''Mr. Wonderful'' is the second studio album by American hip hop recording artist

Action Bronson Ariyan Arslani (born December 2, 1983), professionally known as Action Bronson, is an American rapper, songwriter, chef, wrestler, exotic olive oil taster, and television presenter. Born and raised in Queens, New York, he embarked on his musical ...

, released on March 23, 2015, by

Vice Records A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tr ...

and Atlantic Records. The album is Bronson's first for a major label, after signing to Atlantic and Vice, in August 2012. It was preceded by several

mixtapes A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

and EPs, including the ''Blue Chips'' series and ''

Saaab Stories ''Saaab Stories'' is the second extended play (EP) by American rapper Action Bronson. The EP was released on June 11, 2013, and is entirely produced by American record producer Harry Fraud. The EP, which was released by Vice and Atlantic Records, ...

'' (2013). The album, recorded throughout 2014, was produced by several high-profile record producers, such as

The Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...

and

Noah "40" Shebib Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

. The album has

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s by Chance the Rapper, Meyhem Lauren, Chauncy Sherod, Party Supplies and

Big Body Bes Besnik E. Sadikay (; born August 26, 1984), better known by the stage name Big Body Bes is an American rapper and TV presenter. He is best known for his association with Action Bronson, who describes Bes as his "Albanian cousin". He has been he ...

. Upon its release, ''Mr. Wonderful'' received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised Bronson's lyricism and production choices. The album debuted at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and was supported by four singles: "Easy Rider", "Actin Crazy", "Terry" and "

Baby Blue Baby blue is a tint of azure, one of the pastel colors. The first recorded use of ''baby blue'' as a color name in English was in 1892. Variations of baby blue Beau blue Beau blue is a light tone of baby blue. "Beau" means "beautiful" in F ...

Background

Bronson began attracting major attention after collaborations with American music producers,

Statik Selektah Static may refer to: Places *Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica United States * Static, Kentucky and Tennessee * Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming **Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak Science and technology Physics *Static e ...

('' Well-Done'') and

(''

Rare Chandeliers ''Rare Chandeliers'' is a collaborative mixtape by American rapper Action Bronson and American producer The Alchemist. It was released on November 15, 2012. Production was handled entirely by The Alchemist. On December 20, a remastered (320kbit/s ...

''). In August 2012, Bronson signed a recording contract with the

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

and Atlantic Records' imprint

. His first release for Vice was an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) titled ''

'', released on June 11, 2013. After announcing the title of his first studio album for Vice, in May 2014, Bronson spoke with '' New Musical Express'' about the album, "The album is sounding incredible. The whole album is a standout. I don't care about individual songs, I'm trying to make a complete, classic project. I just do my music uninfluenced by anybody else, or current trends, and it comes together at the end. Nothing needs to have a fucking theme all the time. This is just rap. I'm not trying to make people think I'm some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet. Fuck that! It's just happy, funny, rugged, rough rap." On November 24, 2014, Bronson revealed he had finished recording the album.

Release and promotion

On May 16, 2014, Bronson announced the title of the album in a

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update, when he

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: "MY ALBUM BEEN NAMED. THE ONLY THING TO DESCRIBE ME.. MR. WONDERFUL. THATS BEEN ME SINCE I STEPPED IN THIS BULLSHIT.." On November 28, 2014, Bronson revealed there would be a worldwide

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

upon the album's release. On December 24, 2014, he took to Twitter to reveal the album would have

s by Meyhem Lauren,

, Party Supplies, Chauncy Sherod and Chance the Rapper. Later that day, after exposing several fake track lists, Bronson tweeted 13 song titles, unveiling the album's official track listing. On January 7, 2015, Bronson revealed the album would be released on March 24. The following day, after releasing a song from the album titled "Actin Crazy", Bronson posted which artists would be featured on which song. On January 14, 2015, Bronson made an appearance on the New York City radio station

Hot 97 WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared ser ...

's ''

Funkmaster Flex Aston George Taylor Jr. (born August 5, 1968), professionally known as Funkmaster Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Hot 9 ...

'' show, to promote ''Mr. Wonderful'' and performed a freestyle, which prompted Flex to declare Bronson the "nicest in the game right now". On March 11, 2015, Bronson announced on Twitter that his album would be released one day sooner than originally scheduled.

Singles

On August 5, 2014, Bronson released "Easy Rider" as the album's first single. The song was produced by Bronson's long time producer Party Supplies. On August 20, 2014, the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Easy Rider", directed by Tom Gould, was released. The video pays homage to the 1969 Peter Fonda/ Dennis Hopper film ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

''. After premiering the song on January 7, 2015, Bronson officially released "Actin Crazy", via digital distribution, as the album's second single on January 20, 2015. On February 16, 2015, "Terry" was released as the third single alongside the pre-order for the album. On March 3, 2015, "

" was released as the album's fourth single. The song features Chicago-bred recording artist Chance the Rapper. Bronson confirmed on Twitter that they were pushing this single to radio stations and that they were filming a music video for the song.

Critical reception

''Mr. Wonderful'' received positive reviews from music critics. At

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, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 77, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 17 reviews. Writing for '' Exclaim!'', Samantha O'Connor noted that Bronson has become "a more serious artist focused on experimentation" with the record, further noting that the project's "varying production clashes throughout the disorganized project." Jay Balfour of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' said, "Tellingly and thankfully, the most out-of-pocket moves on ''Mr. Wonderful'' aren’t uncharacteristic appeals to radio but cases of its artist leaning further into the territory he’s been hinting at. Unlike the rest of his albums and mixtapes up to this point though, ''Mr. Wonderful'' is a multi-producer affair and it jumps around noticeably as a result." Kellan Miller of '' XXL'' said, "But aside from a few problematic miscues, the majority of ''Mr. Wonderful'' can be maneuvered without the skip button in tow, culminating in "Easy Rider," a fittingly assertive statement realized through unfurled rhymes that don't require a chorus to stick in the imagination. Unshaved, donned in sweatpants, and with a compelling major label debut to his credit, Action Bronson is appropriately attired as hip-hop's latest star." Colin Fitzgerald of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' said, "''Mr. Wonderful'' may not come off as the sweeping epic its coda hints at, but it's an entertaining and unique experience that only Bronson could give us. Few rap albums can be this different and still satisfying."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 7 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, his total sales accounted for 48,540 streams and sales (43,564 traditional album sales). It was the third highest selling album in the United States that week.

Track listing

Notes * signifies a co- producer

Personnel

Credits for ''Mr. Wonderful'' adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. *88-Keys – producer *Action Bronson – executive producer, rapping *The Alchemist – engineer, producer *AntMan Wonder – musician *Antoine "Audioblk" Baldwin – producer *Big Body Bes – featured artist *Nick Bilardello – package design *BlackAtlass – featured artist *Tommy "TNT" Brenneck – guitar *Sidney "Omen" Brown – producer *Noel Cadastre – engineer *Curt Chambers – guitar *Chance the Rapper – featured artist, backing vocals *Ricky Damien – engineer *Ezra Dowery – featured artist *Rhys Downing – engineer *Tom Elmhirst – mixing *Nick Hook – engineer *Leon Kelly – assistant *Dave Kutch – mastering *Meyhem Lauren – featured artist *Gloria Lovett – vocals *Zane Lowe – backing vocals *Leon Michels – engineer, Mellotron, vibraphone *Richard "FRKO" Montgomery – art direction, illustrations *Riggs Morales – A&R *Justin Nealis – engineer, mixing *Joya Nemley – A&R *Oh No – producer *Party Supplies – featured artist, guitar, producer *Mark Ronson – bass, drums, Fender Rhodes, guitar, piano, producer, programming, scratching *Andrew Sarlo – engineer *Gabriel Schuman – assistant *Noah Shebib – engineer, mixing, producer *Chauncy Sherrod – featured artist, vocals *Justin Smith – mastering *Statik Selektah – engineer, mixing, producer, programming *Evan Stewart – engineer *Jared Tauben – engineer *Carolyn Tracey – package production *Donnie trumpet – trumpet *Cas Weinbren – piano *Ryan West – mixing *Danny Zook – sample clearance

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Wonderful (Action Bronson album) 2015 albums Action Bronson albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by 88-Keys Albums produced by the Alchemist (musician) Albums produced by Mark Ronson Albums produced by Noah "40" Shebib Albums produced by Oh No (musician) Albums produced by Statik Selektah