Before he embarked on a shockingly successful culinary content creation career, Action Bronson was a cold MC with a verbose, reference-heavy style and timbre of voice that inevitably earned him comparisons to the legendary Ghostface Killah. Here, over sparse but knocking melodic beats from Statik Selectah, Bronson balances his trademark absurdity (triumphant opener “Respect The Mustache”) with a touch of earnestness (“The Rainmaker”) on an extremely solid full-length that came at a time of transition for New York rap.

– Nate LeBlanc