Jonah Bromwich admits that, regrettably, yes, that is his cowboy hat. “What is this shit?” sneered Greil Marcus in the pages of Rolling Stone, reacting to Bob Dylan’s 1970 record Self-Portrait, an album that Dylan had made to deliberately alienate his increasingly cult-like block of fans. During the SP sessions, Dylan threw every idea he had at the […]

More than half of this years nominees are based on true events, but none were Based on a TRU Story. Max Bell, Matt Shea, Trey Kerby, Harold Stallworth, Doc Zeus, Tosten Burks, Brad Beatson, Abe Beame and Jonah Bromwich weigh in on this years nominees. And we’d love to hear what you think, too.

Jonah Bromwich will house you. There’s no doubt that Mac Miller changed his public image last year, but that fact alone shouldn’t be enough to condemn him.  You’ll remember that Mac originally emerged from the woodwork praising rap’s golden age and rapping over the likes of Pete Rock and Primo.  It was nice, sweet, cringeworthy, […]

Jonah Bromwich steers the whip with one arm like Herman of Herman’s Military Antiques. Action Bronson is so consistent that it can be tough to figure out what makes his two best projects to date, Blue Chips and now Blue Chips 2, qualitatively better than other recent work. Saab Stories was underrated, and some feel […]

Jonah will be spelling his last name Brom Witch for only three more days. Most poetry runs the risk of being precious. The threat is even worse when set to music. Bruce Springsteen, the patron saint of New Jersey, is the prime example, but even Dylan drifts into that territory. There are only two iconic […]

Jonah Bromwich has seen it all, wide-frame. Many rappers have switched their subject matter to the mundane. Rather than boasting about being a Rawsian fake gangster, they make up for a lack of subject matter with outsize boasts about the cars they drive and the clothes they rock. The key to Curren$y’s appeal is that, […]

Jonah Bromwich owns several Sunz of Man CDs. Over the last decade of pop-rap, superstars have often tended to use their album’s first single as a mission statement. Jay-Z’s “Change Clothes,” was derided as being a crappy, superficial single, but the song’s chorus and verses introduced The Black Album’s themes: a mature Jay, acknowledging his […]

Jonah Bromwich is personally invested. That Wale has sold out is indisputable. He was a prime example of the first wave of blog rappers (Kid Cudi, J. Cole, B.O.B. etc). and one of the first post-Kanye artists to figure out what to talk about now that any topic was acceptable. He put out two excellent […]

Jonah Bromwich is a jaarhead. An awkward metaphor for you: Random Access Memories is like a chair made out of oak, crafted by those with knowledge of the ancient and highly esoteric craft of chair-making. It’s a solid, dependable album and it’s about as exciting as a well-made place to park it. Spoiler alert, Thomas […]

Jonah Bromwich wants to see the dirt. Is there room for Jonwayne? That’s the question he’s asking himself, as the ghost of his better self flagellates him for oversleeping, for looking like a buffoon, for not being grateful, for not being all he can be. It’s an exceedingly well-written single, channeling the stress of the […]