Action Bronson Numbers September 22, 2012
After working hundreds of concerts over the last three years, most of them being rap and hip-hop shows, I feel like if I've seen one rap show, I've seen them all. The rapper arrives late, takes the stage past midnight, gives respect to Pimp C and DJ Screw, smokes a blunt, performs tracks from his mixtape(s), ends the show with his biggest hit, then gets the fuck outta there.
On Saturday night at Numbers (300 Westheimer), Action Bronson did start by arriving late, and end by getting the fuck outta there, but it was his movements in between that will enshrine this show as one of the wildest and best shows of the year.
If you haven't heard about Action, and many of you have not, here's the scoop:
He's white. He's hefty. He's from Queens, N.Y. He used to be a professional chef. His nasal voice reminds us of Ghostface Killah's. Oh, and his beard is magnificent.
Action's rhymes are smooth, witty and metaphorically edible, peppered with food references and seasoned with bite. (Don't worry, those will be the last allusions to food that I will chop into this review). He raps with the same determined yet thoughtful pace as melting glacier on its way to the ocean. You see it coming, so get out of the way or risk getting run over.
When he took the stage, UGK's "Wood Wheel" was playing as his intro. He sparked up a blunt and blazed it up, prompting the crowd to do the same. "We gotta wait for Pimp's verse" he told his DJ.
I just spent 60 G'sOn a brand new Eldo-reeze
Black-on-black, drop top 'lac
Northstar fifth wheel on back
"That's my shit right there!"
If there's one thing touring rappers know to do when they arrive in Houston, it's that UGK love will always win over the crowd.
