Category: News

Outkast favorite André 3000 has reportedly been cast in the upcoming Netflix film White Noise, which is directed by Noah Baumbach (who helmed Marriage Story) and also stars Adam Driver, Don Cheadle, Greta Gerwig, and Jodie Turner-Smith. Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Don DeLillo, the movie, according to Netflix, “dramatizes a contemporary American family’s attempt to deal with the mundane conflicts of day-to-day life while grappling with the larger philosophical issues of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.”

Since leaving Outkast in 2007, André has acted in a handful of roles over the last 15 years, notably appearing as Jimi Hendrix in the 2013 biographical drama Jimi: All Is By My Side, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.

In 2019, the Atlanta rapper delved into why he has no interest in releasing a solo album, telling Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast, “I haven’t been making much music, man. My focus is not there. My confidence is not there. I tinker a lot. I’ll just go to a piano and sit my iPhone down and just record what I’m doing. Move my fingers around and whatever happens, but I haven’t been motivated to do a serious project. I’d like to, but it’s just not coming. In my own self I’m trying to figure out where do I sit? I don’t even know what I am and maybe I’m nothing. Maybe I’m not supposed to be anything. Maybe my history is kind of handicapping in a way.”

White Noise is currently filming in Cleveland, Ohio and is expected to hit Netflix sometime in 2022.

When last week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart was released, it was noted that The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” had tied Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” for the most time spent on the chart, and it was therefore one week away from claiming the record outright. Sure enough, on the latest Hot 100 (dated August 21), “Blinding Lights” is on it for the 88th week and is now the longest-charting song in the history of the Hot 100. The song was released on November 29, 2019, and despite all the time that has passed between then and now, it’s still high up on the charts, at No. 18 this week.

Additionally, aside from the new feat, “Blinding Lights” also holds the record for most weeks spent in the top 5, top 10, top 20, and top 40 of the chart.

It was a good week on the chart for The Weeknd beyond that as well: His latest single, “Take My Breath,” makes its debut on the chart at No. 6, making it his 13th top-10 song on the chart.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd is gearing up for a new album, of which “Take My Breath” is the first look. He recently said of the album, “The music hit the studio like a Mack truck. The new project is packed with party records. Like real-deal, illuminated-white-tiles-on-the-floor party records. Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder meets the best-night-of-your-f*cking-life party records.”

The USA men’s basketball team didn’t have the smoothest run to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, with two losses to start their exhibition run, two replacement players, three players who missed all of camp during the Finals, and a loss in their opening game against France.

Despite those hiccups, they eventually found their stride and steadily got better as the Olympics wore on, ultimately avenging their loss to France in the gold medal game. Afterwards, no one had forgotten the questions and comments about whether they were capable of winning the gold, and players and coaches all reveled in the opportunity to prove them wrong. That included Gregg Popovich, who offered an emotional speech in the locker room after winning the gold, telling his team that he was appreciative of being a part of this group and appreciative of the way they battled through adversity.

At the end, he collected himself and had one message for everyone who had doubted they could do it: “How the f*ck do you like us now?”

You can see that the players loved it and you can also tell how much this meant to Pop, who was finally getting his chance to coach Team USA in an Olympics, only to hear for most of the run how this team was underachieving, not good enough, and not being put in the right positions to succeed by the staff. Winning the gold medal wasn’t just fulfilling a dream for Pop, but also validation of what he was trying to do with USA Basketball and you can see how much that mattered to him in sharing the moment with this team.

We, um, may have noted this before, but… there’s a lot of bourbon on the shelf right now. We wouldn’t say there’s too much, however. Especially not in this market — where competition drives quality. But we certainly understand if it all feels overwhelming when you’re strolling the aisles and there are 40 brands lining shelves.

And that’s just brands. Add in styles, proofs, single barrels, regions, age statements, and limited releases and… did we mention it’s a lot? Fear not, that’s why we’re here — to help you sift through it all by tasting as much as we can and letting you know what rises to the top. It’s a tough gig but someone has to do it.

This time around, we’re going back to the old “barrel proof” well of bourbons. We’re tasting 12 (!!!) new barrel proof bourbon whiskeys as a sort of part two to our tasting last spring. We’re not repeating any releases. All of these expressions are also 2021 specific, with a few coming directly from the distillery.

Here are our competitors in today’s blind taste test:

• Orphan Barrel Copper Tongue Aged 16 Years
• Traverse City Barrel Proof Bourbon
• George Dickel 15-Year-Old Single Barrel
• Stellum Cask Strength Bourbon
• Woodinville Cask Strength Bourbon
• Still Austin Cask Strength
• Larceny Barrel Proof Batch: B521
• Blue Run 13.5-Year-Old “The Honey Barrel”
• Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel
• Barrell Bourbon Batch #29
• A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Garrison Brothers Single Barrel

All in all, these were great bourbons. Some will be a little easier to find than others but that’s not really the point of this test. We’re here to rank whiskey based solely on its flavors — with label, legacy, availability, and price all being unknown variables. If any of these sound good to you, make sure to click on the prices to see if you can find a bottle in your neck of the woods.

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a hint of buttery cornbread that immediately veers into cinnamon apple crackers in an old leather tobacco pouch. There’s a mild sense of eggnog spices next to vanilla cream with a clear note of old, musty cellar beams leading back to that warm tobacco chew.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

Butterscotch, dried corn kernels, raw leather, orange peels, and sweet caramel lead the way. The taste is pure toffee hard candies with light touches of roasted almond, vanilla oils, and old oak. The end lingers for a while and leaves you with this hint of chocolate-covered almonds and sweet toffee.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

This is all about the cherry pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream next to a slight apple-tobacco vibe. It’s also light on the nose and on the palate with red berries leading towards a cherry-choco soda pop, more vanilla cream, and a light touch of bourbon-soaked oakiness.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

This is a nutty Christmas cake with hints of worn leather, red berries, and plenty of wood. The palate opens with a hint of dried fruits, but the real star of the show is an apple candy sweetness that leans into honey. The end holds onto the fruit and honey but hits you with a dried chili pepper flake warmth on the very end.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

“Soft” is written in my tasting notes and with good reason. This is all about soft vanilla, soft salted caramel, and soft tobacco leaves with a hint of time-softened leather. The taste holds onto that softness with an apple/pear candy sweetness, a touch of rich dates, clove and nutmeg, and a twinge of cinnamon candy.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

Cedar greets you and forms a foundation for choco-cherry candies with a hint of dried mint. The taste moves into a blackberry feel with rich vanilla cream and plenty of cinnamon. The end takes on a warmth that feels more like a dried chili pepper than alcohol heat.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

This is another soft bourbon with touches of maple syrup next to cinnamon sticks soaked in hot apple cider and a bit of a buttery croissant. That butteriness drives into the palate with a brandy butter note next to bruised apples, eggnog spices, and dry tobacco leaves. A touch of red fruits with more buttery bread powers the end towards a warm Kentucky hug of spices, tobacco, and ABVs.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

This is also buttery, but more in the sense of a bespoke toffee next to a bright red cherry with vanilla lurking in the background alongside a little old leather and wood. The taste brings on a touch of bitterness thanks to a dark cocoa note, more vanilla, and date-heavy sticky toffee pudding. The end reads completely differently, as cherry candy leads to dry reeds and a final hint of green pepper.

Complex, exciting, and just beguiling enough to thrill the senses.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

The nose is full of nutty nougat, pecan pies, red berries, and salted caramel. The vanilla kicks in and draws a straight line towards cedar boxes full of cherry tobacco next to a big pot of floral honey. The warmth is tied more to the mild woody spices than any alcohol warmth on this velvety sip.

Taste 10

Tasting Notes:

This opens with spicy oatmeal cookies next to fresh leather notes, a touch of orange oil, and a douse of new honey sweetness. The body of this is all plums, honey-roasted nuts, toasted coconut mixed with dark chocolate, and … an almost salty, dry bread. The end is light and soft — with a green edge that edges winds towards fresh and savory herbs.

Taste 11

Tasting Notes:

This is hot. There’s a vanilla cream and toffee sweetness under the high ABV, plus a clear touch of woodiness. Berries come through loud and clear through all that buzzy alcohol next to candied apples (the kind with the bright red covering) and a direct note of cedar and tobacco. The end lingers — with the berries and apple while the heat builds and pretty much blows out my palate.

Taste 12

Tasting Notes:

Hello, Texas! This opens with a clear note of butterscotch next to milder notes of cherry, caramel, and Red Hots. A vanilla kicks in on the palate and drives towards more butterscotch, chocolate oranges, old cedar, and a touch of bitter black tea.

Part 2: The Ranking

12. A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 11

ABV: 70.55%

Average Price: $100

The Whiskey:

The A. Smith Bowman Distillery is a Sazerac distillery that hardcore whiskey nerds know of but the average whiskey drinker has probably never even heard of. Their line is primarily filled with experimental small-batch releases. That changed this year, with A. Smith Bowman’s release of their new permanent expression — A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength.

The juice is a ten-year-old Virginia bourbon that somehow stayed at a bafflingly high ABV of 70.55 percent.

Bottom Line:

This was just too hot today. It really blew out my palate (partially due to it being the eleventh taste). I ate some celery and came back to it and I stand by this ranking. That being said, this will be going into a lot of cocktails for maximum ABVs going forward.

11. Orphan Barrel Copper Tongue Aged 16 Years — Taste 1

ABV: 44.9%

Average Price: $174

The Whiskey:

This release from Diageo’s Orphan Barrel program is from Cascade Hollow Distilling Co., better known as George Dickel. The juice is a marrying of two 16-year-old bourbon barrels that were hand-selected by Dickel Master Distiller Nicole Austin. The ABVs are very low for a “barrel proof” bourbon.

Bottom Line:

This was really nice but didn’t jump out at me. It’s weird to say given that this is a really tasty and easy-drinking whiskey. But again, we had a great lineup today.

10. Traverse City Barrel Proof Bourbon — Taste 2

ABV: 57.8%

Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

This Michigan bourbon is all about the grain-to-glass experience with Michigan’s unique terroir, weather, and access to freshwater. This expression is comprised of single barrel selections of Traverse City’s much-lauded straight bourbon. The juice goes into the bottle uncut and unfiltered at barrel proof.

Bottom Line:

This was, again, perfectly fine. It’s just that nothing really stood out and drew me back in for more. This is quality, crafty bourbon that hits all the right marks.

9. Still Austin Cask Strength — Taste 6

ABV: 59%

Average Price: $48

The Whiskey:

Still Austin is getting a lot of love for their very crafty (and fruity) bourbon, The Musician. This is that — but as cask strength and released as a limited offering. The juice in the bottle is a local, grain-to-glass operation that utilizes the best grains and water Texas has to offer.

Bottom Line:

I’m not quite on the Still Austin train yet. Their bourbon is still very green (overly fruity) but this expression promises something bigger and bolder coming down the road for this crafty distillery.

8. Garrison Brothers Single Barrel — Taste 12

ABV: 62.7%

Average Price: $120

The Whiskey:

This single barrel expression from Hye, Texas’ Garrison Brothers is all about highlighting the craft distillery’s grain-to-glass process. The juice is made from a mash of 74 percent local white corn, 15 percent estate-grown soft red winter wheat, and eleven percent Canadian malted barley. That spirit is then rested for three to five years, or until it’s just right to be proofed and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This was so clearly Texas bourbon just from the look of that syrupy juice in the glass. Still, this was a fine sip of whiskey that offered something a little different. It didn’t quite pop like I thought it would amongst some of the huge bourbons on this list. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile bourbon to have on your bar cart.

7. Stellum Cask Strength Bourbon — Taste 4

ABV: 57.49%

Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

Stellum Bourbon is the new kid on the block. The bottle grabs your attention immediately by having a super low-key design in a classic wine bottle. The juice in that bottle is a cask-strength blend of whiskeys from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This whiskey is all about the blending process that Stellum employs to make this special and award-winning juice.

Bottom Line:

This bourbon is really growing on me. The dram really stood out on this flight. It’s refined, clear about its flavor notes, and very silky. Yet… this isn’t even the top five.

6. George Dickel 15-Year-Old Single Barrel — Taste 3

ABV: 52.3%

Average Price: $70

The Whiskey:

This whiskey from the famed Cascade Hollow is a very old whiskey, all things considered. The juice is from single barrels and the proof varies accordingly (sometimes it’s cut with water too). The whiskey is all about showcasing Dickel’s vast warehouses and the gems they have hidden deep on those ricks.

Bottom Line:

This tasted like a very refined and well-aged Tennessee whiskey (which is bourbon, remember) with all that bright yet dark fruit. In the end, this was an extremely silky sip of whiskey that felt more complex than old while still being very easy to drink from start to finish.

5. Larceny Barrel Proof Batch: B521 — Taste 7

ABV: 60.5%

Average Price: $77

The Whiskey:

These barrel blends from Heaven Hill are meant to highlight the precise quality of the distillery’s prowess from grain to bottle. This small batch of wheated bourbon is derived from barrels between six and eight years old. The juice then goes right into the bottle with no cutting or filtering, allowing the masterful craft to shine through in every sip.

Bottom Line:

This is really starting to win me over as a sipper. It’s so damned refined yet does pack a pretty big wallop on the senses. With big ABVs, I can also see pouring this over some rocks next weekend and not complaining for a second.

4. Woodinville Cask Strength Bourbon — Taste 5

ABV: 58.39%

Average Price: $85

The Whiskey:

Woodinville continues to be at the top of the craft distilling game. Their Cask Strength Bourbon (available at the distillery) is their award-winning bourbon bottled at barrel proof, allowing the Eastern Washingto-based aging to shine through.

Bottom Line:

This is so soft and delightful. It’s a really easy and rewarding sipper, and it still only hit the fourth spot on this list.

3. Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel — Taste 9

ABV: 65.15%

Average Price: $400

The Whiskey:

Blanton’s is “The Original Single Barrel” bourbon, and this expression is the purest form of that whiskey. The juice in this case is from the barrels that need no cutting with water and are perfect as-is, straight from the barrel. All the barrels will come from Warehouse H (where Elmer T. Lee stored his private stash of barrels back in the day) and arrive with varying proofs.

The through-line is the excellent taste of that single, unadulterated barrel in each sip.

Bottom Line:

I changed two through five about ten times while ranking these. This is where Blanton’s ended up and I don’t have a really good excuse why it’s here instead of two or five or four. This is a freakin’ delicious whiskey and it’s almost hard to believe that it’s cask strength, given how easy-drinking it is.

2. Barrell Bourbon Batch #29 — Taste 10

ABV: 57.94%

Average Price: $105

The Whiskey:

This new release from Barrell Bourbon is a blend of whiskeys from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. The final mix is a blend of six, seven, nine, ten, 14, and 16-year-old barrels that are vatted and then bottled at barrel proof.

Bottom Line:

These blends rarely disappoint and this one lives up to the hype. It’s refined, super engaging, and has a soft and easy demeanor. This is a great sipper.

1. Blue Run 13.5-Year-Old “The Honey Barrel” — Taste 8

ABV: 63.41%

Average Price: $230

The Whiskey:

Jim Rutledge’s new project after leaving Four Roses is one of the most sought-after new bourbons on the market (we’ll be doing a live tasting soon). The juice in the bottle is hand-selected by Rutledge and barreled as a single barrel at cask strength. That also makes each bottle unique… and fleeting.

Bottom Line:

While the rest of the top five were a struggle to rank, this was a no-brainer. This whiskey is one of the most delicious (new) drams I’ve tasted in a long, long time. If you can find a bottle, grab as many as you can. Whiskey like this doesn’t come around all that often.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

I’d like to say I was surprised by this or that on these rankings. But… this is pretty much how I would have called it. There were a few bottles that felt hard to rank, sure. But, a lot of this was really splitting hairs and I mean really. In fact, seven through two could have all been a tie for varying reasons. In the end, these get harder to rank the closer the whiskeys get in quality.

Even though that Blue Run is near perfection (for my palate), I still reach for Larceny, Barrell, Woodinville, and Dickel more because of habit (and price). If I had a case of Blue Run 13.5 sitting around, it’d be my go-to for the rest of the year.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Body autonomy means a person has the right to do whatever they want with their own body.

We live in a world where people are constantly telling women what they can or can’t do with their bodies. Women get it form all sides — Washington, their churches, family members, and even doctors.

A woman on Twitter who goes by the name Salome Strangelove recently went viral for discussing the importance of female body autonomy.

Here’s how it started.

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She continued talking about how her mother had a difficult pregnancy.

Her pregnancy with me was utterly miserable. She actually lost weight while pregnant. The delivery was problematic… https://t.co/YhWLFi3Deo

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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Her mother asked her doctor about the possibility of sterilization.

As was typical of the times, she was chastised by her male, Catholic doctor.

Over the next five years my mother was pregnant three more times. Two were horrific miscarriages that caused her a… https://t.co/NZphouv5if

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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Her mother was made to feel guilty about simply exploring the medical options about her own body. But later on, a new doctor made her feel more comfortable about her situation.

Following my brother’s birth, she mustered the courage to ask him about having a tubal ligation again. She did so i… https://t.co/6LeW3SpnzN

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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How this one man’s arrogance and indifference to my mother’s body autonomy influenced my entire primary family unit… https://t.co/6pHNBDVRDB

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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Once her mother had the courage to speak up, her own family members supported her.

But here’s the most horrific footnote. Before my mother was deemed healthy enough to have her tubal litigation surg… https://t.co/4HuRcpTHHo

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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I like being alive. Love my family and friends. Love my brother. And I believe my mother had every right to never h… https://t.co/KLG3o8pnjc

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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In closing, fuck every arrogant forced birth pontificator that walks the earth and thinks they get to rule over som… https://t.co/SdFbyFOQmT

— Salome Strangelove (@salstrange)
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Amen.

Heidi Johnson’s son was 13, deeply in adolescence, and in that stage where he lashes out. He told her he shouldn’t have to deal with her rules and should be independent. So she wrote a strict but loving “Mom’s not a fool” letter.

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She wrote on Facebook how her son reacted to the letter:

“He came home, saw the note, crumpled it on the floor, and stormed out of the apartment. I have always encouraged him to take a walk when he is upset so that he can collect his thoughts so when we try to talk, we are able to talk, and not just yell at each other. I do the same thing — sometimes, I just need to walk away and collect myself. I am not above admitting that. He was still livid when he got home. He decided to stage a ‘sit in’ in my room, where he did laugh at me and repeat, ‘Really? What are you going to do? You can’t take my stuff,’ etc. He was asked to leave my room, and when he could be respectful, and I was more calm, we would discuss it further. He went to his room, and after about an hour, he had removed some electronics and items I missed that he felt he should have to earn back for his behavior. He apologized, and asked what could he do to make things better and start earning items back. He earned his comforter and some clothes right back. I did leave him some clothes to begin with, just not the ones he would want to wear every day. He also had some pillows and sheets, just not his favorite ones.”

She decided to post it on Facebook, the way one does to friends for a laugh and connection. She neglected to make it “private,” and soon comments and shares proliferated, including admonishments from strangers who thought she was a bad parent.

Now she had to deal with a bigger teenager: the internet and its commentariat. But Johnson remained level-headed and wrote another Facebook post, clarifying.

“It’s out there; and I am not ashamed of what I wrote… I am not going to put my 13-year-old on the street if he can’t pay his half of the rent. I am not wanting him to pay anything. I want him to take pride in his home, his space, and appreciate the gifts and blessings we have.”nShe explains that he is more grateful because of it, and also that he has slowly earned back things and dealt with sacrificing others. Then she lists her very organized and succinct rules of the house:

1 – Do your best in school! I don’t expect a perfect 100%, but I do expect that you do your best and ask for help when you don’t understand something.

2 – Homework and jobs need to be done before you can have screen time.

3 – Jobs are emptying the trash, unloading the dishwasher, throwing away trash you make in the kitchen, rinsing dirty dishes, making your bed daily, pick up bedroom nightly, and cleaning your bathroom once a week.

4 – You must complete two chores a day. Each day of the week with the exception of Sunday has a room that we work on cleaning. He has to pick two chores for that room. For example, if it is the living room he can choose two of the following options: dust, vacuum, polish furniture, clean windows, mop the floor.

5 – Be respectful and kind with your words — no back talking, no cussing at me.

6 – Keep good hygiene.

7 – Make eye contact when being spoken to, and be an active listener.

8 – Use proper manners.

“You know what.. this hasn’t hurt our relationship. He and I still talk as openly as ever. He has apologized multiple times… And… he is trying harder.” Her son is earning things back little by little, and appreciating it more than he did before.

“This came down to a 13-year-old telling his mother she had no right to enforce certain rules, and had no place to ‘control’ him. I made the point to show what life would look like if I was not his ‘parent,’ but rather a ‘roommate.’ It was a lesson about gratitude and respect from the very beginning. Sometimes, you have to lose it all to realize how well you really had it.”

A couple of months after announcing a fall 2021 tour with Tame Impala and Death Cab For Cutie, Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) has shared a haunting cover of Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic “I Will Survive.”

“I recorded this at home for a commercial pitch, but they didn’t give me the money,” Hadreas wrote in his newsletter, where he shared the track. “I suppose the cover is a little deathbed-y, I was very serious that day, but I like how it turned out. In particular the last moment … I might stretch that in to something new. I dug around online for a while, looking for video to pair it with, and ended up with an old bowflex commercial and forest fire footage that I spliced together. Happy to share it with you.”

Perfume Genius’ most recent studio album, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, came out last year. This past spring, he unveiled a remix compilation, Immediately Remixes, featuring contributions from artists like Actress, Jenny Hval, and, Danny L. Harle.

“The whole record, I was imagining performing it live,” he told Uproxx last year about Set My Heart on Fire Immediately. “It’s about being outside and it’s about connection; it’s about the people, and all the ideas that are formulating around performance, and how I was going to get the music to people beyond just releasing it. It’s hard. That’s how musicians sustain themselves really, touring is how you make money. I’m sure there’s a way for me to perform here, inside. Some people are more natural at pointing the camera at themselves in their house and going. And I can still do that. But I just had different ideas for what it was going to be.”

Listen to Perfume Genius’ cover of “I Will Survive Above.”

Immediately Remixes is now via Matador. Get it here.

Chance The Rapper is one of the better-established artists in rap right now, which begs the question: Why doesn’t he have a label with a roster full of little homies like so many of his peers? “Young Thug is the king of that sh*t,” he tells Showtime hosts Desus & Mero. “He got 50 people in this sh*t, put them in great positions.”

However, as he explains, “I’m in a position where I can’t sign anybody. I can’t put nobody on.” He elaborates, “You get to a certain space in the industry, and then people are like, ‘Okay, who are your underlings?’ … I’ve never been a person that signed anybody, so when somebody is hot and people are like, ‘Yo check this person out,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I listen to this person every day.’ I don’t have anything for them. I can’t advance their career. I can tell them not to sign. That’s the best I can do for n****s right now.” One such rapper he does shout out though is Beaumont, Texas’ Teezo Touchdown, with whom he’s performing at Summerfest in September.

Desus also challenges Chance to answer the age-old question of which city’s pizza is better between Chicago and New York. Chance goes with his hometown, but he offers an intriguing rationale: “I think the problem with New York pizza is you have too much of it.”

Watch Chance The Rapper’s hilarious interview with Desus & Mero above.

(SPOILERS for HBO’s The White Lotus will obviously be found below.)

The first season of The White Lotus (a HBO’s extreme-wealth satire that isn’t Succession) ended with a (literal) deuce worth celebrating, although even star Murray Bartlett was shocked at the realism of that moment (RIP, Shane’s suitcase). Sadly, Armond was revealed to have been the murder victim teased very early on in the season, and showrunner Mike White sat down with New York Magazine‘s Vulture blog to hash it all out.

White called Armond’s death necessary after “his last act” (taking a dump in Shane’s suitcase), which White characterized as “an operatic end for him.” The showrunner insisted that “I wanted Armond to die,” and it’s a death that maybe not everyone wanted, but there’s one part of The White Lotus that felt even more disappointing. That would be the decision of Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) to get back together with Shane (Jake Lacey). That’s bad news all around, but White says that this act, too, was inevitable and “true to life.” Yep, and here’s how White addressed the subject:

“I always knew she’d go back to him. There was something about her, even in the way she’s approaching him; it’s like someone who wants to get a response. Honestly, it feels true to life for me. I’ve seen peers who may not have been in this exact situation. She’s started to feel the limits of what she thinks she’s capable of, and it’s the reality of the seduction of a lifestyle. Some people read it as cynical; to me, the thing that I feel about Shane is that even though he is a privileged a**hole, he does really love her. Even if it’s just an idea of her.

White further described how perhaps Rachel is “weak,” but sadly, this his also part of the show’s satiric approach. “[S]he wants to be independent and have power in the relationship,” White explained. “[B]ut she doesn’t have the money, she doesn’t have the power. I do see women making that choice sometimes.” He added that he’d find it interesting to explore their marriage’s future, but we’ll see whether that rolls, since Season 2 will feature a new cast in a new location. In the meantime, I’ll cross fingers for the powers that be to dream up an Armond prequel. Make it happen.

(Via Vulture)

Last week, The Kid Laroi earned his first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week with his Justin Bieber collaboration “Stay.” Now, the single has lived up to its name: On the Hot 100 chart dated August 21, the track has remained in the No. 1 spot for a second consecutive week.

Meanwhile, a notable debut on the chart is the latest single from The Weeknd, “Take My Breath,” which premieres at No. 6. Elsewhere, Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” remains at No. 2, where it has been for some time. In fact, it’s held that spot for a record-tying amount of time: The only ever song to spend at least 11 weeks at No. 2 is Whitney Houston’s 1995 single “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

When “Stay” debuted at No. 1, Laroi and Bieber made their home countries proud: The song is Bieber’s eighth No. 1, which ties him with Drake for the most all-time among Canadian artists. Meanwhile, as for Laroi, “Stay” is the first song by an Australian-born solo male artist to top the Hot 100 in 40 years, since Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.” He’s also the first Australian-born artist to top the Hot 100 since Sia, who was No. 1 for four weeks in August 2016 with the Sean Paul collaboration “Cheap Thrills.”