After a hiatus, Queens MC and Television personality Action Bronson is returning to Viceland’s airwaves. The network has announced the renewals of his food documentary series F**k, That’s Delicious and his comedy show Traveling The Stars: Action Bronson and Friends Watch Ancient Aliens.
“We couldn’t be happier to have more Action on the channel,” Viceland president Guy Slattery said in a press release. “He’s a singular talent whose passion, knowledge and energy leap off the screen.
The relationship between Bronson and Viceland seemed to be fractured beyond repair just last year. Last October, he criticized Viceland after it compared him to chef Nusret Gökçe, a.k.a. “Salt Bae,” on Twitter.
On Twitter, Bronson wrote, “YOU WEIRDO MOTHERFUCKERS ARE LUCKY TO HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY PRESENCE.” “FUCK YOU AND ALL YOUR BULLSHIT. ILL TAKE MY TALENTS ELSEWHERE BECAUSE YOU SURE DON’T APPRECIATE WHAT I’VE DONE FOR YOU. FUCK THATS DELICIOUS IS FOREVER BITCH. I OWN ALL RIGHTS. I CREATED IT.”
He went on, “YOU WOULD THINK THEY WOULD USE THEIR PLATFORM TO PROMOTE THE SHOW ON THEIR CHANNEL PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKE. I WAS ALSO ON THEIR RECORD LABEL THAT HAD ONE EMPLOYEE. I MUST BE OUT OF MY MIND.”
F**k, That’s Delicious follows Action Bronson as he travels around the world, visits various restaurants, and eats everything from street food to fine cuisine. The series regularly features Bronson’s friends and fellow rappers, Meyhem Lauren, Alchemist, and Big Body Bes, as well as numerous world-renowned chefs.
Traveling the Stars: Action Bronson and Friends Watch Ancient Aliens (alternately titled Action Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens) is a comedy-documentary that focuses on rapper Action Bronson sitting on a couch, smoking marijuana with his friends, and watching the TV show Ancient Aliens. As with F**k, That’s Delicious, Bronson is joined by music producers The Alchemist and Knxwledge, his cousin Big Body Bes, and various guest stars, including musicians, actors, and other associates of his.
Action Bronson’s career, no matter the territory, has never been pigeonholed. Before Action turned rapping from a hobby into a monetarily viable option, the 34-year-old began life in the working world as a well-respected kitchen commander in New York City. Action even started his own cooking show on YouTube during these years titled, Action In The Kitchen, that featured a burly Bam Bam Baklava whipping up his favorite dishes with a diverse soundtrack to serve as the backdrop for his food born narratives. Action’s appreciation for good eats and good beats would later catapult him to a deal with Vice’s imprint at Atlantic Records and three television shows at the channel. These included the Anthony Bourdain-inspired travel show, F*ck, That’s Delicious, a nightly food talk show, The Untitled Action Bronson Show, and the now-canceled comedy series, Traveling the Stars: Action Bronson and Friends Watch ‘Ancient Aliens.’ Although Action’s work at Vice has seemingly concluded in the last year, his passion and abilities in music continue to pave the way in its wake.
As seen with both his cooking and his eating habits on television, Action’s taste for music is as equally vast and expansive. In his early career, Action could be heard rapping over samples from sounds of his familial past, from obscure Albanian wedding singers to the likes of Dean Martin as heard on the Party Supplies-assisted, “9/24/11,” from his first Blue Chips mixtape.
Since then, Action’s taste for new, unique soundscapes continues to blossom from his ever-expanding, seemingly insatiable listening palette. One of his most recent projects, Blue Chips 7000, continues to illuminate that trend, as Bronsolino can be heard spitting over “on hold” telephone instrumentals on tracks like the Alchemist-laced “La Luna.” Later on the album, Action switches modes once again as he spits slow and steady over producer Daringer’s cold and dreary guitar riffs on “Chop Chop Chop.” But it’s Action Bronson’s latest independent album, White Bronco, symbolic of both the horse and the infamous vehicle, that seems to wrap up all of Bronson’s bold and broad range into one complete, cohesive project.
As inferred by the title, and even the eclectic nature of his self-painted cover art, Action Bronson’s White Bronco is a musician savvy road trip in which each pit stop serves up a plate with different seasonings, spices, and textures to salivate over. Setting the stage for the epic journey from the jump, Bronson opens the catalog and rips a slick, braggadocious effort over a burgeoning guitar jam session instrumental on “Dr. Kimble,” before taking the same sentiments into Party Supplies’ ’60s Soul-smashed, “Irishman Freestyle,” in which Bronson also mentions his upcoming role in Martin Scorcese’s 2019 film, The Irishman.
As the album progresses, so does the musicianship, as Bronson’s often stoic flow and varied production provide cohesion and diversity simultaneously, almost as if the Flushing, Queens MC is serving a multi-course meal in which each individual facet and flavor of one track compliments the others in succession. Particular standouts on the album include the dreamy, Boom Bap drizzled title track, “White Bronco,” and the slow and soulful ballad, “Prince Charming.” The two tracks briefly juxtapose Action’s rough and tumble New York swagger from his somewhat softer side, but like many Action records, the bravado isn’t withheld for too long.
I finally found love and it’s f*cking beautiful / I no longer bite my nails down to the cuticles (no more) / My sex stories ain’t suitable for listeners / ‘Cause prisoners to wack off, aw man (Yo, chill, chill, chill, chill) / Enough of that soft sh*t, me by myself is like the four horsemen / You’re just a poor sportsman / Your sportscar could be your coffin / The thought of revenge release endorphins / That make me feel just like I’m swimming with some dolphins (God damn), Bronson raps on “Prince Charming.”
In proximity to the symbolic nature that White Bronco represents, this project not only serves as a platform to expound Bronson’s enhanced creativity but as a symbol for his independence as a student and purveyor of the arts. Also, this is not representative merely in his musical tastes either, but even much more literally as a newly sovereign musician away from the stranglehold of Vice/Atlantic Records. Bronson’s metaphor for the White Bronco is as multi-dimensional as this tracklist and his career as a whole, as the rapper, TV/Film personality, and chef is both the car, the horse, and the man driving these beasts to the next level.
