The Witzard

Let it be known on-record: Action Bronson is easily one of our favorite emcees! Maybe, it's his zaniness, charisma, orsharp-tonged emceeing skills, love for food, natural wine, wrestling, and obscure 90's films, next-level sample selection, or propensity for randomly bustin' out a backflip. In addition to his emceeing skills, Bronson is an acclaimed chef, television personality, and actor on the rise; he has his own food/travel show on VICE, F*CK, THAT'S DELICIOUS! and has appeared on-screen in Game Over, Man! The Irishman, and, most recently, The King of Staten Island. However, maybe, most amazingly, during Quarantine, thanks to his close friend and personal trainer, Dave Paladino (@davepfit) has lost upwards of 100 pounds! Bam Bam Bronsolino, as he's often called, released his most recent amazingly-titled album, Only for Dolphins , during Quarantine, as well, on Loma Vista Recordings/Caroline International. Yes, this now means Action Bronson AND Marilyn Mans...

"When Dev [Hynes] was 'Lightspeed Champion' , he had a little-known rap MySpace called 'Ni**a Bullshit' (2010). This was when we first started talking about a collaboration," rapper Himanshu Suri (professionally known as Heems ) recently revealed to Rolling Stone concerning his latest collaboration with singer-songwriter/producer, Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange . "I wrote some of the lyrics in college at Wesleyan , some before Das Racist in Bushwick , and most of it in my engineer Daniel Lynas' old studio with Dev [Hynes] in Dumbo ," Heems continued. "Home" was adequately described by one anonymous writer as " Dev provides fluttering guitar-work while Heems opens his chest cavity, removes his still-aching heart, [and] drops it on the floor in front of you;" the subject matter throughout Heems' forthcoming major label "debut" EAT PRAY THUG has been self-described as "much more personal than [ Hima...

EAT PRAY THUG , or "9/11 & Heartbreak," as he affectionately refers to it, is the by-product of Queens -based rapper Himanshu K. Suri (aka Heems )' self-imposed exile to Bombay, India a few years back. Although it's actually Suri's major label debut, EAT PRAY THUG is likely poised to be his first and last album, as @HIMANSHU has recently alluded that he's considering giving up his rap career and more or less defunct Greedhead imprint for a 9-5. Since unleashing a series of critically-acclaimed 2012 mixtapes, Nehru Jackets and Wild Water Kingdom , Suri has maintained a relatively low profile; until unexpectedly dropping his 4-track SWET SHOP EP with buddy Riz "MC" Ahmed and a particularly zonked out theme song recorded for Japanese Vitamin Water last year. "'Sometimes" is about dualities, identity, and the space between spaces, Like so many other people, as first generation South Asian in the U.S. I often felt like I li...

While last week's "new track" turned out to be a fraudulent remix, Action Bronson has since teamed up with beat-maker Beautiful Lou and Twitter persona/rapper RiFF RAFF ; "Long Pinky" is the final track in Adult Swim 's summer-long singles series, which will be re-upped online for FREE come Monday. RiFF RAFF recently described himself in 140 characters or less, of course, as: "AN ALL-AMERiCAN ALL-STAR... iF U DONT LiKE HiM, THEN U WiLL BE FORCED iNTO EXiLE iN GUAM & EAT EXPiRED GOAT MiLK FOREVER." Action Bronson & RiFF RAFF previously traded bars on the Harry Fraud -produced "Bird On a Wire" (2012) and RiFF RAFF had a brief cameo appearance in Bronson's blistering VICE Records -backed "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" video-single. While this time around, it was kitty [pryde] 's former collaborator Beautiful Lou who reunited the 2 rapping friends, they'll be appearing together on Diplo 's upcoming Re...

"IN CASE [YOU] MISSED IT EARLIER, "THE TURNING POINT PERFORMANCE OF MY CAREER,"" Action "Bam Bam" Bronson ecstatically, 1/2-jokingly Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon; He's in fact referring to a recent pseudo-concert at Saint Hilda's , a local old folks home which Noisey UK has established some sort of relationship with and "arranged a surprise visit from the hottest rapper on the planet." While most recording artists get pretty stoked when the opportunity arises to play Madison Square Garden , Wembley Stadium, Red Rocks , etc. Bronson has a reputation for throwing mildly outrageous, slightly left-of-center concert experiences. It seems like he'll gladly play just about anywhere for a decent price... Tweeting "THIS IS BY FAR, MY MOST ELECTRIFYING PERFORMANCE OF MY CAREER!!!!!!" not long after performing "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" for the confused seniors. While the majority of Saint Hilda's old-timers d...

It seems like Action Bronson & Harry Fraud have a pretty size-able batch of freeze-dried SAAAB STORIES left-overs, since "Water Sports" is the second track that's been leaked since the mixtape EP's June 11th release; Between "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Remix) , "Heel Toe," and "Water Sports," we now have 3 appended SAAAB STORIES bonus tracks! Premiered over at Village Voice , "Water Sports" [in]appropriately features washed up (fictional) baseball player Kenny Powers on his jet-ski, fully clothed for whatever reason. I was lucky enough to experience Bronson performing choice cuts from SAAAB STORIES earlier this summer, a meticulously-assembled 7-track EP, which he says upon it's creation, "I was 100% thinking about it being a performance project... [almost] everything on there has a hook, and knocks... it's thumping. The stage is rattling, everyone's going wild" (The Green Room) ! Long-awaited Par...

SAAAB STORIES beatsmith and Psych-Rap pioneer Harry Fraud is now the proud head honcho of a brand new label imprint, Surf School Recordings , operating under recently re-lauched Priority Records . Fraud's latest creative output is a FREE 5-track mixtape EP released in conjunction with Scion A/V ; High Tide EP features unlikely collaborations with some heavy-hitters like Action Bronson , Tech N9ne, Earl Sweatshirt , French Montana, RiFF RAFF , Mistah Fab, Smoke DZA , Chinx Drugz, and Troy Ave . "Loopy" houses choice bars from stoner rapper Smoke DZA and French Montana affiliate, Chinx Drugz . But neither the emcees nor Harry Fraud actually appear in it's companion FAFU -directed music video, which stars a lone luxurious-looking glamour model. Here's Fraud's slightly scattered Twitter-liberated "Loopy" video description: "I didn't want to do a traditional Rap video. I wanted something that was fun, wavy, and visually more colorful t...

It's been proven time and time again that Action Bronson can essentially rap on almost any beat (or lack thereof), generally Party Supplies -produced: Peter Bjorn & John , "A Very Bieber Christmas," Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins , Guns N Roses , etc. Bronson's a highly-skilled rapper, who I can attest, can even rap impeccably sans beat; I had the honor of catching him on the XXL Freshmen Live 2013 mini-tour (Philly) last night, along with Joey Bada$$ and Big K.R.I.T. Far from the rookie of the group, Action Bronson somehow managed to go on first around 8:30pm, bummed a hearty joint off a crowd-goer... and completely SLAUGHTERED the majority of SAAAB STORIES, "Steve Wynn," a couple choice cuts with Meyhem Lauren , and of course, some shit-talking compliments of Big Body Bes . For his latest featured track, Bronson teamed up with a very unlikely set of collaborators, Skrillex -signed Dubstep group What So Not (OWSLA). "Every Time You See Me...

Yeah, it's 1am and I have work in about 7 mere hours, ugh; But "The Rockers" just seemed too good to be true, without hearing it before I get some zzzz's. Action Bronson has recruited Taylor Gang general Wiz Khalifa for the second leak from SAAAB STORIES , just a few days after unveiling "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Queens Day Remix) with LL Cool J & Lloyd Banks . Based around a weirdly catchy pseudo-hook, "I'll hit you with the dropkick Marty Jannetty ," Bronson & Wiz sound better than you'd expect lacing up a slick Harry Fraud -produced beat together. The gap between mainstream and underground Hip-Hop has seemingly been bridged, and all it took was a shared love for weed, women, and wrestling ha. It almost pains me to say this, but Wiz Khalifa has really grown a lot since "Black & Yellow." What can I say, the man is good at what he does, which is making Dance -inspired Hip-Hop for suburban white kids... and w...

While you patiently await SAAAB STORIES' June 11th release and contemplate what the Hell could be happening on it's highly amusing, head-scratching cover... Here's a neck-snapping Boom-Bap remix while you wait! Action Bronson expertly recruited 2 veteran Queens emcees, LL Cool J & Lloyd Banks for his official "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Remix) , which debuted on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show late last night. Chopping the bulk of his previous verses and then adding on a newly-written one the track order now seamlessly flows between Bronson, LL Cool J , and Lloyd Banks . Granted, I still haven't heard Authentic , LL Cool J 's verse seems like a return to form since the slight MASSIVE fall from grace that is "Accidental Racist" with Country super-star Brad Paisley . I'm actually kinda glad Harry Fraud didn't really do anything to re-tweak the beat, cause "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" is almost tailor-fit for LL C...

Action Bronson 's almost effortlessly able to cram a bunch of misplaced syllables into "Shit on my chest, shoot colors like a Care Bear / All year see me tan, hopping out the van... Eat steaks off a cold plate, stoned listening to Coldplay ," a few of the introductory rapid-fire lines of "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" sounding like a high school English teacher on Speed ; It's more or less, the lead single from an upcoming joint mixtape with rising Brooklyn producer, Harry Fraud that's been quite ingeniously dubbed Saab Stories . Noisey , sister site of Bronson's new-found major label home (VICE Records) premiered the Jason Goldwatch -directed music video mid-Monday afternoon, which was preceded by a collection of equally EPIC behind-the-scenes footage. Fraud has previously produced a number of scattered beats for Action Bronson including: "Jar of Drugs" (2011), "Muslim Wedding," "Mean," and tracks from Adrift/High ...

Every year around this time, XXL Magazine releases a slightly jaded, misguided XXL Freshmen list. It's kinda dumb because it usually features seasoned guys like Action Bronson (29) right alongside "young bucks" like Joey Bada$$ (18) and the term Freshmen generally connotes fresh meat. XXL 2013's Freshmen Class: The Mixtape includes 17 previously released/rare tracks from Bronson, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q , Joey Bada$$, Trinidad Jame$ , angel haze , Logic, Dizzy Wright, Kirko Bangs , and Travi$ Scott. It's a damn good thing the DJ Drama -hosted mixtape's up for free download online; aside from Action Bronson 's "November Rain" (Party Supplies), a Joey Bada$$/Bronsolino team-up, ScHoolboy Q 's recent single "Yay Yay," angel haze freestyling over Purity Ring , and Ab-Soul/Harry Fraud 's "Back Then," its' pretty fucking terrible! A former top chef, Action Bronson is hands down one of the most skilled emcee...

Rising Brooklyn producer-of-the-moment Harry Fraud wrangled up a crazy/awesome posse of Internet -friendly rappers for his upcoming High Tide EP ; It'll feature frequent collaborator like Action Bronson , French Montana, and Chinx Drugz across 5 contained tracks. Lead single "Yacht Lash" positions JODY HiGHROLLER (RiFF RAFF) alongside Odd Future 's returning prince, Earl Sweatshirt . Harry Fraud successfully melds together a DIRTY Psych-Rock -drenched Hip-Hop beat, which leaves plenty of room for 32+ bars worth of swagged out bravado. Earl Sweatshirt effectively slays the first 1/2 of this track, only his 10-12th recorded appearance since returning home from juvie in Samoa (Feb. 2012). Sweatshirt laments about his triumphant return to prominence, "Nothin' much to my ethics / Bitch, I'm joggin' like I already won the election / Fuck it, shunning protection... Rest assured, I keep the label embarrassed." RiFF RAFF on the other hand...

Anyone remember around like 200-05 when Paris Hilton somehow managed to coin the phrase, "That's HOT!" (loosely meaning crazy, sexy, cool)? Well, I feel like that's kinda how MTV ranks their equally ridiculous annual Hottest MC's list, cause Hip-Hop 's such a hard thing to quantize/generalize; It's more about sheer passion, love/loss, money, girls, heartbreak, shared experience(s), etc. While MTV has yet to reveal a finalized list, here's their partial rankings: Meek Mill , Future, A$AP Rocky , Kanye, Big Sean , Drake, Nas , and Rick Ross (#10-3). Kanye soon called into Hot 97 , basically lampooning MTV VJ Sway and the network's rapper-ranking process, "I mean, I gave Sway his first TV, man... I was living in Newark [NJ] doing beats for Jay-Z and Beans and all them, and I was getting a new TV and I gave Sway his first TV. I didn't really wanna like even call to talk about the [Hottest MC's] list. I just wanna tell every...

Pusha T is 1/2 of Clipse , which was basically 2 drug fiends-turned-rappers poetically bragging about their assorted exploits over The Neptunes' glitched out production work. Malice changed his name to No Malice last year, found religion, published a book called "Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind & Naked," and decided to peruse a solo career... Right around the same time that his brother, Pusha T inked a deal with G.O.O.D. Music (2010-11). Under Kanye 's frantic direction, he soon released Fear of God [mixtape] and it's re-packaged companion EP, Fear of God II: Let Us Pray . I must admit, while I had a Neptunes phase and really got into Hell Hath No Fury/Til The Casket Drops , I haven't delved too far into Pusha T 's solo material. He's also been featured prominently on Kanye's recent projects, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) and label comp. Cruel Summer (2012). Serving as an audio palate cleanser/teaser for his upcoming d...

Action Bronson has quickly risen through the ranks of [New School] Hip-Hop since releasing his Indie debut album, Dr. Lecter (2011), partially due to his charismatic personality and sheer rapping skills. He managed to produce 2 of last year's best mixtape collections with Rare Chandeliers/Blue Chips . Even though he semi-recently inked a major label deal with VICE Records , Bronson still manages to keep his good ol' Internet hits in regular rotation, too; Artsy Films shot live footage of Action Bronson performing "Larry Csonka" @ San Francisco Bath House (New Zealand) from last Friday, Jan. 11th. It's really the kinda thing that makes you slightly re-evaluate your life and ask yourself, "Why the fuck haven't I been to an Action Bronson show yet!?" The top chef-turned-rapper aimlessly navigates his way through the wall-to-wall packed Wellington, NZ venue, mic and milkshake in hand... as fans [sloppily] attempt to pass him blunts, beer,...

" Action Bronson lives in the apartment he's lived in his whole life, @ the southern edge of Flushing, Queens . Before he started rapping, Bronson dropped out of Bayside High School and cooked @ his father's still-open Mediterranean restaurant in Forest Hills , which specializes in Albanian dishes like Jani me Fasule , a white bean stew. Also a culinary school dropout, Bronson is a passionate chef, freestyling insane, flavor-piling recipes that reconcile what he calls the "peasant" food of his childhood with what he's encountered out in the world. On a rainy day [last year], he welcomed us into his home and showed us how to re-imagine Thanksgiving left-overs as sliders, or "total fuckery on a plate." Above, watch Action Bronson make a masterpiece between two layers of cheddar corn muffin with cold macaroni, gravy, corned beef, and more, and learn how to roast a marshmallow with a chopstick and no flame." - FADER Holiday Special (2011)...

Let's face it, most of us in our mid-20-30's have probably "stumbled" our way into a couple sleazy strip joints by now. I've had my fair share of alcohol-fueled, cigar-accented conversations with shot girls about Portugal The Man and even an unexpected run-in with Joey Fatone (all in one night)! It sounds like Meyhem Lauren has chronicled a vaguely familiar experience on "10 Dollar Lap Dances." Released just in time for the season's traditional festivities, Mr. Thanksgiving himself laments about his [least] favourite gentlemen's club, which has an all-hours buffet, but still doesn't warrant his tips. Lauren and producer-friend Harry Fraud "walk in the dirtbag spot, shit down, and proceed to do wrong." He must've learned a thing or 2 about fine dining from chef-turned-rapper Action Bronson , who's featured on Mandatory Brunch Meetings (December 6th). Numbers-wise, it's guest list doesn't really seem to stack ...

I think one of the reasons that Das Racist works so well is because of the cross-section between Heems' great appreciation for Mainstream Pop melded against Kool A.D. 's desire to be weird/ Experimental . While Nehru Jackets (January) was just a bunch of Mike Finito-produced beats made from Indian samples, WILD WATER KINGDOM is slightly more commercial... almost directly influenced by post-2001 Hip-Hop : shit like The Blueprint , Dipset, Kanye , Meek Mill , and French Montana. Heems managed to hand-select some Funky "liquified" beats from Harry Fraud , Crookers, Beautiful Lou , LE1F, Steel Tipped Dove , Mike Finito, and Keyboard Kid . "I've become in touch with my astrological signs. I'm a Cancer , and I'm a Pisces Rising for my moon [sign], so I'm pretty fucking watery. I like water a lot and this past summer, I tried to be out by the beach as much as I could. I was out on the Hamptons , I was out on Martha's Vineyard , I was ou...

It's pretty safe to assume that Action Bronson & The Alchemist first met while in the studio recording assorted parts for Domo Genesis' No Idols mixtape; Alchemist acted as reigning producer over the entire project and Bronsolini was featured on central track "Elimination Chamber" along with Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples . Instead of working on his 2-3rd album for new label VICE Records , Action Bronson is currently chipping away @ roughly 3-5 [FREE] mixtapes. It seems like the first one to fully materialize is gonna be Rare Chandeliers with The Alchemist , which should ultimately end up premiering online by mid-November. But I'd almost bet $100 that Bronson's been working on a batch of album-quality material for VICE the entire time now... as he's a man of vast mystery, intrigue, and surprise! Earlier today, it was reported that Action Bronson will be taking a will-deserved break - Heading out on a 14-date Fall Tour with Cypress Hill ,...