Dr. Baklava is back with his unique imagination and inspiring food metaphors for the landscape of music today with “Cocodrillo Turbo”. For a while, I’ve been looking forward to Action’s latest projects since he released “White Bronco” in 2018. The way the albums are presented gives the impression that Action went back to the drawing board and reinvented his aesthetics when presenting projects from the cover arts to the peculiar names. How could you not be interested in a project called “Only Built for Dolphins” or “Lamb Over Rice”.
“Cocodrillo Turbo” is a project that is produced largely by The Alchemist, Roc Marciano, and Griselda’s own Daringer. Just after the first couple of hours of listening, I had to say to myself “This is not the same Action I was introduced to in 2011 on Dr. Lector. The first song on the project “Hound Dog” starts the project off beautifully, once I heard the first weird loop I knew what time it was. “Tongpo” gives me a lot of nostalgia just off the beat with the wavy surfboard sound, Conway compliments the song well due to him of course coming in with his stellar bars. The transition from “Tongpo” to “Estaciones” is a chef’s kiss, the way the piano drives the song is amazing. When Action does what he does on “Estaciones”, his persona shines extremely bright (I do change it once Hologram comes on, sorry). “Jaws” opens up with a flute and guitar along with some weird loops, but you might miss the fact that Action Bronson is comparing himself to a crocodile. “Subzero” was the first single off the project and i never care for his singles but this one caught my attention with the heavy jazz production by the Alchemist. My favorite song on the project is “Turkish” which weirdly has my favorite feature from Meyhem Lauren, Daringer’s production compliments Action so well that you can’t help but imagine what an Action project produced completely by him would sound like. Marciano’s production provides a soulful feel with “Jaguar” and then opens up with the bars on “Zambezi” and then Bronson just kills whatever that is remaining of the beat. Bronson gets right to it with “Ninety One” addressing the critics saying he disappeared or he fell off. “Ninety One” is heavy with the keyboard production, which you hear rarely from Action. The project is closed out with a mixture of Jazz and Rock, Action gives us a few bars as the guitar creates the vibe for a perfect ending.
The project is some of Action Bronson’s most solid work in a long time. I really never know what to expect from any of Action’s projects, which is a great aspect of his craft. The critique of the album has been nothing but positive, a lot of people have echoed the same thing in regards to this project being one of his best. I enjoyed Action bringing back his alter ego Dr. Baklava on this project, it really felt like he was paying homage to his day 1 fans. Great Job Dr. Baklava.