On Friday, Nicki Minaj released her first single of the year, “Do We Have A Problem?” with Lil Baby. The track arrived with quite the cinematic music video, which showed the rappers as criminals who trick their enemies to complete a crime. The video also featured an appearance from Joseph Sikora, who plays Tommy Egan on Power and Power Book IV: Force. Prior to the song’s release, Nicki was a guest on the DJ Buck & Friends podcast, where she spoke about her son and how motherhood has changed her life.

“When I look at my son, sometimes when I’m stressing about something, I look at my son and I realize, ‘What are you mad at? Look at what God blessed you with,” Nicki said. “This is the ultimate blessing of the universe. There’s no greater blessing. There’s none. You can’t think of one greater blessing that the universe gives us as human beings. So I will just say that it’s been a great experience.”

She later made note of one thing she won’t let her son do in the future. “I’m learning a lot, I’m laughing a lot,” she added. “He’s a show-off, but I’m not letting him rap. I’m not letting him do nothing about no music.”

Nicki’s comments come after she delivered a pretty impressive Adele impression during an appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden

You can listen to the full episode of the here.

On Friday, former vice president Mike Pence did the unthinkable: He dared say his ex-bestie Donald Trump was “wrong” about something. At a Federalist Society gathering in Florida, Pence addressed Trump’s dubious claims that he had the power to decertify the 2020 election on Jan. 6 of last year. He did not, so he did not, and he said as much very clearly. Did Trump resist the temptation to angrily respond? Of course not.

At the event, Pence addressed the elephant in the room: Trump’s recent comments about him, including as he put it, that in his old gig he “possessed unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes.” Not so, he correctly stated. “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said. “The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. Frankly, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”

Hours later, Trump responded by way of his poorly copy edited press releases.

“Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible,” Trump wrote. “Well, the Vice President’s position is not an automatic conveyor if obvious signs of voter fraud or irregularities exist.”

Trump then doubled down on his dodgy claim that because certain lawmakers are trying to clarify certain laws, it’s an admission that Pence could have overturned the election:

“That’s why the Democrats and RINOs are working feverishly together to change the very law that Mike Pence and his unwitting advisors used on January 6 to say he had no choice. The reason they want it changed is because they now say they don’t want the Vice President to have the right to ensure an honest vote. In other words, I was right and everyone knows it. If there is fraud or large scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out. The Dems and RINOs want to take that right away. A great opportunity lost, but not forever, in the meantime our Country is going to hell!”

Another chipper missive from everyone’s favorite optimist.

For Pence, his address on Friday was the strongest rebuke he’s yet made to his former president. Mind you, he’s never rebuked him publicly, even after his violent supporters wanted to hang him outside the Capitol building.

(Via The Hill)

Rolling Stone is taking a step into the music festival world. The publication recently announced that it purchased a majority stake in Las Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful festival. The estate of Zappos’ ex-chief executive officer Tony Hsieh, who founded the Vegas festival, will retain a piece of the business and the terms of the deal have not yet been revealed. The publication’s CEO, Gus Wenner, made the purchase in order to curate an events business to complement the editorial side of the company. Wenner reached out to Hsieh in June 2020 and the two worked out a deal before Hsieh died later that year.

The festival will retain the name Life Is Beautiful, but Rolling Stone will look for ways to incorporate the company into the showcase. One example includes naming one of the festival stages after the publication. David Oehm, the new CEO of Life Is Beautiful, will continue to run the festival with his team. “Live events and experiential are so much a part of the future of publishing,” Wenner said in an interview, according to Bloomberg. He hopes to build the business in a way that will allow Rolling Stone to be as relevant to music fans today as it was in the past.

Life Is Beautiful was originally founded in 2013 as a part of Hsieh’s plan to revitalize downtown Las Vegas. The Killers and Kings of Leon headlined the first edition, and since then it’s grown to be a three-day event. The most recent edition of Life Is Beautiful was held in September of 2021.

It’s been quite a week-and-a-half for Joe Rogan. The NewsRadio alum-turned-controversial podcaster is singlehandedly responsible for a growing exodus from the streamer Spotify, with artists demanding their music be removed over his repeated spreading of dangerous COVID misinformation. (Staffers are also very unhappy.) He’s done the unexpected and apologized for his actions, and on Friday night he was on mea culpa duty again, this time for another infraction.

As per Page Six, a video went viral on Friday showing a compilation of Rogan dropping the N-word — said in full every time — over and over again on The Joe Rogan Experience. It was even shared by India.Arie, one of the artists who joined the likes of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in demanding Spotify erase their work.

It prompted Rogan to again take to Instagram to record a video apology. In it, he called the video “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.” Though he pointed out the clips were “out of context” bits spanning “12 years of conversations,” he did admit it “looks f*cking horrible. Even to me.”

He continued: “I know that to most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, nevermind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now. I haven’t said it in years.”

Rogan did claim that he never used the word in a racist manner, that he was only using it in the context of whatever conversation he was having. But, he admitted, it was a mistake not to censor himself: “Instead of saying ‘the N-word,’ I would just say the word. I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing.”

The word, he said, was fascinating to him. “It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use,” Rogan said. “I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist, but whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say ‘I’m not racist,’ you’ve f–ked up, and I clearly have f–cked up.”

He also addressed a clip of him discussing visiting a Black neighborhood in Philadelphia, which he described as “Planet of the Apes.” “I was trying to make the story entertaining,” Rogan said. “I did not, nor did I ever say that black people are apes, but it sure f*cking sounded like that.” He added, “It wasn’t a racist story, but it sounded terrible.”

After Rogan’s first apology on Sunday, artists continued to leave Spotify in protest. He’s had a few defenders, though, most prominently Jon Stewart.

(Via Page Six)

Netflix keeps digging deep into the true-crime realm with no signs of stopping. From the revival of Unsolved Mysteries to Joe Berlinger’s Crime Scene series to the Making A Murderer show and the upcoming Inventing Anna (from Shondaland and starring Julia Garner), it’s never been easier to binge other people’s bad deeds to your heart’s content.

The streamer’s newest such documentary, The Tinder Swindler, will appeal to both true crime aficionados and online daters alike. It’s a true-crime story, but is it, you know, a true story?

Oh yes. This is the story of a faux billionaire playboy who cruised Tinder, setting up a string of long-distance romances, leaving women (worldwide) in debt and wondering what on earth hit them. Simon Leviev worked out a series of long cons after introducing himself as a hard-at-work Israeli millionaire, i.e., the “Prince of Diamonds.” As The Times of Israel notes, Simon chose his alias while pretending to be the son of real-life multi-millionaire Lev Leviev in a scheme that went on for years. According to ABC News, Leviev’s true identity was Shimon Hayu, a con-man who had already served years of hard time before he wandered into Londoner Cecilie Fjellhoy’s life, and once he was done, she was out over $200,000.

She wasn’t the only one, not by a long shot. The process, Fiellhoy said, was both hard and fast and incremental, with him showering her with hugely romantic gestures, largely from a distance. In reality, Hayu was already living on another woman’s money, which was his method of operation. Once an undeniable pattern formed, these women banded together to work some justice upon Hayu (who operated under a number of aliases), and that’s where this 2-hour Netflix documentary comes in, while Hayu now stares down extradition to his homeland on a number of fraud charges.

It’s a cautionary tale, of course, especially when one marvels at the ease at which Hayu would work his routine, first convincing the women that his profession was one of danger. He would later send them photos and calls of distress, asking for money, claiming that his credit was temporarily inaccessible and that he needed large sums of money to move to safety. Then he’d disappear, never to be heard of again and move on to his next target.

Maybe stay off Tinder, but do catch The Tinder Swindler, which is currently streaming on Netflix.

Has a Super Bowl commercial ever been this built up? Once a week for the past three weeks, Megan Thee Stallion has shared a teaser for her Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Doritos Super Bowl LVI commercial. First it was her checking into the studio backlot where a commercial featuring exotic animals is being filmed, then it was her getting locked out of her trailer by a sloth (?), and today we have the official song that goes with the campaign, “Flamin’ Hottie.” I guess this commercial is officially a highly anticipated one.

The song rides a sample of “Push It” by Salt N’ Pepa (a femme rap classic if there ever was one) and Megan isn’t short on the analogies between how hot she is and how hot these dang chips are! “Damn, I’m so hot, can’t touch me, just like Cheetos on your fingers, wanna suck me!” she says in the song’s opening verse. Then brings it home on the hook with “‘Cause I’m all that and a bag of flamin’ hot chips!”

The song was obviously co-signed by Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah on Twitter:

Listen to “Flamin’ Hottie” above and join us on the edge of your seat for Meg’s Super Bowl LVI commercial sometime on Sunday, February 13.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Everything on a basketball court is perfectly calibrated from game-to-game. Unlike baseball, where parks vary in size, basketball courts are one uniform size. The rims are 10 feet high and perfectly level, and the distance from one to the other is the same on every single court where NBA games are played.

Well, kind of. Midway through the first quarter Friday night’s game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks that tipped off at god damn 10:15 p.m. EST, Luka Doncic hit a three and started flailing his arms around like something was wrong. It turned out Doncic noticed that the rim was tilted, which led to the officials stopping the game so they could fix this.

Enter Boban Marjanovic, who you have probably heard is very tall. The Mavericks (and former Sixers!) big man casually walked onto the court, bunny hopped, grabbed the rim, and looked to get that thing level.

It looked like he did a decent job, but decent is not good enough for a rim during an NBA game. As such, someone had to get a ladder, a tape measure, and a level and sort everything out.

Did this work? Not really! In the aftermath of all this, the backboard got tilted, so the Mavs cut their losses and just replaced the basket altogether.

If this does not work, we recommend cutting the court in half and just playing 3-on-3.

On September 4, 1957, nine students arrived at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas for their first day of school. They were bright students, chosen for their academic excellence to attend the most prestigious school in the state. They were there to learn—and to make history as the first Black students to attend the previously all-white school.

They wouldn’t enter the school that day, nor for weeks after. Their entrance was barred not only by an angry white mob but by the Arkansas National Guard who were called in by the governor to prevent the students from integrating the school.

Eight of the nine arrived together that first day in a carpool arranged by the local NAACP chapter. One student, 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, didn’t have a telephone at home and was unable to be reached to learn about the carpool plan. She took the city bus, which dropped her off within two blocks of the school. As she approached, she faced the racist crowd alone.

One photo encapsulated much—but not all—of the moment. We see Eckford being followed by a group of angry white segregationists, but we can’t see that they were yelling, “Lynch her! Lynch her!” We can see the Arkansas National Guard, but we can’t see that President Johnson would have to call in federal troops weeks later to finally get the students into the building. We see Elizabeth Eckford walking with her head high, but we can’t see the courage and resolve it took her not to walk through a crowd of people threatening to kill her just for wanting to go to school.

We see a snapshot of a horrific moment in American history, but we can’t see what happened after.

On this third day of black history month letu2019s remember the incredibly brave students known as the u201cLittle Rock Nine.u201d They were the first black students to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.pic.twitter.com/IQeXhrCVWZ

— Aliah Rowe u2764ufe0f (@Aliah Rowe u2764ufe0f)
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After being barred entrance to the school, Eckford tried to return home, but she was unable to go back to the bus stop where she’d been dropped off due to the 250 or so angry white people behind her. She decided to try to get to the next bus stop a block ahead of her.

Buddy Lonesome of the St. Louis Argus described what he had witnessed at the scene: “The mob of twisted whites, galvanized into vengeful action by the inaction of the heroic state militia, was not willing that the young school girl should get off so easily. Elizabeth Eckford had walked into the wolf’s lair, and now that they felt she was fair game, the drooling wolves took off after their prey. The hate mongers, who look exactly like other, normal white men and women, took off down the street after the girl.”

She would get home eventually. At first, she sat on the edge of the bus stop bench as someone yelled “Drag her over to this tree!” A small group of journalists formed a makeshift barrier between her and the crowd. New York Times reporter Benjamin Fine sat down next to her, put his arm around her and said, “Don’t let them see you cry.” Later, after being asked if he’d overstepped his professional bounds, Fine replied, “A reporter has to be a human being.”

A white woman, Grace Lorch, escorted Eckford onto the bus, but not before she told the crowd that they’d all be ashamed of themselves someday. Eckford was relieved when Lorch got off the bus; her help, though undoubtedly well-intentioned, had only inflamed the hatred of the crowd. (Lorch and her husband would eventually move their family to Canada after facing harassment, job losses, and accusations of being communists for their civil rights activism.)

After exiting the bus, Eckford immediately went to find her mother. She fell into her arms and the two cried together, neither saying a word.

What about the student yelling at Eckford in the photo? Her name was Hazel Bryan—later becoming Hazel Massery. She was the daughter of parents who were unabashed about their racism.

Massery would have a change of heart in the years that followed. She became a follower of the civil rights movement and began to understand how wrong she had been. In 1962 or 1963, she called Eckford to apologize. But she didn’t stop there. She left her intolerant church, volunteered with projects to serve underprivileged Black students and single Black mothers, read the works of Cornel West and Shelby Steele and argued about racial issues with her mother.

Eventually, Massery and Eckford realized they had a lot in common as individuals and became friends. They even appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show and talked about reconciliation. But the friendship did not last. The rest of the Little Rock Nine had never been fans of the friendship, nor of Massery’s appearance at public events about their history. Massery seems to have felt frustrated that Eckford wouldn’t absolve her completely of her past racist behavior, and she ultimately cut off ties with her.

Ten years ago, David Margolick, who had interviewed both women multiple times over the years, asked Eckford and Massery to pose together for one last photo. Eckford agreed, but Massery refused.

Both Eckford and Massery are still alive. Eckford celebrated her 80th birthday in October with a small celebration in front of Central High School, with student members of the Civil Rights Memory Project and faculty there to honor her. This is not history from some far distant era. People are alive who saw it happen with their own eyes.

And this isn’t even the full scope of the story. The Little Rock Nine spent the school year being brutally harassed even after they were finally allowed into the building. And both Eckford and Massery’s stories include many more details, which David Margolick has covered in Vanity Fair and Slate. His storytelling illustrates how the story behind the iconic photo is worse (at the time) and more complex (in the long run) than the simplistic narratives we often hear about the civil rights era and are definitely worth a read.

How does Eckford feel about the photo? She told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that she sometimes feels nothing when she sees it and sometimes it bowls her over. But she’s never felt good about the photo, nor does she see herself in it the way others do.

“They talk about it as strength,” she said, “But I’ve never considered myself a strong person.”

Fair enough. No one should ever have to be strong like that in the first place, especially at 15. May we all remember and learn from this history, and keep working toward a future where racism is truly and fully overcome.

Ardbeg’s Committee releases are some of the most sought-after bottles of whisk(e)y in the world. And yet… you can get them. All that you need to do is join the Ardbeg Committee — it’s free. When you do, you’ll get access to these one-of-a-kind whiskies from one of Islay’s most-beloved distilleries.

As for this expression, it’ll be dropping in February of 2022 (the date is unspecified). The juice is a result of a “happy accident” that we’ll get into below, wherein this whisky fermented for a much longer time than usual before distillation.

Beyond that tease, this is a peated Islay malt that pushes the style in new directions and is kind of inexplicable on the palate. Let’s get into what’s in the bottle!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of 2021

• The 50 Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2021, Ranked
• A Blind Ranking Of Affordable Blended Scotch Whiskies
• Our Favorite Scotch Whisky At Every Price Point From $30 To $500
• We Blind Tested Blended Scotches In The $40 Range And A Clear Winner Emerged
• The Best Bottles Of Scotch Whisky Between $50-$60

Ardbeg Fermutation

ABV: 49.4%

Average Price: $200 (Limited)

The Whisky:

The “happy accident” that led to this whisky was Ardbeg’s boilers breaking down. Instead of throwing out the mash until those were fixed, Dr. Bill Lumsden (the mad-scientist distiller behind Ardbeg) decided to see what would happen if they let it be. The washback lids were opened and the mash was allowed to ferment with the sea-kissed Islay air for three more weeks. To put that in perspective, Ardbeg (and most whiskies) usually ferment for 72 hours before distillation.

Once the boilers were back up and running, the whisky was distilled and then barreled in first-fill and re-fill bourbon casks. 13 years later, Dr. Bill decided it was ready and here we are.

Tasting Notes:

This. Is. Wild. The nose starts off with this burst of fresh green grass just after the rain that melts into a summer herb garden (mint heavy), grapefruit seeds, and smoked butter with sweet lemon candy and orange trees that’s underpinned with a dark and rich soil that’s been turned with manure. Going deeper on the nose, you get fresh tires, mossy fir bark, and maybe a hint of fennel-heavy focaccia.

The palate starts off incredibly soft with a toffee note before veering into burnt scones, hints of absinthe, what feels like powdered turmeric, and finally Marlboro Red ash (don’t ask me how I know this tasting note). That ashiness builds on the palate as a slight Windex note pops in next to a hint of mint candy and some more mild toffee. The finish lets that sweetness stay while the cigarette ash builds towards a crescendo and leaves your senses feeling like you’ve licked an ashtray (I guess you didn’t have to ask after all). Seriously though, it’s been a good two minutes and the finish is still vibrant with cigarette ash and minty toffee candies.

Five minutes later, my palate feels like I spent last night smoking a whole pack of cigarettes down at the pub. That’s from a single one-ounce pour.

The Bottle:

This comes in Ardbeg’s classic, nearly black bottle. The label almost feels like a sci-fi pulp novels cover and sort of makes sense, given how different this whisky truly is.

Bottom Line:

I wanted to say I hated this and would never drink it again. But there’s something there that kept me going back in for more. None of these things should work together. But it’s so out there that it grabs your attention and you can’t look away.

That all said, if any of those more “out there” flavor notes sound off-putting, then yeah, this is going to be hard to swallow. If you’re looking for something that’s not like anything else (maybe ever), then… give this a shot? We’re vouching for the craft here but not necessarily the flavors.

Ranking:

I honestly don’t know. This is one of the most unique whiskies I’ve tasted in a while. It’s brilliant in that respect. But, wow, this is a hard sell unless you both love crazy whiskies and are willing to go down a wild flavor path.

This is a true 50/50. Either you’re going to be obsessed with it or hate it to your core. It’s such an outlier that I refuse to offer a score. But, to be honest, I will probably revisit most of the Ardberg expressions on my shelf multiple times before I dive into this again.

The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from 2 Chainz, Saba, Yo Gotti, and more.

This week saw the releases of tracks like NLE Choppa’s “Stompin,” Juice WRLD’s “Cigarettes” and “Go Hard 2.0,” Nardo Wick’s “Me Or Sum” video with Future and Lil Baby, Nicki Minaj’s “Do We Have A Problem?” featuring Lil Baby, YG’s “Scared Money” featuring J. Cole and Moneybagg Yo, and Snot’s “Doja” with ASAP Rocky along with the releases listed below.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending DATE TK, 2022.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

2 Chainz — Dope Don’t Sell Itself

If 2 Chainz’s latest is his trap rap swan song as promised, he’s going out on a high note with this 14-track masterpiece. He certainly seems dead set on passing the torch, bringing along neophytes like Lil Baby and Roddy Ricch for the ride. There are also nods to the past, such as on the “Laffy Taffy”-sampling “Neighbors Know My Name,” bringing everything full circle.

Baby Money — Easy Money

Quality Control’s newest signee hails from Detroit and his first project bears all the hallmarks of his hometown’s swinging sound, with a fine layer of that glossy QC polish. By now, it should be no surprise that the Atlanta label is so gifted at unearthing diamonds in the dirt, as demonstrated by prior finds like City Girls, Lakeyah, and Lil Baby.

Saba — Few Good Things

Four years ago, Saba released the critically hailed Care For Me, earning the respect and adoration of thousands of rap fans who found their dreams and fears reflected in his poetic storytelling. With his long-awaited follow-up, he set out to create the anti-Care For Me, dwelling on more earthly affairs and an optimistic outlook, but it’s every bit as worth listeners’ time.

Yo Gotti — CM10

After months of delays, the Memphis rap kingpin finally put out his double-disc effort this week. Intriguingly, it only bears 22 tracks — which has become more or less standard in the streaming era — and only offers a handful of features from CMG recruits 42 Dugg, Blac Youngsta, EST Gee, and Moneybagg Yo.

Singles/Videos

03 Greedo — “Pourin” feat. BlueBucksClan

Greedo’s been locked up for three years and somehow still finds a way to collaborate with one of LA’s hottest up-and-coming groups. Repurposing 2005 Texas classic, “Flossin” by Mike Jones, Greedo’s old material still sounds fresh alongside BlueBucks’ casual punchlines.

22Gz — “Said It’s Lit”

The New York drill movement never really took off the way it seemed like it would, but rather than stalling out, it’s settling into a regional groove wherein artists like 22Gz can really thrive without the pressure of living up to the colossal peaks reached by the late Pop Smoke.

Big30 — “Protest”

Somewhere in the course of the last two years, Memphis seemingly shifted the center of trap rap’s gravity from Atlanta to itself, thanks to the efforts of burgeoning stars like Big30, Key Glock, Moneybagg Yo, and Pooh Shiesty. “Protest” offers a pretty great example of why.

BEAM — “Planet BEAM”

Admittedly, this cat hasn’t really been on my radar aside from some offhand references and guest appearances, but his new album is out today, and he’s got a rather captivating flow on his breakout single, switching from crackling rap to the rude boy flair of Jamaican patois.

Cousin Stizz — “LBS”

Stizz has been so consistent over the past several weeks building up to the release of his next album, Just For You, due next week. “LBS” keeps the vibe going.

Doe Boy — “I A Do It”

Doe Boy takes a victory lap after releasing his new album Oh Really? last week, sharing this mildly comedic video for one of the album’s standout tracks.

Stunna Gambino — “Evil”

At just 19 years old, Washington Heights, New York-bred Stunna Gambino has carved out a fairly impressive amount of attention economy real estate in a relatively short span, and he continues to show a lot of potential on “Evil.”

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