Action Bronson And Party Supplies Break Down Five Essential Tracks From ‘Blue Chips 2′

Action Bronson and his producer Party Supplies like to burn scented oils in the Brooklyn beatmaker's Williamsburg loft. The oils provided by Party Supplies A.K.A. Justin Nealis’ girlfriend help give their new mixtape, Blue Chips 2, an “international” feeling that Bronson wants the album to have—he wants the audience to have a cinematic experience while listening to the new tape.

“Drive around the city listening to it," Bronson says. "Go over some bridges. It’ll feel like you’re in the video."

Blue Chips 2 is the sequel to the duo’s acclaimed 2012 mixtape that many fans and critics proclaimed to be one of the best releases of last year. The original tape features an incredible alchemy between the Queens rapper and his producer as songs such as “9/24/11,” “Hookers At The Point” and “Thug Love Story 2” highlight Bronson’s gift for finely detailed storytelling and his penchant for bugged-out, pop culture surrealism. Meanwhile, Party Supplies’ production provides Bronson with a vintage soundscape for Bronson to rock over. Nealis’ seems to have the uncanny ability to find the perfect sample to fit Bronson’s out-sized personality.

“Bronson will be there and I will be going through some sounds and if he gives me the look,” Party Supplies said of the production process, “That’s when I know to press the button on that one.”

Today, Blue Chips 2 officially released online to the public. Earlier this week, Bronson and Party Supplies spoke to XXL on the phone about the process of making the album, breaking down five of the best songs on Blue Chips 2. Read on to find out how Action Bronson comes up with the titles for his song and if Bronson considers himself a legend in the game yet. —B.J. Steiner (@DocZeusXXL)

"Silverado"
Action Bronson: Honestly, that was something... We did that song when we used that verse for the BET Awards, the freestyle, but that shit was weak so they put me in a weak group and the beat was weak, everything was weak, everything about it. At the end of the day, I just felt that it needed it’s proper light, so I put that on there. That’s an opening statement song, whatever you want to call that, and then right after that comes the intro. What I was thinking was, like, the old action movies. It will start off crazy. A scene will happen, "Boom, Boom" real crazy 'n shit. Then out of nowhere after that scene is done, “Boom!” The credits come in and you see the name of the movie and then it starts. That’s exactly how I thought of it.

“The Don’s Cheek”
AB: Honestly, sometimes I don’t even name the songs right away. You have to sit with them for a second. That song feels like it should just be called “The Don’s Cheek” and it comes from our brains. I don’t know, we are just two sick humans. We just think differently from other people. It’s not normal shit. Everything is so regular. Fuck being regular. It’s so regular nowadays. I can’t take it. It’s gotta be all about being next.

“Rolling Thunder”
XXL: Initially you guys had a “legendary special guest that you can’t disclose” on the track but it seems as if that legendary special guest is you. Do you consider yourself a legend?
Party Supplies: I think that’s what he’s saying.

AB: [Laughs] Nah. I’m not the type of that dude to throw names around back forth around there. I’m a blue-collar type of dude. Honestly, that’s for everybody else to decide. I can just do what I do. I wanted to get Cam’ron on it. He was going to be the guest and we kind of jumped the gun by writing that. I had to fucking think quick, and fuck it, I put myself because that’s what I’m going to be sooner or later.

PS: It never happened. It was pipe dreams.

“9/24/13”
PS: Two years later [after Blue Chips' "9/24/11"].

AB: You know, it was a good day. It was a good song on that day. We revisited it on the same day and made another fucking good song.

PS: You know what’s funny about that record? When we did it, [Bronson] just looked at me like, this "9/24" Part 2. We just knew. We didn’t try. We didn’t even try to make the second part. We just made the beat and it just happened to sound like it was the sister to that other song or the cousin or like the wild cousin to that song.

AB: And the song after that, “Rolling Thunder,” is like the wild cousin so it’s like a three-parter.

PS: Exactly. This is album is basically the crazy side of your family that lives out in Suffolk, you know what I’m saying?

AB: The Wild Whites Of West Virginia, you know?

PS: It’s like the family reunion when your cousins come around and it’s like ‘What the fuck?’ but it’s all related, you know what I’m saying?

AB: You have to love it.

PS: Exactly. [Laughs]

“Through The Eyes Of A G” featuring Ab-Soul
AB: Ab-Soul is a good homie of my friend. Justin [Party Supplies] was going through some shit and I heard the Pharcyde shit from back in the day and Ab-Soul was in town, so I go, "You gotta get over here." He came to Brooklyn. It was just perfect—the Westside connection, pretty much. He just sounded like butter over it. Justin hooked it up so it’s not exactly the same. It’s just a loop and it just thumps. It’s thumping. It has a good bottom. A good low. It just thumps. It feels good. There’s something about it that makes you feel good. It’s like an introspective-type thing. He murdered it. It was ill. It was one of my favorites on the whole thing.

PS: Honestly, man. It usually goes like, Bronson will be there and I will be going through some sounds and if he gives me the look, which is kind of the left eye, kind of above the right eye with the squinted cheeks. Or he’ll give me a “Whoo!” or something like that. That’s when I know to press the button on that one. So I press the button and then once the beat is looped, anything is possible. There’s a theme, a lot of themed activity, a lot of faces, a lot of people. I’ll be throwing words, man, and titles and various situations that may occur. Weird situations that we might come up with.

AB: That’s a very big part of the process. It’s like [Justin]'s creating situations that are ridiculous. Things that we can think of that we’ve seen in life or that we’ve been a part of. Just ridiculous situations that turn into—I don’t know how—but turn into rap.

PS: It’s really... You know those big-ass VHS', those thick ones? Remember how they had the thin ones but they also had the thick ones? That’s like Blue Chips 2. It’s like the thick VHS. That’s the vibe.

AB: The next shit.

PS: It should be coming with one of those, actually. The whole relation to Blue Chips to the rap game. There is a huge parallel there.

AB: It’s fixed. Everybody is greasing each other. It’s all a fix.

XXL: You are talking about the movie, Blue Chips?
AB: Yeah. You know, the college basketball point-shaving. People accepting money for things. It all kind of relates to life in the industry we are in.

PS: It relates to anything.

XXL: Do you feel there is a corruption in the industry?
PS: [Laughs]

AB: Well, I don’t believe that there’s corruption. You can’t call it corruption. It’s just business.

PS: Capitalism.

AB: It’s just business in America. That’s all it is. I wouldn’t call it corruption.