Action Bronson
Mr. Wonderful (Vice/Atlantic)

With Action Bronson having name-checked wrestler Paul Orndorff on 2012’s “Tan Leather”, it stands to reason that the name of the Queens rapper’s new album, Mr. Wonderful, is an extended salute to the retired ring tactician’s old moniker. Additionally, it captures the braggadocious, body-slamming mood Bronsolino is in for most of the album.

“Brand New Car” echoes the playfully sloppy mix tape Blue Chips with its audacious sample choice—the priggishly jaunty piano bounce of Billy Joel’s “Zanzibar”—and flubbed flows. “Let me get my voice right,” Bronson says, coughing, during a brief lyrical lapse before rolling off cocky lines detailing a love for mango lassi, and the kids he may have squired overseas.

Foodie-approved references have always been a specialty of Action Bronson, a former chef and current host of Vice’s Fuck, That’s Delicious program. Here, he riffs on eating chicken nuggets off a Rambo knife (“The Light in the Addict”) and loads up on hash and squid-ink soup above a hockey-game-style pipe organ (“Falconry”). Broken relationship pop-rap track “Baby Blue” also has him offering up a menu of, ahem, “white snake and underwear sauce”, if you’re interested.

Though still rough-necked and raunchy, the rapper extends his reach on his latest with fully sung, broken bluesman’s vocals on mid-album space-funk salvo “City Boy Blues”. That said, it’s more interesting than it is essential. Additionally, acid-dappled closer “Easy Rider” isn’t exactly fresh, having popped up well over six months ahead of the rest of the LP. But on the whole, Mr. Wonderful is reasonably well seasoned.