Let’s be completely honest, current events between Ghostface Killah and Action Bronson were unfortunately orchestrated by fans, media and everyone else in-between. And yes, it’s been somewhat entertaining to watch on the sidelines. Everything leading up to now has been building for quite some time, going as far back as 2011. Add Hip Hop’s overwhelming need for WWE levels of showmanship and competition, Action Bronson’s comments during ESPN’s SportsNation last week were inevitable. It’s understandable for him to say something when damn near every interview (expect one done with DX’s own Andre Grant earlier this year) keeps beating this dead horse. Comments such as “not rapping like this no more” was a weak moment before later apologizing. For heaven sakes, vocal delivery aside, Tony Starks and Bam Bam are two completely different artists. Even comparing debuts, Ghostface’s debut Ironman nearly twenty years was filled with epic mob stories while Mr. Wonderful is a slick musical tribute to New York. One rhymes about cooking coke while the other one is actually a trained chef. Leave it alone and let it be. With that in mind, how cool would it have been for these two to actually came together for a track outside of that one “Meteor Hammer” track from 2011’s Legendary Weapons album. This problem illustrates exactly why there’s a lack of unity in New York Hip Hop.
Despite being pretty humorous, Ghostface’s reaction video felt awkward and unnecessary. Threatening to hang someone and gut them like a fish along with various other forms of violence doesn’t make much sense. Especially at a time where mainstream media already thinks of black men as dangerous wild beasts needing to be put to sleep indefinitely. Keeping things 100, if Stark were to really do something to Bronson in any way, he’d be locked up quicker than it took Dylan Roof to order a Whopper from Burger King. For Bronson to even exist in today’s current rap climate is a miracle regardless of how talented he his. Moments like these don’t do much to make the birthplace of Hip Hop that attractive. Both Ghostface and Bronson were unfairly pitted for artificial beef while West Coast and Southern Hip Hop continues to reign in various ways.
As everyone laughs about Ghostface vs. Bronson, Future’s DS2 has made huge noise for the past few weeks. This morning alone, he announced four shows in four different cities this week. The first city will be his native Atlanta and already, there are ridiculously long lines around the venue. This year, Ghostface has dropped two albums that haven’t chart and Mr. Wonderful didn’t even hit 50K it’s first week. Meanwhile, Future is slated to at least do over 100K. Just think about for a second. Sure, the beef between Birdman and Lil Wayne may be the biggest rift of the year. However, the south can still survive in the midst of their issues with one another. The same can’t be said for New York as it’s still hanging from a commercial thread.
let me guess you’re from the south and live in the west?
But future haven’t sold more than ghost and ghost got more classics.
Ghost has been there and done that. For over 20 years. He’s done what most in the game will never do. You bring up Future? Holler 20 years from now about Future then we’ll have a discussion.
I can holler that right now Future has made more hits than Ghost in his 20 yrs.
It ain’t hard to make a hit record these days. Young Thug is living proof. Try again.
Future might have more hits, but Ghost has more classics. Albums, that is.
Besides that, Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, Sporty Thievz, Ill Al Scratch…,they all had hits back in the 90’s, but who remembers them some 20 years down the line?
this editorial is ridiculous. Anyone who watched that Action Bronson ESPN video knows straight up he was totally dissing Ghost. It was a straight diss from a cornball white boy getting too big for britches. He was trying to be slick and AB does not have the skills to be even referencing Ghost. Its funny how a few years ago when Common was getting at Drake, everyone was like “this is good for hiphop,” and as it turns out Common had no real motive for going at Drake and later, it was found out to be that common was being jealous about Drake getting too close to Serena Williams (pathetic joke). There weren’t any articles like the above. It was all about “real hiphop” then. Ghost’s response is nothing new in hiphop…Ghostface threatened 50 cent, biggie…didnt lead to new york hip-hop dying. Unity? Action Bronson is white boy from Forest Hill, Queens. He is told Ghostface wanna-be. His music sucks. He aint even close to Ghost’s level despite copying his delivery, flow etc. Ghost is an original innovator and a legend. Action Bronson is an average rapper at best. Everytime you hear him rhyme, he just sounds like a wanna-be. Only reason he enters the conversation is because white boy hipsters who think know what “real hip hop” is like him – thats it. No brothers dig that shit. Author sounds just like a Action Bronson fan mad that Ghost set the record straight.
I can understand that Bronson is tired of the constant comparision and that’s why he made that comment. But I also can understand that Ghostface let the guy had the career so when he heard that comment he found it really disrespectful
And please stop saying things such as “This problem illustrates exactly why there’s a lack of unity in New York Hip Hop”
1-If Bronson was from any other city GFK would have complained about Bronson copying his style years ago and Bronson wouldn’t have been able to get any label giving him more than 1 album.
2-Bronson thrown a dart to Ghostface, and obviously Ghostface felt offended. What the fuck does it have to do with being from one city or another???
the writer of this editorial must be a butthurt hipster whiteboy … shrugs
So obviously this site which I mistakenly thought was legit can’t afford real writers. Ural or oral or whatever your name is, you are clueless.
What a fuckin stupid article…whoever wrote this needs to be fired..
“can’t bury rap, like you buried jazz” oshea jackson. this is how it starts though.
you say bronson’s original. ” it’s the fact that he’s white, you can relate to his face..for years you were taught that, black is unsafe” Murs.
you say he sounds nothing like ghost, two different styles…yeah right. if you really believed THAT, then muthafucka, guerrilla black would be platinum.
and if you were REALLY concerned with how blacks are portrayed…well….shiiit just take a look at your own website. gtfohwts!
Now this writer wanna be MLK,bad!…
for sure stopy wearing that hat
Yo first things first b Dr Lector is Bronsons first album…stupid as hell to say Wonderful when he has 6 projects under his belt. That being said nothing comes close to Ghosts classic albums
Just read this garbage and DX kill yourselves. Your hiphop pass is revoked b.
Future is making great music because he comes from a element New york use to be……New york is not Grimy anymore it is Gentrified to a core…..the greatest Ny Rapper rap from a Different experience there would never be a 28 year old like jayz that made vol.2 or a 21 year old nas that made illmatic and mind you it wasnt never complete nyc unity it was always different cliques….so you should do your research on the great Ny based hip hop in the 80’s and 90’s
The writer of this article is either white or not from New York…..or a white New Yorker who loves the fact that NYC is gentrified cause he wouldnt have last a second in 1988 NYC….. FOH lame ass….
The writer sounds like he takes a piss sitting down. These new age cats are the reason New York is down. Grow some balls b.
This writer is trash. Action Bronson thought he could sneak diss and keep it pushing, got caught, and couldn’t man up and own that bullshit. Now you going write an article because GFK was too fucking “aggressive”? Like Nas said. “when the pistol blows the one that’s murdered be the cool one”
The Ural Garrett PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! You don`t have the answers…
The days of New York MC’s like Ghostface and Action Brunson doing Future and/or Drake numbers is over. The climate in Hip hop doesn’t allow for it. Ghostface stopped doing future numbers a long time before the so called beef with AB. Unity or the lack there of doesn’t effect album sells. The south’s been beefing just as much as the north (TI and Luda, TI and Lil Flip, Jeezy and Rick Ross, Jeezy and Gucci Man). Bottom-line, its not about the beef, yes, I agree Beef sucks, but the audience could care less, no one searches ITunes and says “cant by that Action Brunson album he’s beefing”. If anything at all New York Hiphop suffers from the deterioration of the sample game. The sample heavy music produced by Ghost and his New York counter parts is on lock. Southern and West coast music is not as heavily sampled, what it takes to make you traditional up north record leaves the artist virtually broke. Would I ever promote beef? no, we lost to of the greatest rappers over unnecessary beef, but lets not over sensationalize this situation. Actions numbers were trash before Ghost dropped the video and before the ESPN interview hit the streets. Lets keep it 100% real. The sensitivity over this situation is because Ghostface comments were on the edge of non inclusive, Ghost stopped just short of telling Action your my son and your the white guy who got the guest pass into the culture.
You realize Ghosts last like 3/4 albums haven’t used any samples? Sour Soul is live band (BadBadNotGood) . 36 Seasons was live band ( The Revelations), and his two albums with Adrian Younge also didn’t use samples that needed to be cleared.
Also, these days, its not just about record sales. If I showed 50 people a picture of Action Bronson, and Future, I bet a higher percentage would be able to name Bronson. The man has a big fan base and keeps his name out there in a grassroots kind of style with all the videos he puts on the internet, whether it be Fuck That’s Delicious, or whatever else he is doing.
The hipster hop fans are getting their panties all bunched up from Ghost’s video.
I don’t agree with this article at all. Since the journalist brought up NY being Hip Hops 1st city, part of the legacy is that rule #1: biting is a no no! The only reason shit bubbled this long is in today’s climate, anytime an OG does what’s instinctive and comes at one of the youngsters for any form of biting, the OG’s labeled a hater, irrelevant etc. Why happened to emcee’s goin out of their way to NOT sound like the next guy and standing out? The art of the collabo was tryin to out rap the next emcee on the joint and the dj or producer seeking those emcee’s who were going to bring that raw dopeness and diversity on a track! Plus, it’s not like Ghost is retired…he should go sit down because it’s not about originality anymore and all about sales now?! Stop it! The guys who are doing numbers are doing them because there’s a machine pushing them for a reason and a purpose…and it’s not because they are necessarily dope! There’s plenty of young gunners who have the lyrical skillz and something of substance to say as well as being marketable but that’s not what THEY want to sell/promote…but they’ll feed you that bullshit about “that’s not what the people want to hear”!
Fuck this article yall want to talk about future and southern hiphop’s strength in sales in juxtaposition to ny artist sales but you fuckers still havnt even reviewed ghost new album but every other day yall got some editorial on why wayne is about to make a comeback.
This article is written by a motherfucker who don’t know shit about Hip Hop Culture. Emphasis on “culture”.
It’s obvious, as Deck said, Who’s your A & R a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar, this shit is not a game, Son spent mad years mastering his craft for some fat whiteboy to come along and try to claim it. You want to talk slick about a Legend in your interviews now your fat ass got to pay the price. This is not about Ghost over reacting or nothing like that, it’s principle, you talk greasy, prepare to deal with the consequences, stop trying to make it sound like Ghost out of pocket, He’s A Legend, FAT WHITE BOY IS NOT, I don’t give a damn if AB was from Stapleton PJ’s himself, now your FATASS about to get deflated talking BiG Shit. Stay in your Lane Whiteboy, you a guest in the House of Hip Hop.
mrgwaps stfu. action told the truth and your lil’ bitchass can’t handle it. Ghostface hasn’t been rapping like he used to, and if you could get the nasty chunks of earwax out of your brain then you would agree. you pussy.
Knock it off DX, NY is the birthplace of HipHop, anyone denying that fact doesn’t know their history or is in serious denial, numbers don’t validate your lyrical skills never have never will Stop measuring an artist lyrical ability by Soundscan numbers, it’s the reason the underground existed people got tired of the lame stream artists with the huge label budgets behind them with the “machine” push.
Second, being a Shark is not cool, be honest if Action came out during the 90’s sounding like he does now he wouldn’t have had the time of Day. He came about when the game was already stretched out and nasty, watered down, so he got a lane, One that didn’t exist during the Golden ERA. Now he smelling himself thinking he can talk greasy during an interview because he can afford a few twinkies, How the fuck you going to get mad because you sounding EXACTLY like the next man and try to flip it and bounce it like it’s your style. GTFOH Duke, You Corney B, now you might get your fat ass stretched out on some Tom & Jerry shit. One thing I can say about the WU, they bring the whole fucking Stapleton with them to their shows, I saw some gruesome shit at WU concerts, cats getting banged out with Moet Bottles, getting stomped to smitherines, Fuck with the WU if you want to Duke.
Best response I’ve heard. Cosign 100%
NY isn’t divided. We’re very United Bronson tried to be slick and he got checked. That simple. Everyone agrees that Bronson fucked up.
NYC was never on some let’s all be friends bullshit. There was always rap battles and rap beef dating back to the early 80’s some of them legendary beefs which made the game unique. NY is full of clans,posse’s crews and cliques, never was on that unity tip, anybody with an ounce of Rap Culture knows that, Come DX do the Community a favor and get some real HipHop Journalist’s, these kids wearning skinny jeans was shitting on them selves when the art form was at it’s peak in the Golden ERA.
As Mrgwaps says NYC has never been united since the 80’s. There always have been beef between boroughs, groups, mc’s and so on…. only the last decade we could observe some peace on the atmosphere….
now two rappers have beef and that mean that NYC is divided??? If that’s the case I welcome the division, on the 90’s there was a lot of division and we had the best music ever coming from NYC
Ghostface iOS wrong and everyone know it. He doesn’t even know the last time he had a hit or even remember the last time someone even mentioned him. He’s out of date and out of time. He’s a legend , but legends are a thing of the past. He sounds like a angry grandfather who has young kids running on his recently watered and cut front yard. He should admit that he doesn’t make music like that anymore. And at his age he shouldn’t be on any “hood shit”. He should draw like a man his age. Not like a kid with sweatpants. Look up to jay-z or someone in that caliber. Suit and tie and get your money up. The verbal threats is on some weak shit. Your career won’t mean nothing if you even carry out what you said, especially with all the racist stuff going on now in the world. These cops are hunting for criminals now.
HIPHOPDX is based in Canada. But you know, them Canadians be holdin it down with the real shit! Lolol
Ghost NOT rapping like that no more. He rapping slow, premeditated and without enthusiasm. His WHOLE delivery was enthusiasm. AZ was mobbing on him all throughout that 36 Seasons, really!! That part where Action crossed the line is when the SportNation dude said some’n bout Ghost need to do a “remix” and Action said “He need to do some’n.” Oooooooh. That’s when Ghost caught feelings I bet and that’s when Action had a Freudian slip and admitted what’s in his subconscious brain… That currently he raps better than Ghost and you know what? That’s true.
Notice the way in Ghost’s YouTube response that he only brought up older albums of his to support his view that he’s better. Ghost in his prime is better than Action currently, But Action currently better. Truth.
Articles like this is what the reason is why the game is fucked up. This game used to be competitive and you had the best artists out and when you bit someone else’s style and sounded like the next man theres NO WAY you could get on. There was integrity in the game. Now I mess with Action Bronson music! U know why? Cause he got that sound I like. That sound is pioneered by GHOST!. But for him to come out his face and disrespect the GOD on national TV is a crab move. Especially when that man birthed your whole style. He felt hisself too much on that interview. These kids these days get passes for everything, cross dressing, having no talent, biting etc. When an OG or a pioneer says something about it they get called bitter or a hater, the number of sales, twitter followers or IG followers get brought up or some dumb shit thats irrelevant to the issue. This was no publicity stunt for Ghost, he even supported AB when he was coming up and when he got out of pocket he did the MAN THING and called dude up and told him to fix it. Action did the sideways ish and deleted the tweets afterwards thinking Ghost is some dududdudun nigga. Now Ghost aired him out publicly and people got a problem with it? Like my man Pac said “So why are people telling me I’m wrong for doing what I’m doing. … I’m mad at XYZ and I’m rushin’ the nigga. What’s the problem?”
Right on Point!!…. Glad somebody gets it. Cut from a whole different Cloth
Ural Garrett. You sir – is a disgrace to hiphop journalism! Just by reading your first sentence, i knew that this article was going to be absolutely terrible. You have no knowledge of hiphop and the history of the art.. It shines trough. Find another passion my dude.
If you want to learn more about the culture, and hiphop journalism – I suggest that you look up Davey D. Good luck
Ural Garrett is an award winning journalist based out of Los Angeles who has covered everything from local government to high profile music festival. Throughout his five plus years as a writer/photographer, he has written for publications including On WAX Magazine, Soultrain.com, Amalgamation Magazine and The Script Lab. During his spare time, he enjoys video games and baking.
(thats from dudes own web page! Lol)
Dude is black also and from L.A lol
He a black dude from LA and hiphop DX is based out of canada………this article makes perfect sense……..shout out to the 5 boroughs of NY fuckin C
IT IS SO SIMPLE
A FAKE RAPPER GOT CAUGHT
USING SOME ONE ELSE’S STYLE….
This article is straight up wacked!… u shulda used d time it took u to write it in a mo useful way… u culda just rubbed one off… n u wulda used d time to d fullest instead of diminishing your so called writing skills… get a new hobby or sum shit… seriously!
Article is true
Bronson gets asked the same shit in every interview. It’s plain lazy fucking journalism. Of course there are comparisons to be drawn. Obviously, they annunciate similarly. Chances are, two people from the same city at some point are gonna sound like one another. For me though, that’s where it ends. They rap on different topics, with different inspirations using different analogies with total different personalities.
Part of me is disappointed about this whole media orchestrated fanfare as it’s pointless.
Bronson is Killin out there with an Insanely devoted fan Base. Ghost is massive in hip hop history, though maybe lesser so in 2015. Rap fans want ghost to deliver like he did. Rap fans probably want the old Tony starks back on record, but that shit is impossible coz rappers grow, change and mature. Ghost still makes dope music but we’re probably never going back to supreme clientele. I’m sure ghost is aware of the fact that his music isn’t as pertinent today as it was 10 or so years ago hence him going overboard with the reaction.
I mean, fuck me, I’d love mos Def to hit us with some “black star” sounding rap. It ain’t gonna happen, though hip hop heads cling on to the hope that it will happen.
Bronson IMO was lead down the path with the comments he made, and ghost was over the top with the response.
……
What this journalist says in his article is bogus. Talking about other rappers selling x amount in the first week has nothing to do with new York rappers and new yorks overall success. If we all bought and liked the shit that is selling high volume,we’d all be listening to the watered down, commercial arsed bulshit that the radio force feeds impressionable kids.
What did method man say on blackout. “Arse holes are like opinions, everybody gotta have one!” maybe ghost should go consult with him.
Yo son. You are gay as fuck.
This article is a FACT