Max Bell is cruising in the whip with Gene Shalit, eating scallops.
Fighting fans and security guards. Rapping in port-o-potties. Throwing weed, TVs, and video game consoles into crowds. Consorting with Big Body Bes. To some, Action Bronson could seem “eccentric.”
Hence, the second single off of his March 24th VICE/Atlantic debut, Mr. Wonderful, is “Actin Crazy”. Produced by Drake’s sonic consigliere and fellow child actor, Noah “40” Shebib, the beat is more Saab Stories than Blue Chips. Instead of murky, under water atmospherics, we get swirling jazz chords and percussion to make ’97 Timbaland proud.
This isn’t the lysergic gonzo of “Easy Rider.” Here, ten days of acid tabs are traded for the braggadocio of a man who went from fucking up to a polyglot with hoes in every city. As usual, he boasts gracefully and remains in rare motion. High speed chases in all white Fords, Adriatic cruises, and Studebaker sojourns with Anita Baker riding shotgun.
Many of the aforementioned acts, both rapped and not, were probably spontaneous — wax is a hell of a drug — but just as many were carefully sketched. Bronson’s a lunatic, but he’s not crazy. He just knows that it’s impossible to match the myth. He will probably never ride a shark with a laser beam attached to its head through space. (But I wouldn’t entirely rule it out).
The incessant antics add up. They’re hilarious, but they expand the myth. Madness in method. It’s for his entertainment and our own. They allow us to suspend our disbelief for another bar. They keep us waiting for the day fantasy and reality become inextricable. Hopefully, his mother understands.
