What if... Action Bronson Never Met the Alchemist?

Interesting take

when I first heard that Alchemist and Action Bronson were collaborating I thought it would be the the best work Bronson would ever do lyrically and musically...so when the album was released I was pretty shocked that it was actually the worst thing he had done. ALC was already a legend at the time so you would think that Bronson would have stepped up his game to meet the moment. I don't know, it was just bizarre. My interpretation is that Alchemist let Bronson off the hook and indulged parts of his personality that maybe should have been handled better, especially since Alchemist seems to always pride himself with the work he does with MC's in the studio.

Agreed but think copious amounts of weed always played a big part.

I'd be the same and was to be fair but as I was broke I had to cut it out. Not so much weed but other s**t.

If I had rap money I'd be a vegetable due to drug consumption.

It's actually a miracle some of the OGs are still as good as they are. I'm 100% forgiving of anyone, especially those that came from nothing that struggled to hold their s**t together.

yeah, drug use is definitely part of the subtext here. Of course Bronson was a weed head before linking up with the Alchemist (a renowned smoker)...but once he went out west I think it went to another level. Dabs and all that. This all could have very well have happened without the influence of Alchemist, but the point I'm making is that I wonder if Alchemist essentially co-signing his Rare Chandelier verses put Bronson on the path to where he is now.

yeah, it was Alchemist's fault that Bronson couldn't continue using Ghost's rapping styles. mystery solved.

lamb over rice

I liked Lamb Over Rice as well, but those vocal recordings seemed to me like they came out the archive. I could be completely wrong. Rare Chandeliers wasn't terrible, it just was not in any way on par with Bronson's discography up to that point (see ern's list....except I thought Blue Chips 2 came out after Rare Chandeliers).

As far as Ghostface: Bronson was gassed up during that interview, and ironically at the time wasn't spitting hard at all when he said Ghost "doesn't rap like this anymore." I was flabbergasted that Bronson wasn't better prepared to handle that question. How do you get baited by Max Kellerman? And truthfully, I never saw that much stylistic similarity between the two besides voice...and I think by that time Ghost's voice had started to change. Ghost is a storyteller and idiosyncratic slang purveyor. That was never Bronson's style and as a rapper's rapper (at least for the first few years of his career) he really should have been able to school those Sportsnation dudes.

With that said, Ghost overreacted and I thought handled it like a sucker by publicly threatening Bronson with "shooters" instead of handling it like a G. They both took big L's there in my opinion. I lost a bunch of respect for both of them on that day.

If he didn’t mean it like that he could have easily clarified his statement right then and there. They asked him if it was a shot and all he said was “just being honest”, which made it sound pretty s**tty and his tone was smug. 

Hearing about him from start on j love tapes, it was fun to see ascent. You knew it was coming. Action had necessary charisma. Take away Al you still have dope work with party supply and others like harry n statik. He was getting to where he is now no matter what, in real opinion. Idk maybe Helped that His era seeming wanted colorful white guys in mainstream to work. Mac miller, riff raff, action, macklemore, etc. Maybe still do but dont give fck about laroi or harlow

Action was pissed at the comparisons and mouthed off and ghost looked like an old butthurt clown. Both are dope still to this day but they both looked dumb.

i have just completely divested in action over the years. besides guest appearances i don't really mess with him. tried bumping well done recently and it hasn't aged well to me so i'm selling it on discogs with the rest of his catalog that i own. he had a good run. ghost is washed, too but i will always mess with his classics and he will always be top 5 doa to me. prob my #1 all time honestly

it was this. we all tuned in. he was dope, so is mey. i just can't vibe to the brons albums so much anymore. to each his own. its starting to happen w the more recent marciano stuff to me too.

I can't find the video I saw that first introduced me to Action Bronson, but it was him Mayhem and pretty sure AG Da Coroner, fairly standard video of them rapping out the front of some warehouse with steps. Action had his shirt unbuttoned showing his chest tat and his eyes were super blue. It was old it must have been removed.