) eats people. Good metaphor. Moving on.

His style; let me get into that. He’s rapping in the WRONG ERA! He was meant to be in the 80s or even late 90s. Even though his voice is a reminder of Ghostface, I’m pretty sure that he could have kept up with the best of them in the 80s. His flow is smooth, often staggered, but the way that he mixes in a lot of his lyrics with life on the streets blended in with the wordplay with food, it’s almost so much to wrap yourself in, it’s like a verbal tortilla served to you on an ice-cold platter.

I know that race shouldn’t matter when it comes to hip hop, because music is colour-blind, BUT, I really can’t believe that this guy is white. If I didn’t know ahead of time that he was white, I would have: 1. told you that this is Ghostface Killah, and 2. if I was wrong about this, I would have told you that this was a BLACK, Brooklyn rapper who probably had a dirty beard and rocked a fitted cap while wearing a Pelle Pelle jacket; just GRIMEY! But, he’s white, and he’s from Queens, and Queens is known for rappers like Nas & Mobb Deep, so they have proven over the years that they can supply greatness, and Action Bronson is one of those that could very well be on their way to achieving that greatness, based on what I’ve heard thus far (I won’t lie, a little bit of Big Pun comes out of him too, and that’s not a knock on his weight, I’m referring strictly to rapping style). On the Blue Chips mixtape, on a few tracks, he messes up a bunch of his lines, but he keeps going; a true rapper just keeps it going and doesn’t let the little mess ups get to him. It sounds authentic & really old school, much like how Nas started off ‘NY State of Mind’ with “I don’t know how to start this.” It’s just the rawness that’s brought to it. I can’t wait to listen to more of his music, and follow his career as he brings along more dope music.

Action Bronson is a rapper that flew past my radar, and shout out to CJ for telling me this piece of advice: check out pitchfork for their top albums lists and go from there. I will be doing that, because I feel like, if I’m going to be doing more of these posts, I should discover some artists without the help of others and appearing to be “late in life.” I don’t have an issue with it, but it would just be cool. Anyways. Download the music from the links I attached, and enjoy.

That’s My Word & It STiXX