Category: News

This year, I’ve endeavored to call our the best bourbon at every price point from the bottom shelf to the locked glass cabinet. Overall, I’ve called out 130 bourbon whiskeys that I think are worth your time and money from $10 to $500. That’s… a lot of whiskey. So to help you focus that even further, I’m narrowing those 130 bottles down to just 13 amazing bourbon whiskeys. That’s right, I’m naming my favorite bourbon from each price point.

The only ripple on this list is that I’m not doubling up on any brands. For instance, Wild Turkey ended up in the number one spot three times out of 13 this year. Due to that, I pulled my favorite of those three bottles and slotted in the next ranked bourbon from the other two articles into the price point listed below. Not that I don’t think you should just buy all the Wild Turkey (I sorta do), it’s more that I wanted to widen the net of the whiskeys listed here — and if one-quarter of them are just Wild Turkey, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing that. Plus, you can see what I think of the whole Wild Turkey line here.

Okay, let’s get into it and find the best bourbon whiskey at every price from $10 to $500. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your new favorite whiskey below!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• The 50 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2021, Ranked
• Every Winning Bourbon From Our 2021 Taste Tests, Blind Tasted And Re-Ranked
• The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked
• We Tasted Bourbon Whiskeys ‘Double-Blind’ And Tried To Guess Each Bottle

$10-$20 — Old Tub

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $18

The Whiskey:

The juice is a tribute to what Jim Beam was — both on the label and in the bottle — before Prohibition. Yes, Jim Beam used to be known as Old Tub Bourbon worldwide. The bourbon is standard Beam that hits an old-school flavor profile. The whiskey is bottled-in-bond at 100 proof and goes through no filtration before bottling.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a subtle roughness to this whiskey that draws you in — rough-milled dry corn, raw honey, freshly sawed wood, soft cherry, and vanilla pods. The caramel popcorn sweetness is there but not overdone as the vanilla, woody oak, and very distant spice and cherry come together to create an all-around easy-sipper by the end. As that end lingers, you get a final note of orange citrus that’s counterpointed by a lingering sense of limestone.

Bottom Line:

This stuff rules, especially for the price. This is one of those bottles that we like to call a “workhorse” in the bar biz. That means it works as well as a cocktail mixer as it does in a highball or on the rocks — or as a shooter with a beer back for that matter.

$20-$30 — Brough Brothers Bourbon

ABV: 41%

Average Price: $24

The Whiskey:

This tiny and new distillery was founded in West Louisville by brothers Victor, Chris, and Bryson Yarbrough. The distillery is the first African-American-owned brand working in the state. For now, this bottle is contract-distilled (distilled at a big distillery based on their own recipe/concept) in Indiana from a mash bill of 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent malted barley.

Tasting Notes:

You’re greeted with dried roses, marzipan, and creamy eggnog on the nose with a hint of apple and dry corn. That apple drives the taste with more orchard fruit (think pears) as the nutmeg really spikes and the marzipan takes on a rosewater note next to a very distant flutter of pepper spice in the background. The finish sweetens with a spoonful of fresh and floral honey as those orchard fruits affix to a mildly spicy and vanilla-forward tobacco leaf.

Bottom Line:

This stuff has really grown on me. It reminds me of classic bourbon at a classic price. There’s no pretension whatsoever but there’s a real flavor profile at play that works really well in cocktails, highballs, and on its own.

$30-$40 — Maker’s Mark 101

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $36

The Whisky:

This is Maker’s Mark classic wheated bourbon that’s bottled at a higher proof to bring about a “richer flavor.” Well, that’s what the label says anyway. This is classic Maker’s that’s treated with a little less of that limestone water to let the barrel techniques shine a bit more while still holding onto the Maker’s vibe.

Tasting Notes:

This is a bowl of vanilla ice cream covered in stewed apples that have been drizzled with extra caramel. The taste really focuses on that caramel with hints of oak next to roasted almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, dry wicker, and a drop of soft mineral water. The end lingers while it fades through salted caramel apples towards a mellow floral spiciness with a dried reed finish and a touch of vanilla tobacco chew.

Bottom Line:

This is a great example of Maker’s Mark that dials in the classic wheated bourbon’s vibe thanks to those higher ABVs. This is really good over a few rocks. Add in a few drops of Angostura bitters, a little raw sugar, some orange oils, and a dark cherry and you’ll have a stellar old fashioned in your hands.

$40-$50 — Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Bourbon

ABV: 58.4%

Average Price: $44

The Whiskey:

This is the mountaintop of what Wild Turkey can achieve. This is a blend of the best barrels that are married and bottled untouched. That means no filtering and no cutting with water. This is a classic bourbon with nowhere to hide.

Tasting Notes:

Crème brûlée greets you with a nice dose of Christmas spices, mild pipe tobacco, orange zest, and a distant hint of fresh mint sprigs on the nose. There’s a pine resin nature to the woody flavors on the palate that accents the orange oils, spices, vanilla, and sweetness. The sip takes on a Christmas cake-feel late with a velvet end that is just the right amount of everything you want from a bourbon.

Bottom Line:

This might be my overall favorite whiskey on the list. While this is a pretty amazing sipper (neat or with a rock), it’s a truly stunning cocktail whiskey. A Rare Breed Manhattan that leans more into the whiskey than sweet vermouth is a winner every time.

$50-$60 — Noah’s Mill

ABV: 57.15%

Average Price: $59

The Whiskey:

This is the bigger and bolder sibling of Rowan’s Creek bourbon, which is also made at the famed Willett Distillery. Simply put, it’s the same small-batch juice that’s not proofed down as much.

Tasting Notes:

Maple syrup-covered walnuts greet you with a sense of dark dried cherries and a hint of rose water next to old leather books and holiday spices. The taste holds onto those notes while adding in a stewed plum depth with a whisper of caramel apple and orange oils. The vanilla and sweet oak kick in late with a rich depth and well-rounded lightness to the sip fades towards lush cherry tobacco, soft leather, and winter spice matrix tied to prunes and dates.

Bottom Line:

This is one of those bottles that’s always a pleasant surprise. It’s so soft and silky with a classic bourbon feel to it. I dig this over a rock or two or in a classic and simple bourbon cocktail.

$60-$70 — Peerless Small Batch Bourbon

ABV: 54.65% (varies)

Average Price: $69

The Whiskey:

Kentucky Peerless Distilling takes its time for a true grain-to-glass experience. Their Small Batch Bourbon is crafted with a fairly low-rye mash bill and fermented with a sweet mash as opposed to a sour mash (that means they use 100 percent new grains, water, and yeast with each new batch instead of holding some of the mash over to start the next one like a sourdough starter). The barrels are then hand-selected for their taste and bottled completely un-messed with.

Tasting Notes:

Expect notes of blackberry next to worn leather, rich toffee, vanilla oils, and wet tobacco leaves. The taste holds onto the toffee and vanilla as the tobacco dries out and spices up, with touches of cedar bark and a few bitter espresso beans. The end is long, holds onto the vanilla and tobacco, and touches back on the berries as it fades through your senses.

Bottom Line:

While I adore the Rare Breed up above, this is what I reach for when I need a little bigger kick (I know, the ABV is lower here). The sweet mash allows the darker aspects of the flavor profile to come through, which helps this shine as a cocktail bourbon. There’s a bit more edge to this bourbon — this is kind of like the Germs to Rare Breeds’ Green Day.

$70-$80 — Henry McKenna Aged 10 Years Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $75

The Whiskey:

This very affordable offering from Heaven Hill is hard to beat. The juice utilizes a touch of rye in the mash bill and is then aged for ten long years in a bonded rickhouse. The best barrels are chosen by hand and the juice is bottled with just a touch of water to bring it down to bottled-in-bond proof.

Tasting Notes:

Orange zest, caramel, vanilla, and nutmeg-heavy holiday spice are counterpointed by a flush of fresh mint and soft, wet cedar on the nose. The vanilla and caramel carry through as the wintry spices kick up the sharpness alongside a burnt orange feel, vanilla cream, and a slight hint of dry tobacco leaves. It all slowly fades out on the charred oak finish with a minor hint of smoke deep in the background.

Bottom Line:

This is just classic from top to bottom. The issue here is that you’re going to be pretty hard-pressed finding this outside of the Ohio Valley area. They are out there but pretty sparsely distributed. That said, if you’re planning on hitting up Bourbon Country, U.S.A., this year, this is definitely a bottle to bring home.

$80-$90 — Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon

ABV: 60.4%

Average Price: $85

The Whiskey:

2022’s first Barrel Proof drop is a 12-year-old whiskey made from Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash of 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and a mere ten percent rye. Those barrels are masterfully blended into this Barrel Proof expression with no cutting or fussing. This is as-is bourbon from the barrel.

Tasting Notes:

Caramel draws you in on the nose with a slight sourdough cinnamon roll with pecans, a touch of floral honey, and a soft and woody drug store aftershave with an echo of vanilla candle wax and singed marshmallow. The palate rolls through a soft leather and vanilla pie note as cinnamon ice cream leads to spicy oak. The mid-palate leans into a sweeter, almost creamy spice (think nutmeg-heavy eggnog) which, in turn, leads to a dry cedar bark next to a dry stewed-apple tobacco leaf folded into an old leather pouch for safekeeping.

Bottom Line:

This is another classic bourbon whiskey. This particular release, winter 2022, is great as an on the rocks sipper. Some previous versions — which you might run into on liquor store shelves still — are a little more tilted towards cocktail mixing than sipping. Either way, you’ll have a good bourbon in your hands.

$90-$100 — Remus Repeal Reserve Series V

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $94

The Whiskey:

Remus Repeal Reserve V is a hell of a whiskey. The MGP of Indiana signature bourbon — now Ross & Squibb Distillery for their own brands — is comprised of nine percent 2005 bourbon with a 21 percent high-rye mash, five percent 2006 bourbon with a very high-rye mash of 36 percent of the sticky grain, 19 percent 2006 bourbon with the same 21 percent high-rye mash, 13 percent 2008 bourbon with that 21 percent rye mash, and 54 percent 2008 bourbon with the 36 percent high-rye mash.

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this is brilliantly fruity with touches of fresh raspberries, strawberries resting in dry straw, candied cherries, freshly peeled tangerines, apple cores and stems, and a touch of caramel malts. That caramel sweetness merges into a fresh honeycomb next to Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda vanilla and pep while the fruit dries out, leaving you with meaty dried figs, dates, and prunes driving the midpalate toward the finish. A touch of candied ginger spices things up as a fruity but dry tobacco leaf rounds out the end with the faintest touch of walnut shells.

Bottom Line:

This is where we start to get into “wow” territory. This is a stellar sipper or cocktail bourbon with real class and depth.

$100-$125 — Knob Creek 15

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $125

The Whiskey:

Knob Creek is what Jim Beam becomes with a little massaging, the right aging locations in warehouses, and some luck from the whiskey angels. The juice is made from Beam’s standard 77 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and 10 percent malted barley mash. Then it’s left alone for 15 years in the Beam warehouses on specific floors in specific locations. The best barrels are then small batched and proofed down to 100 proof.

Tasting Notes:

Old saddle leather mingles with musty oak cellar beams and dirt cellar floors with an undercurrent of sweet dark fruits and mild caramel. The palate holds onto that caramel as the fruit becomes dried and a cedar note arrives with a rich and almost sweet tobacco. The dry cedar woodiness carries on through the end as the tobacco leads towards an almost oatmeal raisin cookie vibe with a good dose of cinnamon and nutmeg, leaving you with a sweet buzz on your tongue.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the best 15-year-old bourbons out there. The fact that you can actually find this and buy it at its MSRP (suggested retail price) is also kind of a miracle.

$125-$150 — Garrison Brothers Guadalupe

ABV: 53.5%

Average Price: $150

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is hewn from 90 30-gallon barrels of four-year-old bourbon that were transferred into 26 59-gallon Tawny Port casks for a final maturation of nearly two years. That juice was then bottled with a touch of water added.

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this bursts with raspberry, blackberry, redcurrant, and blueberry, all stewed with plenty of holiday spices and folded into a cobbler topped with dense buttery buttermilk biscuits. The palate leans into the spice with a focus on clove, nutmeg, and a very small whisper of anise as the berry turns more towards a fresh strawberry with dark chocolate-covered espresso beans chiming in on the mid-palate. That chocolate-bitter vibe drives towards a finish full of cinnamon-spiked dark chocolate tobacco leaves, stewed plums, and a dollop of floral honey.

Bottom Line:

This stuff is delicious. It’s also pretty unique given the craft involved in making this whiskey down in Texas. Overall, this is a no-brainer buy if you see it on a shelf.

$150-$200 — Jack Daniel’s 10

ABV: 48.5%

Average Price: $200

The Whiskey:

This new age statement released from Jack Daniel’s feels like a throwback to a bygone era in Tennessee Whiskey. The whiskey is aged for at least ten years. During that time, the barrels spend time in the “Buzzard’s Roost” at the top of the rickhouse. Once they hit the right flavor profile, those barrels are moved to the bottom floors of other warehouses to slow the aging down. Finally, the whiskey is vatted, proofed, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a rich matrix of cherry syrup, apple cores, sticky toffee, vanilla ice cream, and a thin line of wet and sweet wood. The palate opens up towards the dark fruit but dries it out and marries it to a sticky and spicy tobacco leaf alongside toasted cedar soaked in salted caramel paired with dry corn husks that are just singed. The finish really takes its time as the cherry attaches to an old cinnamon stick and the tobacco takes on a sticky chewiness with a mild savory fruit edge.

Bottom Line:

This whiskey seemingly came out of nowhere last year and changed the way people think about Jack Daniel’s. This is great whiskey that’s worth seeking out even though this is on the rare side now.

$200-$500 — Michter’s Single Barrel 10-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 47.2%

Average Price: $486

The Whiskey:

The juice in this bottle is a little under wraps. Michter’s is currently distilling and aging their own whiskey, but this is still sourced. The actual barrels sourced for these single barrel expressions tend to be at least ten years old with some rumored to be closer to 15 years old (depending on the barrel’s quality, naturally). Either way, the juice goes through Michter’s bespoke filtration process before a touch of Kentucky’s iconic soft limestone water is added, bringing the bourbon down to a very crushable 94.4 proof.

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with subtle notes of soft wood and worn leather next to light touches of dark berries, orange oils, eggnog spice, and slight toffee sweetness next to a fluttering hint of roasted marshmallow. The palate starts off equally soft with a maple syrup sweetness which then leads into a rush of berry brambles. The mid-palate hits on a bit of dark spice, vanilla tobacco, and dark cacao and espresso bitterness. The finish leans into a dry-yet-almost-sweet oak with a touch of an almond shell and dry grass coming in at the very end and a final hint of that now almost burnt marshmallow.

Bottom Line:

This list rules. Maker’s 101, Rare Breed, Peerless, Garrison Bros, Jack 10, and now this. These are all killer whiskeys from top to bottom, but Michter’s 10 is that notch above. It’s elevated juice that feels like going home again. That’s a hard balance to pull off. Brasstacks, the price of this is only going to be going up (since there’s no release this year), so buy some now or forever hold your peace.

The Paloma is one of the best tequila cocktails you can get (it was Uproxx’s “Cocktail of the Summer” in 2019!). The basic recipe is also very easy to make at home. It’s really just a highball with tequila, freshly squeezed lime juice, and grapefruit soda — some ride or die for Squirt, others for Jarritos. That’s it. With that simplicity, though, comes a lot of room to tinker. So today, I’m going to make a bar-chef-y version in a batch that you can have ready to go at your next backyard BBQ or Cinco de Mayo celebration.

The thing with a fizzy drink like this is you really want to maintain that effervescence. The best way to do so is to make this a pour-your-own, 50/50 ratio, easy-peasy batched cocktail. Basically, I’m getting everything into the batched cocktail base that simply needs to be poured over ice and topped with the bubbly water of your choice. It’s low impact for your party guests and that little bit more delicious than just opening a 2-liter of Squirt and throwing some limes on a table next to a bottle of tequila and ice bowl — which… I’m down for that set up to, don’t get me wrong.

Anyway, the recipe below is very low impact. It takes maybe five minutes of “cooking” time and a little patience while the batched cocktail cools in the fridge. That’s really it, so let’s dive in!

Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months

• The Corpse Reviver No. 2 Is The Best Gin Cocktail For Winter — Here’s Our Recipe
• The Black Manhattan Is Our 2021 Thanksgiving Cocktail, Here’s The Recipe
• The Vieux Carre Is The Perfect Whiskey Cocktail For The Holidays
• Celebrate Negroni Week With These Two Iconic Recipes
• The Only Dry Martini Recipe You’ll Ever Need. Period.

Batched Paloma

Makes 20-25 cocktails.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups grapefruit juice
• 1 cup Grade A maple syrup
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 cup reposado tequila
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of cayenne
• Fizzy mineral water
• Ice
• Lime wedges for garnish

You should be able to source all of these ingredients very easily at any grocery store/liquor store. I’m using Corralejo Reposado because I really like it as a mixing tequila. There’s a nice woodiness with a burst sweetgrass vibe and plenty of roasted agave piña.

There are some nuances here that add more depth than just tequila with grapefruit juice. The maple syrup is there as a sweetener with more depth. You can use simple bar syrup or agave syrup, but they’re too saccharine for this recipe. There’s already a lot of sugar in that grapefruit juice so something a little subtler, like maple syrup — which plays nicely with the vibe of reposado tequila.

The apple cider vinegar works as a sort of adhesive link between the tartness of the grapefruit and lime and the sweetness of the tequila and maple. It adds in this layer of almost tart creamy fruit that really helps this recipe shine.

Oh, and this is supposed to have a salted rim. I really dislike anything on my rim, so I skipped that step. If you want to salt your rim, knock yourself out.

What You’ll Need:

• Large pot
• Wooden spoon
• Funnel
• Large bottle
• Collins Glass
• Hand juicer
• Paring knife

Method:

• Add the grapefruit juice, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt, and cayenne to a large pot. Bring the mix up to just a simmer while stirring to mix everything together. As soon as a simmer starts, turn the heat off.
• Cool the base to room temp and then add in the tequila and stir until everything is well mixed.
• Funnel the base into a waiting bottle (I used an old wine bottle). Seal and place in the fridge to cool completely.
• To make the cocktail, fill a Collins glass with ice. Add the Paloma mix to the bottom 1/2 of the glass. Top with fizzy mineral water (50/50 mix) and stir.
• Garnish with a lime wedge and serve.

Bottom Line:

Holy shit is this refreshing. It’s like a ray of sunshine in a glass. The tequila really does shine through with a nice, almost creamy counterpoint (kind of like a grapefruit-touched Key Lime pie).

This drink goes down easily, has real depth, and is so easy to make. The batching took a whole five minutes, probably a bit less. Within an hour, this was cool enough to make cocktails — a lot of them too. Honestly, this is worth doing just to have around for a post-work spritz of brightness from day-to-day.

The only thing I’d change is that there was a bit of pulp in the batched base. I’d use a strainer to remove that next time (learn from my mistake!). Otherwise, this is pretty goddamn delicious.

Are you feeling the need for speed, too? Literal years of pandemic delays for Top Gun: Maverick are nearly over. Only one month remains before the sequel brings Tom Cruise’s protagonist back into the realm of Val Kilmer’s Admiral “Iceman” Tom Kazanzky, and apparently, Iceman is the reason why Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s been summoned back to the program. The sequel will likewise send Tom back to Cannes for the first time in three decades.

Before that happens, a little volleyball action came to CinemaCon, where Maverick apparently thrilled the crowd. The movie also stars Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, and Miles Teller (as the son of Maverick’s late bud, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw). Ghosts from the 1980s and Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” will (according to Gaga) hold “multiple layers… spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in.” That song presumably steps into the shoes of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” from the original movie, and overall, the film sounds like a raging success.

In fact, critic Eric Sneider calls it “the perfect blockbuster.” He added, “Not only did it feature dazzling aerial combat sequences, but I actually cried, it’s that emotional. And call me crazy, but I humbly predict that it WILL land a Best Picture nod next year. It’s not just THAT good, it’s VERY good.”

From there, there’s a lot of promises that fans will be “blown away” by the “killer” aerial scenes and emotions that run high throughout the project.

Gaga gets some lip service along the way, too.

And yes, thank goodness for “shirtless beach volleyball” and the return of Kenny Loggins. It’s almost “Danger Zone” time, people!

Top Gun: Maverick arrives in U.S. theaters on May 27.

The busiest comedian of 2022 (not Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend, sorry) is Jerrod Carmichael, who not only dropped his acclaimed HBO special, but is now gearing up to release his directorial debut, a dark buddy comedy titled On The Count Of Three. Carmichael also co-stars in the flick, based on a screenplay by Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch.

Despite Carmichael’s generally light-hearted tone, the movie has some dark themes. It focuses on two life-long friends: Val, played by Carmichael, and Kevin, played by Christopher Abbott (It Comes at Night and Girls) who make a suicide pact after a long string of bad luck and mental health issues. The duo spends a day preparing for their deaths, settling affairs, and confronting people from their past.

The film also stars Henry Winkler as a psychologist who emotionally scarred Kevin as a child and Tiffany Haddish as Val’s girlfriend. The movie made its debut at Sundance in 2021, receiving praise and sparking conversations about mental health, which will likely gain traction once it gets a wide release.

This isn’t the only movie to star Carmichael and Abbott, who will also join Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Mark Ruffalo, and Margaret Qualley in the upcoming adaptation of the 1992 novel Poor Things.

On The Count Of Three hits theaters on May 13th. Check out the trailer here.

Despite being such a flashy rapper, Atlanta trap star Gunna seems to appreciate those of us who have regular jobs, too. Earlier this week, he drew some positive attention for tweeting “It’s cool to work a 9-5 no capp. Getting money is getting money.” That tweet garnered a ton of engagement (over 50,000 retweets and 323,000 likes to date) and on Wednesday, he expanded on the sentiment behind the tweet in a video on his Instagram Story.

Perusing a rack of clothing in the video, Gunna says, “Back to what I was saying, 9-5 is cool. I need these people. All these people that worked today, I needed these people here today. Like, it’s overly cool.”

Over the past few weeks, he’s been expressing a number of insightful opinions about the rap business, catching some off-guard with his sincerity and humility. In the latest episode of the LeBron James talk show, The Shop, he brushed off criticism of his single “Pushin P,” attributing accusations that he stole the slang to his critics coming from”player sh*t, too. That’s all that means. That’s what I took from it like bro, everybody been player. Your uncles, your aunties? They was player.”

He also observed that while so many artists have been sharing their discontent with their respective labels, he doesn’t see things the same way. “You shouldn’t say, ‘f*ck the label, ’cause they taking the chance on you,” he noted. “It’s up to you to really make this money back and go make more money. And for all the young artists who are coming up, I want to tell them, ‘Man, don’t look at it like it’s a bad deal. You’re not getting what you want in the beginning…it can always get better.”

Check out Gunna’s video above.

Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Hip-hop’s intergenerational conflict had seemingly died down in recent years, thanks in large part to collaborations crossing the age divide, like “Replace Me” which saw Nas connect with younger rapper Don Toliver. However, it appears it was still right there, simmering beneath the surface, waiting for someone to light the spark to reignite it. The hosts of The Breakfast Club came close when they teased Coi Leray about listening to Pusha T, but she defused the situation by saying she’d rather collab with him (as she did with Nicki Minaj) than start a beef.

Unfortunately, it looks like one of Coi’s collaborators had some further thoughts about the new rapper/old rapper dynamic and finally touched off the conflagration that had been waiting in the wings. Pontiac, Michigan rapper DDG, who recently released his Gunna collaboration “Elon Musk,” shared his thoughts on Twitter, drawing a polarized response from followers who weighed in with a variety of opinions from agreement to disbelief to outright refusal. “Today’s rappers are 10x better than the rappers back in the day,” he wrote.

When fans blasted him for it, he offered some controversial follow-up takes. When one fan brought up Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G., he shot back, “On some real sh*t.. when the last time u listened to either in the car.. BE TRUTHFUL.” He also provided some context for his opinion in a separate tweet, writing, “I respect the older generation of hiphop, but this generation creativity on another level fr. Hip Hop ain’t never been the number 1 genre until NOW.”

The debate quickly became a rehash of the “mumble rap” debates from a few years ago — y’know, the one where people acted like they can’t just understand accents or that repetitive choruses are somehow a new phenomenon in rap. While some acknowledged that the music has evolved in unexpected and truly creative ways, some just couldn’t move past the sacred cows of their youth (or, let’s be honest, their parents’ youth).

Check out some more responses below.

There’s no LCD Soundsystem or Grandmaster Flash, but the official Succession season three soundtrack is still full of “bangers,” as Kendall Roy would put it. Classical musical-indebted bangers from Emmy-winning composer Nicholas Britell, but bangers nonetheless. The season three soundtrack, which comes out this Friday, also includes a full-length version of Kendall’s painfully earnest cover of “Honesty” by Billy Joel.

“Jeremy is incredible, and really such a phenomenal artist,” Britell told Variety about the cover. “I find Kendall’s performance of ‘Honesty’ to be very intimate. It’s very moving.”

HBO needs to release a full album of the Succession cast covering Billy Joel songs. Roman should do “Captain Jack” because of the “you just sit at home and masturbate” line, I would love to hear to Greg mumble his way through “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and Shiv and Tom can be Brenda and Eddie from “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”

Here’s the tracklist:

1. Furioso in F Minor by Nicholas Britell

2. Milan – Promenade by Nicholas Britell

3. Rigaudon by Nicholas Britell

4. Andante Agitato – End Credits – “The Raid” by Nicholas Britell

5. “Sorry, Pinky” by Nicholas Britell

6. Satyricon – Instrumental by Nicholas Britell

7. “Tuscany” Suite for Piano and Orchestra by Nicholas Britell

8. Sinfonietta in A Minor – Strings Variation – “The Photo” by Nicholas Britell

9. Impromptu No. 1 in C Minor for Piano by Nicholas Britell

10. Scherzo in F Minor – Strings by Nicholas Britell by Nicholas Britell

11. Largo Doloroso – Strings by Nicholas Britell

12. Serenata – “Il Viaggio” by Nicholas Britell

13. “Tuscany” Suite for Piano and Bass by Nicholas Britell

14. Impromptu No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra by Nicholas Britell

15. Scherzo in F Minor – Piano and Bass by Nicholas Britell by Nicholas Britell

16. Ricercare – Strings and Voices – Bonus Track by Nicholas Britell

17. Nocturne – Piano and Strings by Nicholas Britell

18. Impromptu No. 1 for Strings – End Credits – “Chiantishire” by Nicholas Britell

19. Dolce Pianos and Strings – “Il Viaggio” by Nicholas Britell

20. Andante Moderato – End Credits – “Amen” by Nicholas Britell

21. Honesty (feat. Kendall Roy) by Nicholas Britell, Kendall Roy

(Via Variety)

It looks like Roger Stone might’ve jumped the gun in his efforts to get his Twitter account reinstated.

Donald Trump’s former hype-man was banned from the social media site in 2017 after he made some vulgar, threatening posts targeting CNN anchors Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, and Ana Navarro, among others. Stone has since moved his social media presence to platforms like Telegram but it seems he got a bit overeager after news broke that Elon Musk put in a bid to buy Twitter. The human equivalent of a Roger Rabbit cartoon villain attempted to forge a new account on the site, sharing this message with his followers on Telegram:

“Well, bitches I’m back on Twitter,” Stone wrote, according to The Daily Beast. “I’m anxious to see how strong Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech is.”

Unfortunately, it seems that he doesn’t know how major corporate acquisitions work because while Musk has technically bought the company, his bid still needs to pass a shareholder vote. That hasn’t happened yet — though it likely will in the coming months — so, as of now, his biggest influence on Twitter’s policies has been to openly criticize some of its employees. That’s bad news for Stone, who seemed to believe that Musk’s accepted bid meant he could return to Twitter to start spreading more misinformation and harassing people he doesn’t like. His account, @RogerStoneUSA, was banned within minutes of creation.

“My new Twitter account was suspended after just six hours. So much for free speech,” he later told followers. “Just makes me like Telegram all the more.”

Sure buddy, that’s why you’re practically salivating at the mouth to get a new Twitter handle with Musk’s help. Stone also told The Daily Beast that he’s hopeful someone at the company will lose their job because of his embarrassing gaffe.

“I posted a new account to prove a point,” Stone said. “I look forward to whoever made the decision to suspend my account getting fired. Attn: Elon Musk.”

Really loving where this new “free speech” era on Twitter is heading, right guys?

(Via The Daily Beast)

Oscar nominee, wizard/doctor actor, scarf wearer, and extremely good person Benedict Cumberbatch has welcomed a family of Ukrainian refugees into his home in the United Kingdom.

Cumberbatch told SkyNews this week that a Ukrainian family will be living in his U.K. home during a press junket for Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, which comes to theaters Friday, May 6. The family has not arrived yet, but Cumberbatch is keeping track of their status to make sure they’re safe. “They’ve made it out of Ukraine, I’m monitoring their progress every day,” he told the outlet.

“Sadly, they are undergoing some medical treatment – to say anything more about that would be invasion of their privacy and too much about when they’re coming and how that’s being managed would invade mine – but I want to give them some stability after the turmoil that they’ve experienced, and that’s within my home,” he added. “I’ve been trying to help other Ukrainian families – nationals that are UK citizens – to house their extended families en masse, which you know they want to do, but it’s very costly. I’m working through a wonderful charity called Refugees at Home, which is a great gateway to the government scheme, but also to offering further wider support that’s needed for the psychological trauma that these people are suffering from,” Cumberbatch said.

SkyNews reported that during the interview, Cumberbatch was dressed in Ukrainian colors blue and yellow.

Tegan and Sara have quite a few new developments to let fans know about. First and foremost, we’ve got some new music from the legendary duo, a song called “F*cking Up What Matters” along with a tongue-in-cheek video that gets into just how deep their catalogue goes, especially in the music video department. Since they’ve done pretty much every video treatment under the sun, and even recently launched a TV show, the pair take fans through the process that artists go through to make a music video in the first place… as the treatment for this video. It’s a little meta, but as with most things these two tackle, it totally works in the end.

Secondly, the band has some pretty big news surrounding this new era — they’re now signed to the indie label Mom + Pop. Here’s a statement from the band on this decision:

“Michael Goldstone signed us to Sire/Warner in 2006. We had just made The Con and felt like the vision Goldie and the team at Sire had for us and the album were a good fit. But soon after he signed us, he left to start Mom+Pop. We never held it against him. But joked that one day we’d work together for real. So it was with great enthusiasm that we agreed to sign to Mom+Pop when our deal with Warner ended in 2021. We look forward to being back at an indie label, on a brilliant roster, with Goldie and the label’s incredible team helping us start this next chapter in our lives with the release of our tenth album.”

You can’t argue with that! Check out the new music video up top and get ready for a new era from the band.