One of the illest new emcees on the scene talks about his culinary influences in his raps, idolizing Kool G Rap, and his gem of an animal "Dr. Lecter."
“Hip-Hop, it started out in the park, we used to do it to avoid the narcs." That is exactly where our new DXnext feature Action Bronson started.
A culinary master, the Queens, New York native bases his throwback-sounding lyrics in a definitively east coast style; Action Bronson even makes rapping about food gangster. Just check out his Dr. Lecter album. Speaking about his influences, his childhood experiences and his stance on conscious Hip Hop, one of the best new artists of the last year comes forward to serve it to you raw and marinated.
Dr. Lecter: "This is my first album I put together. The concept is that Dr. Lecter is a wild individual but very educated. He also has a ridiculous and crazy side to him. My man Tommy Motz made the beats and I rapped my ass off. The whole album took about six months to put together to perfect and shit like that. I am very proud of it, it’s my first project."
Conscious Rappers: "Conscious rappers are cool and all that but I can only take so much of it. You need to stick to what you are all about and that is what I do. If you are a conscious rapper then you do that, but I am just here to have fun some and throw some old school things that you may not have heard in Rap before - like throw some metaphors about food in there because of my culinary background. I just have fun with it, whatever flows. I am not one of these rappers that talk about being good because I am not good. I can’t talk about being righteous if I am not righteous so I would rather not."
Favorite Food: "I am all about the Mediterranean and food of that area. My background is Albanian and a bunch of other eastern European countries. I also know a lot of Mexican cuisine from working in the kitchen with Mexicans and Dominican cuisine from all bitches I had sex with that were Dominican. I cook everything I am not just a one trick pony."
Food and Music: "I like to use food in metaphors in ways you would not actually think about food. You can use certain terminology that is used in the culinary word that can be used to say some fly and tough shit. People don't usually think that way but I do. I don't do it all the time but definitely when it is necessary. Unless there is a song all about a recipe which is what I might do, giving someone a full recipe in a rap, that will be some next shit."
Flashy Swagness in New York: "That is definitely not New York. That is New York biting from everybody else. I bring that New York sound back because that is what I grew up on. I don't know anything else but that sound. I can use all different genres of music but in the end you need that raw sound at least in my opinion. New York Rap as a whole does have some good faces. I feel that I am bringing a brand new face but that old sound that everyone loves."
Old School: "That first album that hit home was Wu-Tang Clan's 36 Chambers. It brought everything to a different light. We all found out about it when we were eight or nine years old and my boy had a sleepover for his birthday and his mom got him 36 Chambers, and we just bumped it at the sleepover. All the old Wu shit, all the old Nas and Mobb Deep, I would listen that constantly."
“You sound like Ghostace”: "Yeah, I mean at the end of the day, it’s all good because Ghostface Killah is one of the best rappers alive, so if I sound similar to the best rapper alive then that is fine. To me there is no comparison; he is a legend and I am a newcomer. If I would try and emulate with anyone it would be Kool G Rap, he is the person I look up to the most. In the end, I am not upset but at the end of the day I am my own person and no one can take that away from me."
Precautions of The Business: "Signing paperwork and being that we are from the streets and all this other shit. That is what I am the most hesitant about. I don't want to end up catching a case over some lost money. I just don't want problems in regards to the business. That is what I am the most hesitant about and dealing with all these people that want a piece of me now that I am getting a little hot. At the end of the day, that is not a bad thing because I am getting much respected people co-signing me."
Best Video: "The 'Shiraz' video was the most fun. We just went wild in the park. When we got to the park there was a crackhead meeting and it wound up being something amazing. That park scene could be a video on its own with no music, just a comedy skit. That woman that gave me the number would have sucked me right there in the park. She was a straight crack fiend with a pooch. She did not have sex in 21 years and the Newport was burning all the way down to the filter and she aced it. I may bring her out on stage at a show, you never know....."
Speaking of Shows: "I did a show recently and it was funny and everything but I feel it went a bit too fast. I should have paused a bit, should have brought some people out on stage. I need to do something to get the crowd laughing and stuff, like intermissions between the songs. Maybe have some dancers, some crack heads on stage. Just some shit that people want to see."
The Future: "My next project is with Statik Selektah that will be coming out in the summer time. It's straight killa shit. There is more in-depth shit. There are some stories and some life shit. I am switching it up on them the second time around."
