Rare Chandeliers

No matter which way you look at it, it's a really good time to be a fan of hip hop in New York. It seems like there's as much great, truly unique music coming out of the New York hip hop scene as there was back in the 90s. The fact that a scene of sorts has catalyzed around an intensely talented bearded white dude who used to be a chef is perhaps the coolest thing ever, especially since it's Action Bronson and he's signed to our own VICE Records. We're beyond psyched to be premiering his newest project, Rare Chandeliers, which he made with the prolific (and equally great) producer the Alchemist. Roc Marciano, Meyhem Lauren, Styles P, Sean Price, and A.G. Da Coroner all guest, but Action wins Best Line Of The Album with, "Flick chives in the soup/ Stick knives where you poop." At times opulent, at others mining the pulpy grit that Alchemist specializes in, this gets our award for Mixtape Of The Year. But then again, we're biased. We got Action and his high school buddy Big Body Bes on the phone to get the inside scoop on the tape, and here's what they had to say: Action Bronson: It's all art. At the end of the day, I went out there. I went out to LA, had a bunch of good experiences, and just wrote some ****, pretty much. Just, f**k. There were so many rappers that were around in the process of making this ****. I've never worked around so many different people before; just people coming around and chilling while I'm making a record. Me and Schoolboy did a song; he's the man for that. At the end of the day we was there… pretty much the usual suspects. It was like Lloyd Banks just showing up out of nowhere, Busta coming through. F**king Scott Caan, some f**king actors. It's a crazy place. You just never know who's gonna show up. Big Body Bes: We in here smoking ridiculous, gettin' waxed out. We up in here with the wax f**kin' Action Bronson heat thing. It's crazy, man. We out here. **** is just wild right now; we just saw this wild Panamanian ***** with f**kin' Timberlands on. Pajama pants. I'm in to that whole pajama pants thing. But it's f**ked up when you see a Filipino kid at, like, two in the morning doing it, it's like, "Man you're 35 years old, man." You're at the store in pajamas, man. What are you doing with your life? It's wild though, man. We out here. Look for that Body Language, man. If you're gonna cut me a check, want me to spell my name out for you correctly?