Using peculiar food references and extremely obscure references to athletes from decades ago, Queens, New York rapper Action Bronson has climbed his way to a refreshingly careless spot atop the rap game. Almost everything about the guy is comical: his 300-pound frame, his massive red beard and his Queens accent. It has been nearly a year and a half since Action Bronson released his last project, “Blue Chips 2”. Today, 509 days later, Bronson releases his third studio album, “Mr. Wonderful”.

For some listeners, this album may seem overshadowed by Kendrick Lamar’s release of “To Pimp a Butterfly” on this same day. And this is a valid point, it isn’t easy to release any project on the same day as one of the most popular rappers to live, let alone your first full project since 2013.

Many hip-hop listeners may be expecting the genre to take a large leap to a more philosophical level in pursuit of “To Pimp a Butterfly”. But Bronson doesn’t follow this model at all. In an interview with NME.com while touring in the UK, Bronson made it clear that he is more than happy with his album. “The album is sounding incredible…I just do my music uninfluenced by anybody else, or current trends, and it comes together at the end. Nothing needs to have a fucking theme all the time. This is just rap. I’m not trying to make people think I’m some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet. Fuck that! It’s just happy, funny, rugged, rough rap.”

Another small blow to “Mr. Wonderful” is the sheer number of singles off of the project that Bronson released before the full release of the album. Songs like “Actin’ Crazy”, “Easy Rider” and “Baby Blue” were released months ago which, despite my love for each of those tracks, creates an almost stale feeling while playing through the album. It is clear this isn’t “mixtape Bronson”, if you are coming from “Blue Chips”  or another Bronson tape, this may be an abrupt change.

It isn’t all bad, however it is far from that. “The Rising” is one of my favorites off of the album. The drum and organ/piano heavy instrumental, sprinkled with soul harmonies creates a beautiful foundation for some of the best lyricism on the entire project. Classic Bronson lines like “I never calm down, shoot the gun without puttin’ my son down“ have the listener re-thinking what they just heard. Of course, no Bronson track is fully complete without an outro from his “street cousin” Big Body Bes. Bes speaks his Albanian mind across the final 30 seconds or so of the track, bringing it to a fitting end.

“Falconry” is another standout song on the album. This track screams New York. The pipe-organ riffs, the breakdown and Bronson’s flow on the song make his Wu-Tang Clan influence is undeniable on this track.

Bronson uses “Mr. Wonderful” as an opportunity to expand his “normal” style of rap. On songs like “City Boy Blues” and the hook on “Baby Blue” Bronson takes his almost Ghostface Killah-like flow and transforms it into a more melodic, almost whiney style. Bronson is a very talented lyricist, but in my opinion, the reach out of his comfort zone on those two songs specifically is slightly too far, however it is always nice to see a rapper switch it up for a song or two.

The slight disorganization alone, mixed with a distinct lack of focus is a definite change from any Bronson project I have listened to in the past. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing, however. Bronson is evolving as an artist. This is his debut major label album, and it shows. The classic rock samples and cool guitar show a new side of Bronson that we haven’t seen before, but will probably see a lot more of as his career progresses. Ultimately, this clearly isn’t Bronson’s best project, but it is far from his worst. It is, in my opinion, a baseline. This album is the groundwork for the coming years of Bronsolino, and in the future will probably be seen as a turning point for him; ditching a mixtape-heavy discography and transitioning into a major label album rapper.