RapGhostface Killah's ruckus with Action Bronson is a classic Wu-Tang moment
The pair clashed after Bronson suggested Ghostface might not be the force he once was, but his diss track via video response shows Tony Starks has still got it
Action Bronson is a doughy Queens rapper in his early 30s who used to be a chef. He’s one of the most popular underground rappers working, known for his oft-hilarious, ever-whimsical wordplay. While his lyrical tropes are unique (fine foods, unflappable characters, gaudy furnishings), his flow is not. Almost everyone who hears him is immediately reminded of Ghostface Killah, the mid-40s Wu-Tang swordsmith who is one of the most acclaimed rappers in the genre’s history.
Since Bronson’s ascent at the beginning of the decade, the pair have managed to coexist peacefully. When asked about their similarities, Bronson usually shrugged off comparisons but paid homage, and Ghostface was more inclined to feel flattered than ripped off. But this week their relationship went south, following Bronson’s appearance on the ESPN show SportsNation. When asked about Ghostface, Bronson went off script: “He’s not rapping like this no more,” he said, adding that Ghostface “needs something” – seeming to imply that he is no longer relevant.
This was undoubtedly bad form. Lyrically minded New York MCs are, even more than other rappers, expected to maintain respect for those who came before them. This is especially true if you’re white (Eminem, for example, regularly shouts out those who inspired him). Sure, Bronson has been more of a critic’s darling than Ghost in recent years. But his catalog can’t compare with his Wu-Tang predecessor’s, and even today Ghostface has by no means fallen off. Recent works such as Sour Soul, with jazz trio BadBadNotGood, and Twelve Reasons to Die II, with producer Adrian Younge, show that he maintains his sharpness.
Ghostface Killah even threatened to set Bronson’s beard on fireBronson’s comments inspired an epic, six-minute rebuttal from Ghostface on Monday, in which he told his side of the story, and threatened Bronson’s life in a number of ways. Even for someone who prides himself on painting gory macabre portraits, this was a doozy. “Don’t let me hang you from a rope and gut you like a pig,” he said at one point, also threatening to set Bronson’s beard on fire.
Ghostface didn’t break into rhyme, but it was a glorious hip-hop performance nonetheless. He wore a St Louis Cardinals jacket and grey sweatpants, which he held up, near his crotch, with his left hand, which somehow heightened the tension. Discoursing (presumably from his living room) over the Teddy Pendergrass song Be For Real, he at times paused to let the chorus sink in, making the case that Bronson was a “fraud”.
As Ghostface told it, following the SportsNation episode he called Bronson, telling him to make things right. Bronson then walked it back on Twitter, calling Ghostface an “idol”. But the Queens rapper then deleted the tweets. This inspired Ghost’s public wrath, with him insisting that he maintains contacts in all 50 states “that’ll do disappearing acts on motherfuckers for nothing”.
Bronson quickly put up a series of apologetic tweets, noting: “When ur wrong ur wrong and I was wrong. I apologized for the comments. I’ll always be a stand up human. Much love.” His feed since then has shown a desire to put the incident behind him.
Indeed, it’s certainly never positive when real-life violence is threatened. But in this case it seems likely that Ghost was mainly sending a message. Someone actually intent on murdering someone else probably wouldn’t go into great detail about how he planned on doing it, for one thing. Still, while Ghostface isn’t known for violence, like his group, he ain’t nothing to fuck with. He did four months for attempted robbery in 1999, and his son, Wu-Tang affiliate Sun God, was recently arrested on gun charges and accused of assaulting two detectives.
Make no mistake – Bronson is no slouch himself, known for pummeling and throwing off stage fans who run up on him. (He’s a fan, after all, of mixed martial arts.) But one suspects that nothing will come of this back-and-forth, other than promotion for each artist’s latest projects.
In the long term, however, it’s unclear how Bronson fans will react. They tend to worship the true school, lyrical masters like Wu-Tang, and to break with Ghost in this way seems likely to alienate some of them. But for Ghost himself the skirmish could have the opposite effect. No one faults him for coming back as did, and in fact he did so in the most classic Wu-Tang style imaginable. Even though he’s not rapping, the YouTube clip could practically be released as a single, and would rival Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) track Method Man for its vivid, inventive threats.
Again, if you believe that this video is more akin to a diss track than an actual promise of violence (as I do), it’s pretty compelling. Having a real-life target for one’s lyrical wrath has creatively inspired plenty of rappers over the years, from Dr Dre (Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang) to Jay-Z (The Takeover). In both cases these conflicts also inspired their rivals – Eazy-E and Nas respectively – to up their games as well. For the sake of hip-hop, one hopes that Action Bronson and Ghostface will follow course and settle this beef as it should be – on wax.
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