“Check this guy out,” a friend wrote me in an email last year. “This white guy sounds exactly like Ghostface Killah.” In the beginning, this is how I imagine most people came to know Action Bronson: not through his talent as a rapper, but because the voice of this Queens native is a dead ringer for that of the legendary Wu-Tang member. In that way, the internet was a perfect venue to spread Bronson’s music, but where other emcees with an interesting novelty and little depth would have lasted only weeks, Bronson has maintained his buzz with a lyrical acuity he’s been honing for years.

Before he was Action Bronson, Arian Asllani was a successful gourmet cook in New York, working at steakhouses, vegetarian restaurants, Middle Eastern food spots and, for a time, at the New York Mets. Hard to believe? Check out his YouTube series Action in the Kitchen (see: the Bronson Burger). Bronson never considered rhyming as a career beyond cooking, until he started seeing his friends rap and tried it himself. Now with a handful of independently released albums and critically lauded mixtapes under his belt, Bronson has finally starting to separate himself from the earlier, and perhaps nettlesome, Ghostface comparisons. Today, Bronson is featured on dozens of tracks and has collaborated with artists like A$AP Rocky, Apathy, Smoke DZA, Domo Genesis, The Alchemist, French Montana, Statik Selektah and countless others.

Over beats that often channel jazz and shades of Blacksploitation-era funk (“The Symbol”) Bronson’s lyrics are peppered with a mix of street life tales, sex, humor and, what else, food. “Well, I try to use my food references in sophisticated manner. Not like just any food, just foods that real foodies and maybe chefs would know about,” said Bronson in an interview with the Village Voice. “That chef life was my life for so long—its influences are going to come across in my music, you now? Besides that, it helps me distinguish myself somewhat from other rappers.”

So what’s on the 28-year-old rapper’s plate in 2013? Besides continuing his cooking show, and a healthy tour schedule, Bronson plans on releasing Mister Wonderful with Tommy Mas, Saab Stories with Harry Fraud as well as the sequel to his breakout mixtape Blue Chips, Blue Chips 2.

Don’t miss Action Bronson at Coachella on Saturday, April 13^th and Saturday, April 20^th. And if you can’t catch him there, check him out at a show near you—

05/04/13            New Braunfels, TX – TSR Ski Resort

06/07/13            London, United Kingdom – Koko

06/09/13            Manchester, United Kingdom – Parklife Fest

06/16/13            Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo

06/21/13            Dover, Denmark – The Woodlands

06/28/13            Kansas City, KS – Kanrocksas

07/06/13            Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival

07/17/13            Bitterfeld, Germany – Splash Fest

07/18/13            Dour, Belgium – Dour Fest

07/19/13            Helsinki, Finland –  Fest

07/20/13            Stuttgart, Germany – Hip Hop Open Fest

 

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