Month: November 2020

With the election Tuesday, several late-night talk shows used their platform to make one last political push before the polls close. For his musical guest, Jimmy Fallon tapped Big Boi and Sleepy Brown to perform the remix of their collaborative track “We The Ones” with Killer Mike and Big Rube on The Tonight Show.

Big Boi and Sleepy Brown first appeared on the stage. The rappers sported Outkast merch, remembering the influence of Big Boi and Andre 3000’s project on the 20th anniversary of their groundbreaking album Stankonia. Later joined by Killer Mike and Big Rube, the four artists detailed the importance of resilience in the powerful anthem.

Ahead of the performance, Killer Mike has been very vocal about his political stance. Most recently, the rapper sat down with Bernie Sanders to discuss the election and the impact of the progressive movement. “I have to say, although I have not talked to Biden, I have had a couple conversations with senator [Kamala] Harris,” Mike said. “I’m very encouraged by her statements in terms of what she plans to do, and help this country do in terms of policy. I’m very encouraged that, as a former prosecutor, that she wishes to steer us in a more restorative justice place.”

Watch Big Boi, Killer Mike, Sleepy Brown, And Big Rube perform “We The One” on The Tonight Show above.

In a new interview with NME, Nas addresses the controversy that followed him name-checking Doja Cat on his comeback single, “Ultra Black.” He previously spoke on the line itself, claiming that he didn’t feel it was a diss during an interview with Power 106, but during this new interview, he talks about being caught off-guard by the controversy and how out-of-touch he feels with modern social media.

“Well, I’ve been away, so, of course, I mention someone’s name that’s popular and people are gonna talk about it,” he replies. “I hear people do it all the time but no one makes a big deal of it. Maybe it’s because I don’t put out records a lot, so they’re like, ‘Whoa!’ I don’t really know the world that these stars live in anymore. I’m rapping the same way I did when I was on the block, but now there’s a new world and what I say can take off with social media and I can’t do anything about it.”

“Ultra Black” drew a backlash from fans due to its line referencing Doja Cat’s recent chat room scandal. “We going ultra-Black, the opposite of Doja Cat,” he rhymes. Fans interpreted this as a derogatory comment toward the “Say So” singer, who had just been accused of participating in a white supremacist chat room at the same time as an old track of hers titled “Dindu” — a slur against Black people — resurfaced online. Doja apologized for the song but also defended her chat friends from accusations of racism.

Doja Cat herself responded to Nas’ line a couple of times since. Initially, she sarcastically told fans during a live stream “I am so offended and upset about this song” before noting that her anticipated single “N****s Ain’t Sh*t” is an unintentional acronym for “Nas.” Ultimately, she said that she will never beef with Nas — however, I propose as a counterpoint: “N****s Ain’t Sh*t” remix, featuring Nas. Think about it, guys.

Check out Nas’ full NME interview here.

With Election Day upon us, Americans are bracing for a whirlwind of crazy, and Donald Trump Jr. is already delivering right out of the gate. In an early morning post on Tuesday, Don Jr. tweeted out a very odd electoral map that predicts his father will win… almost the entire globe? You can take a look at the map below, which suffers from some significant geographical errors beyond the strange decision to include countries that aren’t the United States.

Needless to say, folks are very confused at what exactly Don Jr. is trying to say with his weirdo map, but the prevailing theory seems to be that he confused India with Iran and that he also doesn’t know how bodies of water work.

People also had a field day with the suggestion that Antarctica is apparently a red state that will ensure a decisive win for the Trump campaign. (If you’re sensitive to penguin slander, you might want to look away.)

Don Jr.’s map also included Russia as a Trump win, which is a particularly boneheaded move given the campaign and Junior’s own attempts to dispel rumors that Vladimir Putin interfered with the 2016 election to ensure Donald Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton. There’s also the very real concern that Russia is already meddling with the 2020 election, so not exactly the brightest decision on Junior’s part.

As for where the map was lifted from because it’s not like Don Jr. is sitting around compiling maps on his computer, Law and Order‘s Christopher Meloni stepped in with a solid guess.

Is TV’s Elliot Stabler correct? It certainly does look like an early map of pandemic hot zones, so it’s a pretty strong guess. There’s also another likely source, which sadly, would not be out of place for the Trump campaign.

Back in August, Don Jr. had to stamp out widespread accusations that he was on cocaine during his RNC speech. We’re sure these two events are unrelated.

The final votes are being cast in the 2020 presidential election today, and whoever comes away with 270 electoral college votes will spend the next four years in the White House. This data is often usefully presented in electoral maps, which show what states have given electoral votes to which candidate. While those numbers aren’t rolling in just yet, sites like 270towin.com have maps based on projections. That site and others also have tools that allow users to create their own electoral maps, and in recent days, music fans have been having fun with those.

For example, somebody made an electoral map that shows how the election would shake out if Biden won all the states containing area codes where Ludacris claimed to have hoes in his classic song “Area Codes,” and Biden wins by a landslide. Meanwhile, the election would be much closer if Biden won every state that gets mentioned in a Red Hot Chili Peppers song, as another map indicates. Then there’s “The Sufjan,” which indicates a candidate would lose badly if they only got votes from states Sufjan Stevens has made albums about (Michigan and Illinois).

Ringo Starr came up with his own map, suggesting that he would get ever single electoral vote. Don’t tell that to at least one Britney Spears fan, though, who thinks the pop star has this one in the bag.

Check out the maps above and below.

Many musicians joined citizens all across the country in June in taking to the streets to protest police violence. Now, artists like Cardi B, Billie Eilish, and Anderson .Paak are finding ways to continue showing support. The three, along with other artists and celebrities, donated protest signs to an art gallery which benefits the families of victims of police brutality.

The Show Me The Signs exhibit is organized by LA gallery Blum & Poe. The show features a handful of protest signs donated by a variety of artists, each displaying a poignant message. All proceeds from the auctioning of the signs will be donated to the non-profit organization African American Policy Forum #SayHerName Mothers Network, which aims to bring awareness to the names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence, and to provide support to their families.

Announcing the show in a post on their Instagram page, the gallery wrote, “Over 100 artists have created powerful pieces in the form of protest signs to fight for change.” They continued that the Show Me The Signs exhibit “brings together a diverse and inclusive collective of creative voices that reinforce solidarity and empower love.”

.Paak also shared his excitement about the exhibit. The rapper posted a photo of the sign that he donated to the show, which featured the quote by him: “Dear future. I’m writing to you from the year 2020. Hope you’re doing better than we are, and in your world the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ is no longer controversial.”

In a statement about the exhibit, participating artists Kathia St. Hilaire said, “During this time of civil unrest due to the unjust killing of Breonna Taylor, I hope to see more people understand the Black diaspora and ask themselves how we can change for a better world.”

See a preview of the Show Me The Signs exhibit above.

Part one of the live auction kicks off 11/10 and will be held online due to social distancing measures. Find more information here.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The popularity of bourbon and rye have exploded over the past 10 years. Scotch remains a perennial favorite for liquor connoisseurs and collectors alike. Which led me to wonder: what about Irish whiskey?

It turns out, Irish whiskey hasn’t been entirely left out of the brown liquor boom. While it only represents about 7% of all whiskey sold in the US, it has grown faster than American, Canadian, or Scotch whiskeys. New labels and new distilleries are opening up every day; there’s still a lot of unexplored territory.

That feels odd to say, because for me, and probably a lot of other drinkers, Irish whiskey — in the form of a Jameson or Bushmills on the rocks — was a common gateway drink. It was the first straight liquor I ever ordered and enjoyed (I secretly preferred Bushmills, even if Jimmy McNulty told me it was “Protestant whiskey” on The Wire).

Now that it’s booming, and seemingly crowded with new brands, new labels, new releases, and generally things I’ve personally never tasted, I figured it was high time to rediscover Irish whiskey during its renaissance. To do so, I set up a blind tasting (just to make sure my friends and I weren’t overly wowed by things like bottle, sticker price, and reputation) in hopes of going beyond the standard classics.

Ah, But What Is Irish Whiskey, Anyway?

Without the peat element of scotch (peat being the coal-y dirt prevalent on Scottish isles, frequently used to dry barley grains and imparting an earthy/smoky flavor to many scotches) or the freshly-charred new wood flavors of bourbon (which, by law, is always aged in new barrels), Irish whiskeys, very broadly speaking, tend to be less smoky and earthy than Scotch, though often with a similar barley-sugar character, and a little lighter and less woody than bourbons and ryes, without quite as much charred oak flavor. You could think of them as “lighter” and “cleaner” tasting and mostly be right.

Complicating things somewhat is the fact that some Irish whiskeys do have peated variations, and are usually, but not always, made from barley, and can be aged in anything from ex-bourbon to ex-rum, sherry, wine, or port barrels (among other things). Like scotches, they may consist of blends (multiple distilleries, multiple grains) or single malts (one distillery, one grain). Oh, and the types of stills!

…Okay, okay, we won’t torture you. Suffice it to say, it would take many dull paragraphs not specifically about drinking to list every possible variation. Instead, let’s focus on where the rubber meets the road. Which is to say, where the liquor meets your mouth (and, okay, maybe your eyes and nose a little too).

Methodology

For this blind tasting, I gathered together a handful of friends (mostly dudes in their thirties like me, but with a few outliers in age and gender), with different tastes and levels of connoisseurship (no other drinks writers besides myself, but there was an actual trained sommelier and a couple of experienced homebrewers). We rated 15 whiskeys, each poured from identical unmarked carafes, and made notes on each. Without discussing it too much with each other first, we chose three favorites and three least favorites (mostly unranked within those categories).

If 15 seems like a lot, well, we’re very professional.

I included some more expensive whiskeys and some cheaper options, but mostly they were mid-range — very affordable, compared to Scotch or even bourbon. Mostly, these were the kinds of whiskeys you might buy on a lark rather than a big splurge.

I wish I could find some generalizations about the whiskeys we loved and the whiskeys we didn’t, but our favorites included almost all cask variations and price points. Even those least generally liked (looking at you, Conor McGregor’s Proper 12) had fans among us. In general, I would say the blends were more broadly appealing, and less chosen as a favorite, with single malts more polarizing (as one might expect).

Most Favorited

1. (Tie)

West Cork 8-Year Small Batch ($35 from TotalWine)

This all-barley, single malt, new Bourbon cask-aged label from West Cork earned raves from our panel (I had it in my own top three) who most often called it “smooth,” though also “warm,” and even “meaty” (much like myself).

I found it butterscotchy, with notes of vanilla. As Scotch and bourbon drinkers, the mix of the all-barley mash (like Scotch) and new bourbon barrel-aging (yes, like bourbon) probably felt like a slightly new twist on the familiar. Pretty damned solid whiskey, in my opinion.

Tullamore Dew Caribbean Rum Cask Finish ($28 from TotalWine)

This blended whiskey from Tullamore Dew is aged in Demerara Rum casks from Guyana, with most tasters just rating it “good,” “solid,” or “nice.” One called it “saccharine sweet.” I liked it and thought it was “buttery,” though it didn’t quite make my personal top three. This one struck me as a smooth, easy sipper, though it may have lacked some individual character (much like Jimmy McNulty when he was cutting corners to get his team more overtime).

2. The Sexton ($25 from Target)

This copper pot-distilled, Oloroso Sherry cask-aged whiskey (from the same parent company as Bushmills) in the rockabilly-ish hexagonal bottle earned praise from our panel as “very pleasant,” “amber sweet,” “cherry chocolate,” and “smooth.” I found it “caramel-y” and “woody, but nice” (it didn’t quite make my own top three). The bottle was probably the most distinct of the bunch, though it also kind of looks like it would fit Dave Navarro’s interior design aesthetic.

3. (tie)

Teeling Rum Cask Finished Small Batch ($35 from KL Wines)

This 4-7-year-old whiskey initially ages in ex-bourbon barrels, then spends six months aging in Flor De Caña rum casks from Nicaragua. I had it in my own top three, and had it down as smooth, with notes of oak and cherry, with a lighter, buttery color and a chardonnay quality to it. I don’t entirely know what that last part means reading it now, but I’m sure it made a ton of sense after 15 whiskey samples.

The great thing about drinking whiskey is how secure in my opinions it makes me.

West Cork Black Reserve ($32 from Village Wine)

This blended whiskey from West Cork is aged first in first-fill bourbon casks and then in double charred casks to finish, which you can see in its slightly darker color, relative to some of the other West Cork labels. One taster identified “cherry” in the taste while a couple didn’t like the nose (maybe because of the double char?). I called it buttery with a lingering sweetness, and it made my personal top three.

Neither here nor there, but I like to imagine the “Black Reserve” is a National Guard unit full of goths.

Most Un-favorited

You can’t have a favorite without a least favorite, or a top without a bottom. I had the tasters list their bottom three, and while there was juuust enough consensus to compile a bottom three, most of the “worst” bottles had their fans.

Anyway, I’ll stop making excuses for them now.

1. West Cork IPA Cask ($37 from IrishMalts.com)

This 75:25 blend of Irish wheat and malted Irish barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills and aged in first-fill bourbon casks for four years, then “matured” for six months in ex-IPA casks (Black’s of Kinsale IPA, specifically) was the most consensus my tasters had on anything.

We… did not care for it.

This was not surprising for yours truly, an outspoken IPA hater (they’re fine for about half a glass of beer, but mostly I’m just annoyed that IPAs make up roughly 60% of craft beer taps here on the west coast), but at least half the panel loves hoppy IPAs. Nonetheless, we called this one “complex in a weird way,” “citrus smell? bad.” “no,” “hell no,” and “metallic.” Though one taster did call it “hot!”

In any case, hops is a lot of flavor for a whiskey, and it could be that this one was just too much of a departure from the other offerings for our palates to handle. It’s probably a bit like trying an IPA after six mild pilsners.

2. West Cork 12-Year Sherry Cask Finish ($50 from Wine Globe)

This 12-year-old single malt from West Cork was a bit of a surprise to end up on the bottom, given the age statement and how much I generally enjoy sherry-barrel whiskeys. Receiving four downvotes (and one up), our tasters called it “light,” “lingering,” “musty,” “oily,” and “burny.”

Admittedly, I had this one in my bottom three and thought it smelled like a bath mat. Slightly over-aged to our palates, perhaps.

3. Teeling Single Malt ($41 from Mission Wine)

Far down on the list of non-favorites (with three people rating it in their bottom three and one in their top three) was Teeling Single Malt, a 46% ABV selection made from five different wine cask-finished whiskeys (Sherry, Port, Madeira, White Burgundy and Cabernet Sauvignon).

This one won double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits competition among a handful of other awards, so maybe we’re just a bunch of philistines. Our tasters described it as “flat,” with a “harsh finish,” and “no linger,” though also with “vanilla caramel,” and “butter on the nose.” The last description was me — I liked it quite a bit, and had it rated number four of 15.

As I said, the more unique whiskeys tend to be a little polarizing.

The Rest

Jameson

1 Up Vote, 1 Down Vote

Call it our “control group.” But just because Jameson is a mass-market blend that most of us probably had one too many shots of in college doesn’t make it a bad sippin’ whiskey, even for fancybois (as long as they don’t tell their fancy friends). One taster had it in their bottom three, but another had it in their top. Two noted its notes of butterscotch, while most found it smooth if unmemorable (not surprising). One taster simply wrote “flap flap,” whatever that means.

It’s still your standard Big Mac of whiskeys — not much of a conversation starter, but it hits the spot when you’re in the mood.

Tullamore Dew

1 Up Vote, 1 Down Vote

The other perennial well whiskey in the group did perfectly fine (one up vote and one down vote, same as Jameson) with tasters calling it smooth, sweet, mild, malty, “flabby,” with “cherry on the nose and a short, simple finish.” It’s not super unique or complex, but it mixes well and goes down easy.

Proper No. Twelve ($27 from Drizly)

1 Up Vote, 1 Down Vote

I honestly expected Conor McGregor’s vanity whiskey label (crafted with the help of a former Bushmills distillery master) to do worse in the blind, but with one up vote and one down vote it was on par with Jameson or Tullamore. Tasters found it smooth, sweet, balanced, clean, easy to drink, and, judging by the relative lack of upvotes, largely unmemorable. I found it, “harsh on the nose” and “sour,” but wrote that it was “growing on me.”

At the very least, Proper No. Twelve isn’t as harsh on the nose as Conor McGregor himself, who famously punched an old man in the head for refusing a free shot of this whiskey, in what must go down as surely one of the most Irish crimes of all time.

The Tyrconnell Single Malt ($45 from Drizly)

0 Up Votes, 1 Down Vote

This single malt from Tyrconnell (owned by Beam Suntory) has everything this group otherwise loved — 100% barley malt aged in ex-bourbon barrels –but still managed a relative negative rating with one bottom vote and no top votes. Most found it solid if unmemorable. My notes had it with an oaky, apple nose, and buttery finish that I liked just fine if not as well as some others (I’m glad no one has ever told me this during a break up, though it has probably been true).

Teeling Single Grain ($46 from The Whiskey Exchange)

0 Up Votes, 1 Down Vote

Another Teeling in a handsome bottle, the single grain label is 46% alcohol from a unique mashbill of 95% corn and 5% malted barley, matured in ex-California wine bottles. It had one down vote and no up votes. It didn’t make my personal bottom three, though I did write that it was “sourish” with notes of apple and pear. Others found it “sweet,” “balanced,” “decent,” “smooth,” with a “good burn” and “I hate that I like it” (don’t ask me why, that’s just what he said).

The wine aging and uniquely corn-heavy mash bill may have just made this one a little too unique for one taster.

West Cork Bourbon Cask ($27 on Drizly)

1 Up Vote, No Down Votes

Our tasters found this blended from West Cork to be “smooth,” “unremarkable” and “bland,” with some (myself included) noting an astringent finish. But at least one person had it in the favorites pile, with no down votes.

Kilbeggan Traditional Irish Whiskey ($31 on Drizly)

1 Up Vote, 1 Down Vote

Some say Kilbeggan, from 1757 (revived in 2007 by Teeling) is Ireland’s oldest distillery. This three-year aged, pot still-blended whiskey aged in bourbon barrels was “pleasant” with “cherry chocolate notes” with a “smooth finish” according to our tasters. I had it down as “buttery and smooth” if not as memorable the second time around. I had it in the top third of the whiskeys nonetheless.

All in all, lessons were learned, good times were had, opinions were shared. Stay tuned for part two.

As Black Lives Matter protests mounted over the summer, I argued that Marvel should put The Punisher to sleep because if one takes the character and contextualizes him against the past five years or so of current events, some hibernation for Frank Castle could only help matters. The Netflix show kinda didn’t know what to do with the guy amid ongoing mass shootings, and the TV show tried to move the ex-Marine beyond his core vigilante function (and extrajudicial ways) by softening him, which felt awkward at best. Yet law enforcement continues to misappropriate the antihero’s logo, which turned into a sloppy mess for the NYPD this past weekend (and this wasn’t even due to a Halloween costume, either, not that a costume-angle would have helped).

Here’s what happened, although a tweet-and-delete situation has occurred, so the NY Daily News has the details. Essentially, the NYPD’s 24th precinct tweeted out an image (which they later deleted) of two officers while praising them for arresting a robbery suspect. One officer was wearing a mask with The Punisher logo with an extra twist: the acronym DILLIGAF, meaning “Does It Look Like I Give a F*ck.”

“After observing a traffic infraction, @NYPD24Pct’s PO Kite & PO Rodriguez conducted a car stop,” read the original tweet. “[w]hich led to a foot pursuit & an arrest. It turns out that the suspect was operating a stolen vehicle & wanted for a past robbery. Great work.” This praise (which has now been yanked from Twitter) led to some “yikes” from users.

Yep, not a great look, especially with the added acronym on the mask. To further complicate matters, Frank Castle’s not only an ex-Marine, but also a former NYPD cop in his Ultimate Marvel incarnation. The character’s co-creator, Gerry Conway, who brought Frank Castle and his logo (along with John Romita Sr.) to life nearly 50 years ago, has attempted to point out that Castle harbors distaste for cops and military members using the logo for their own ends. Also, Castle is a one-man killing machine, who acts as judge/jury/executioner, and you name it. The NYPD probably shouldn’t want officers to walk around wearing The Punisher’s logo on a mask.

This issue (of The Punisher #13, where Frank Castle tells his fanboy-cops to get lost) is sure looking relevant right about now. As noted, though, the 24th Precinct deleted the offending photo without explanation, so… end of story?

(Via NY Daily News)

Justin Vernon has been active this election cycle with his For Wisconsin initiative, for which he has given performances and hosted conversations in an effort to get residents of his home state to vote. Yesterday, he, Big Red Machine partner Aaron Dessner, and other collaborators shared one more pre-election song, a cover of Aimee Mann’s “Wise Up.”

Dessner takes the lead on the track (which originally appeared in Jerry Macguire) while Vernon provides backing vocals. The video features a mix of the artists performing the track and Wisconsin B-roll. Joining Vernon and Dessner on the song are Mina Tindle, Jon Low, and Ben Lanz, as well as all of Dessner’s The National bandmates who aren’t Matt Berninger: Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, and Scott Devendorf.

Dessner shared a message alongside the video, writing, “We recorded this cover of Wise Up, one of my very favorite Aimee Mann songs, for beautiful Wisconsin. Her lyrics keep coming into my brain these days. The stakes couldn’t be any higher in this election and it may come down to a handful of votes. Text 56005 to VOTE.Thanks so much to Ben, Bryan, Bryce, Mina, Jon, Scott and Justin for joining me.”

Watch the Big Red Machine cover of “Wise Up” above.

During the Biden-Harris campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia, the duo was dubbed “different” by their latest celebrity endorser, ATL hometown hero 2 Chainz. This was, of course, during the transition to his fan-favorite hit “I’m Different,” as he segued from telling the assembled crowd that he believed the Biden-Harris ticket offered something different. “I speak on being different,” he said. “I speak on embracing being different. And without further ado, ‘I’m Different.’”

Chainz also met his hero and the organizer of the rally, former President Barack Obama, posting a photo posing with Obama alongside a photo of his daughter holding a Biden-Harris sign on Twitter and posting a video of the former President giving elbow bumps to Chainz’s kids. “I know that I’m one of the best artists out but I’m also one of the best dads /husband /sons!” he wrote. “I was excited to meet @barackobama and even more excited to have my fam wit me.”

While 2 Chainz recently pushed back the release of his upcoming album So Help Me God, he’s remained visible appearing on Family Feud and Run The Jewels’ Adult Swim special, which also encouraged fans to vote in the 2020 elections today. Polls are currently open and you can find more information about your local polling place and ballot measures here.

It took 18 seasons of The Simpsons before The Simpsons Movie came out, so in that sense, Bob’s Burgers, now in season 11, is still ahead of the show it’s most often compared to. But in another sense: I want Bob’s Burgers: The Movie, and I want it now. The big-screen adaptation of the consistently delightful animated series was supposed to be released in July, but then the pandemic happened and theaters closed and… yeah.

Still, creator Loren Bouchard hopes Bob’s Burgers: The Movie (which is currently scheduled for April 9, 2021) is released in theaters, whenever it’s safe to do so.

“We talked about [streaming] as it pertains to the movie and we decided we really want the movie to come out in theaters because Bob’s is already on TV,” he told EW. “Of course, we want everyone to be able to safely see it in movie theaters. We don’t want anyone to put themselves at risk. But assuming there’s a point at which everyone can go back to theaters safely, we’re excited about Bob’s being seen in the theater, in the dark with other people, because that’s something we’ve never been able to do before.”

Bouchard also revealed that he and his team were working on a Bob’s Burgers short film that would have played before a Disney movie, similar to the Maggie Simpson-focused Playdate with Destiny prior to Onward. But unfortunately, the future is cloudier for My Butt Has a Fever. Yes, the pandemic deprived us of something called My Butt Has a Fever. “First of all, there are no theaters to release it into and, second of all, would anyone want to go see the Belcher kids sing a song called My Butt Has a Fever?” he said. “Of course, we’re hoping at some point it’ll be okay again, but talk about pre-COVID plans getting changed.” To answer your question, Mr. Bouchard: yes, I want to see the Belcher kids singing a song about butts, always.

(Via EW)