Call him whatever you want. Bronsolino, Action, Bam Bam, Bronsolini, the young Randy Velarde or even Mr. Wonderful. Whatever you call him, Arian Arslani, best known as Action Bronson, has solidified his place in modern hip-hop through several high quality albums and mixtapes. With his major-label debut Mr. Wonderful, he continues his trend of solid projects.
It doesn’t take long for Action to check off all the boxes of typical Action Bronson topics. Within the first few tracks he makes references to sex (“Damn, bad chick on top of me, pornography”), drugs (“he must be up and off the molly tab”), food (“Got upstairs and fixed 11 bowls of Crispix”) and cars (“I stand adjacent to that S600 in amazement”).
By a few songs in, it is clear it’s an Action project. After the first five songs, listeners may be thinking Action has stuck to his formula for prior projects: ridiculous raps, great production and pretty standard song structure.
Despite the relative familiarity of the first five tracks, the sixth, “THUG LOVE STORY 2017 THE MUSICAL (Interlude)” veers pretty sharply away from anything Action has done before. It’s a little over two minutes of Action conversing, and then listening to, an unidentified man singing a song about a foregone lover.
The track, strange as it is, serves as an introduction to what Action described to The Breakfast Club as “an album within an album.” This interlude and the three songs that follow it show Action in a bit more subdued, less outrageous light.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fJqN5ISZBQ
In “A. City Boy Blues” Action laments an unhealthy one-way relationship in which his woman “only wants money from me, love from somebody else.” Calling this song the blues is not at all a misnomer. The chorus follows typical blues structure and lyrical content, “She won’t think twice to hurt me, she won’t think twice.”
In “B. A Light in the Addict” Action switches gears to an emotionally intensive topic. The song paints a picture of Action on a plane in an unhealthy state of mind. Action states he “wouldn’t care if everybody’s dead” before mentioning the various weapons he owns and claiming, “I nearly lost my brain / Dealin’ with this motherfuckin’ pain, so bad.”
The final track in this within-album excursion is “C. Baby Blue.” Doubling back on the theme of “City Boy Blues,” Action details an unhealthy relationship in which the woman is “all on my back / Why you gotta do me like that / Why you gotta act like a bitch / When I’m with you.” Chance the Rapper drops a pretty mediocre guest feature (presumably returning the favor for Chance having Action on Acid Rap) in which he outlines all the bad things he hopes happens to the offending lover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rQ_VVlR7Do
While it is commendable that Action took the risk of including this detour in the album, it doesn’t really fare well within the album. The four songs derail the energy and momentum the five opening tracks had gained. Despite the thematic consistency and the fact these four tracks fit together really well, the tracks – especially the brooding “City Boy Blues” that lacks rap verse and the six minute “A Light in the Addict” containing only a single verse – serve primarily to bore the listener.
Action gets right back into it, however, with the killer track “Only in America.” Featuring a triumphant ‘80s guitar lick that loops the entire song and provides the backbone of the beat. Party Supplies’ fitting hook separates Action’s two excellent verses.
The grand finale, “Easy Rider,” is the most majestic track on the album. Over Party Supplies’ sampling of old Turkish-psych music, Action drops lines like, “We took acid for 10 days straight up in the mountains / Started running with the stallions / Playing frisbee in the West Indies” and repeating his intention to “Ride the Harley into the sunset” before a Curt Chambers guitar solo takes the album to its end.
The album, despite containing 13 tracks, probably has more like eight or nine when listeners exclude filler tracks with throwaway feels. While there are some really great Action tracks on this album (“Terry”, “Only in America”, “Easy Rider”), they get bogged down with tracks like “The Passage (Live in Prague)” and “City Boy Blues”.
Given the major label budget and access to legendary producers like the Alchemist and 40, it’s surprising and disappointing Action couldn’t have replaced these weaker tracks with something a bit more formidable.
2.5/5
