Contrary to his Twitter bio, John Legend is more than just Chrissy Teigen’s husband. He’s also an eleven-time Grammy winner who aims to promote joy through his music. The singer released “Bigger Love” Friday as an anthem for being carefree. The empowering track arrives as the lead single off Legend’s upcoming album, which is slated for a summer release.
Peppered with reggae influences, “Bigger Love” boasts expansive and rhythmic percussion. With his signature soaring vocals, Legend sings of ignoring the negative aspects of the world and focusing on the good. “We ain’t going no place but up / Nothing can stop this, no one can top us / We got a bigger love,” Legend croons.
In a statement, Legend said the track celebrates all things love: “This song is a celebration of love, resilience and hope. I wrote it last year, before any of us could have imagined what 2020 would become. The message of the song is that love can help carry us through these dark times and music can bring us joy and inspiration. I hope it brings some light to people’s day and maybe inspires a dance break!”
Legend will debut “Bigger Love” live on Global Citizen’s televised One World: Together At Home. Curated by Lady Gaga and hosted by late-night talk show favorites, the TV special benefits healthcare workers that are on the front line.
Now the good news, there are reviewers and judges all over the world (and right here on this site!) trying their damndest to help you figure out which whiskeys really are “the best.” Of course, that word itself isn’t easy to define. Judges of big competitions, like the recent San Francisco World Spirits Competition, have specific characteristics they look for but sometimes it still comes down to a special magic something.
To help you understand why some whiskeys get chosen as standouts, we’re breaking down* the 12 top American whiskey picks from the 2020 SF World Spirits Competition. These are the cream of the crop — Double Gold and “Best In Show” winners — as chosen by people who spend their lives sipping the best of the best. These whiskeys are also fairly widely available for delivery. Though, to be fair, there are a couple of bottles that are in a very expensive and very rare category.
*Two bottles that we didn’t have the chance to taste because of the quarantine have been noted.
Best American Blended Whiskey — FEW American Whiskey
ABV: 46.5% Distillery: FEW Spirits, Evanston, IL Average Price:$47.49
The Whiskey:
FEW offers a solid grain-to-glass craft whiskey experience. This expression is a blend of their signature bourbon and rye whiskeys cut with whiskey made with cherrywood-smoked barley malt whiskey. There’s no age statement on the bottle but each whiskey is nuanced and well mellowed, creating a fascinatingly unique American whiskey.
Our Tasting Notes:
This is kind of the best of all worlds if you dig on rye and bourbon. There’s a clear sense of apples, cloves and cinnamon, clear vanilla, and wet brown sugar next to a hint of that cherry smoke. Fresh ginger sharpness marries with oak, black pepper, and caramel apples. The spice heats up on the short finish with a slight sense of dark chocolate that leans dry and spicy.
Best Flavored Whiskey — Catskill Provisions New York Honey Rye Whiskey
ABV: 40% Distillery: Finger Lakes Distilling, Burdett, NY Average Price:$43.50
The Whiskey:
This flavored whiskey is made from a rye whiskey made by Finger Lakes Distilling. The mash bill of 80 percent rye and 20 percent barley make this one pretty bold on the rye side. The whiskey then makes its way to Catskills Provisions where it’s infused with local, fresh honey from upstate New York.
“Indulge in our smooth, rich flavor with hints of toffee, burnt orange peel, and golden raisin.”
Best Bourbon (Best Small Batch Bourbon Aged 6 To 10 Years) — Barrell Bourbon Batch 021 10-Year-Old Cask Strength
ABV: 53.1% Distillery: Barrell Craft Spirits, Louisville, KY Average Price:$84.52
The Whiskey:
Not only was this expression deemed the “best small batch bourbon” but the absolute “best bourbon” overall this year. This dram is comprised of 18 barrels chosen for three main attributes: Corn-focused and buttery, the woodiest notes present, and the easiest drinking lower-proof bourbon. The barrels ranged from ten to 14 years old and hailed from distilleries in Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky with the final product blended and bottled in Kentucky.
Tasting Notes:
Blackberries touched with a hint of tanginess lead to black tea, light rushes of tobacco, ground cardamon, toasted oak, and a note of fresh peppermint. Fatty and sweet marzipan sits next to dark chocolate nougat while mingling with a minerality, peaches, fresh honey, orange, orchard flowers, and more of that blackberry tang. Finally, the sip reels off with mild spice, bitter cacao, dried roses, anise, and mellow, almost tart warmth.
Best Straight Bourbon — Woodinville Straight Bourbon
ABV: 45% Distillery: Woodinville Whiskey Co., Woodinville, WA Average Price:$42.99
The Whiskey:
This Washington state bourbon is another great grain-to-glass craft whiskey experience. The classic mash bill of corn, rye, and barley is all grown in Washington specifically for the distillery. The new oak is aged on-site for 18 months outdoors, rain or shine. The oak is then slowly toasted and then deeply charred before the hot juice goes in for a five-year rest.
Tasting Notes:
Toasted oak and a slight bitterness from the char mingle with a ripe black cherry fruit sense. Dried herbs and fresh mint cut through the heavy hand of oak with doses of vanilla and caramel pushed to the background. The fruit, spice, and herbs come together on an oaky final note, with a wisp of smoke billowing underneath the sip.
Best Small Batch Bourbon Aged Up to 5 Years — Kings County Distillery Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon
ABV: 50% Distillery: Kings County Distillery, Brooklyn, NY Average Price:$60.99 (Half Bottle)
The Whiskey:
New York’s Kings County has been a mainstay on the awards circuit since they started. The craft distiller uses New York grown organic corn and English malted barley in its mash bill. The bourbon is then aged in small format oak and bottled at higher proof under federal regulations, hence the “bottled-in-bond” moniker.
Tasting Notes:
Malts create a biscuit-covered-in-butter-and-honey base with a sense of Christmas spices alongside bright and fresh cherries. Those spices carry on as the cherries turn into dried fruit and bitter chocolate comes into play. A rich salted caramel sweetness peaks as dark fruits and spice combine for a big finish.
Best Small Batch Bourbon Aged 11 Years and Older — Eagle Rare 17-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 50.5% Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY Average Price:$501.50
The Whiskey:
This is one of the five classics that are part of Buffalo Trace’s yearly “Antique Collection” release. This expression is classic Eagle Rare 10 which is simply aged an additional seven years. The 17-year-old barrels are hand-selected for an exemplary small-batch quality.
Tasting Notes:
Dried tobacco mixes with cedar, old cinnamon sticks, and dried fruit soaked in sugar. The tobacco carries through the palate as a rich sense of vanilla peeks in beside hints of worn leather, spice, and oak char. Rich toffee rises next to cacao bitterness as the spicy final note lingers next to a whisper of tobacco smoke.
Best Single Barrel Bourbon Aged Up To 10 Years — Baker’s Single Barrel Bourbon
ABV: 53.5% Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont, KY Average Price:$249.99
The Whiskey:
Hailing from the Jim Beam rickhouses, Baker’s Single Barrel is a unique and refined bottle of bourbon well-worth seeking out. The juice is aged on the higher floors of the rickhouse and the barrels are hand-selected for exactness in quality.
Tasting Notes:
This is a single barrel, so iterations will vary. Based on my dram, expect an opening of dark blackberries next to bourbon vanilla and caramel. That vanilla carries through as oak helps usher in sharp spice and a hint of licorice and roasted nuts. Expect the vanilla to carry on to a spicy, warm, and velvety end.
Best Special Barrel-Finished Bourbon — Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series “Phifer Pavitt Reserve” Bourbon
ABV: 53.5% Distillery: Bardstown Bourbon Company, Bardstown, KY (sourced) Average Price:$139.99
The Whiskey:
Bardstown Bourbon’s Collaborative Series partners well-made whiskey with unique finishing programs. This expression is a nine-year-old Tennessee straight bourbon that’s transferred to French oak from Napa Valley’s Phifer Pavitt Winery. The whiskey spends an additional 19 months in that oak.
Tasting Notes:
Marzipan, black pepper, and cherries greet you. The black pepper mellows to more of a white pepper and cinnamon spice mix as the marzipan carries through with a clear sense of plummy oak wine barrels. Bourbon vanilla pops in alongside the spice with a long, svelte finish.
ABV: 50% Distillery: Pennington Distilling Co., Nashville, TN Average Price:$53.99
The Whiskey:
Tennessee whiskey is finally making a comeback and Davidson Reserve is a fine example of that resurgence. The Tennessee whiskey is made from locally grown corn and rye with a touch of barley that’s twice distilled and then filtered through new sugar maple charcoal a la the Lincoln County Process that makes Tennessee whiskey so unique. The juice is then aged for a minimum of four years before going into the bottle.
Tasting Notes:
Crème brûlée infused with real maple syrup creates a base for dried red berries. Malted crackers covered in buttery caramel mingle with the burnt sugars from grilled fruits and a slight marshmallow sweetness and texture. All of that sugar is cut by a rush of fresh mint sprigs that helps usher in a short and, yes, quite sweet finish.
ABV: 52.5% Distillery: Heaven Hill, Bardstown, KY Average Price:$399.99
The Whiskey:
This rye is all about the nuances. This edition is comprised of a small batch of 75 barrels that are hit with fire twice as long as usual, creating a deep black char and rippling for the juice to rest in. The whiskey is then aged exactly eight years and nine months on a high floor of the Heaven Hill rickhouse.
Tasting Notes:
That char imparts a sense of smoke next to dark chocolate bitterness, pine resin, banana, and vanilla. Dark spices and sharp black pepper arrive with a note of fresh honey as a counterpoint. That woody pine, char, chalky bitterness, and spice combine on a long and warm end.
Best Craft Distiller Whiskey — ASW Distillery Maris Otter Single Varietal Single Malt Whiskey
ABV: 54.2% Distillery: ASW Distillery at American Spirit Works, Atlanta, GA Average Price:$53.99
The Whiskey:
This is going to be a tough bottle to get a hold of as only so many were made. This expression comes from the brainchild of homebrewers and has deep roots in beer malts. The whiskey is Scottish whisky distilling meets American bourbon aging. The mash bill is 100 percent English Maris Otter Malt and distilled in Scottish pot stills. Then the juice goes into medium and medium-heavy charred new American oak, adding that bourbon element.
Best Other Single Malt Whiskey — The Notch Nantucket Island Single Malt Whisky Aged 15 Years
ABV: 48% Distillery: Cisco Brewers Triple Eight Distillery, Nantucket, MA Average Price:$350
The Whiskey:
This one is going to be really hard to come by. The dram also hails from brewers turned distillers and also utilizes a 100 percent mash bill of Maris Otter Malts. It’s treated like scotch via pot still distilling and then aging in ex-bourbon barrels (mostly from Buffalo Trace) for 15 long years.
Tasting Notes:
Dried apples and pears lurk alongside bourbon notes of caramel and vanilla. Sweet cherries flutter past as rich pipe tobacco, libraries full of worn leather, oak, and mild spices mingle on the palate. Finally, the dram comes to a close with a flourish fresh green peppercorns, toasted oak, and a final hint of tart fruit.
YNW Melly, who was reportedly diagnosed with COVID-19 while in jail awaiting trial for two counts of first-degree murder, put out an S.O.S. on Twitter, reaching out to one of his biggest collaborators for help: Kanye West. The two rappers previously worked together on Melly’s We All Shine single, “Mixed Personalities,” which is one of the younger rapper’s biggest hits to date. Late in the afternoon on Thursday, April 16, Melly or his representatives tweeted to Kanye’s account, “Need your help,” requesting the hit maker to send a direct message.
While it’s impossible to know whether or not Kanye saw the request or responded, it’s easy to imagine how his work with prison reform might make him an attractive resource for the distressed Melly. Further to that work, he’s also got the ear of the current occupant of the Oval Office and has used that influence to try to help out younger rappers in the past. In 2019, Donald Trump reached out to the Swedish authorities on behalf of the then-incarcerated ASAP Rocky at Kanye’s behest, although Sweden’s Prime Minister declined to release the rapper on Trump’s say-so.
However, Melly’s team shouldn’t get their hopes too high that Kanye could again sway Trump to reach out on an incarcerated rapper’s behalf. For one thing, Rocky was only locked up on assault charges, while Melly is set to go on trial for allegedly murdering two of his YNW crew members in an attempt to fake a drive-by. For another, it was later revealed that Trump only reached out for Rocky as a publicity stunt, one that has since backfired spectacularly, causing the already insecure politician more public embarrassment. And since Melly’s request for early release due to his coronavirus diagnosis was already denied by a judge, there’s little Trump could do legally speaking.
While Melly’s tweet leaves it unclear what exactly he needs Kanye’s help with, all this is just speculation, but here’s hoping that the rapper at least recovers from his symptoms enough to see a fair trial.
Darren Aronofsky, the director behind cinematic mind-f*cks like Requiem for a Dream and mother!, was hired by Warner Bros. to direct a Batman film. It went as well as you might expect. The film was going to be based on Frank Miller’s legendary Batman: Year One story with some key differences, according to the Batman wiki, including “the Batmobile would have been a Lincoln Continental” and “after Bruce Wayne’s parents are shot, Bruce loses his fortune and becomes homeless.” But the project fell apart when Aronofsky realized he had a different vision for the Dark Knight than the studio.
“The studio wanted Freddie Prinze, Jr. and I wanted Joaquin Phoenix,” he told Empire. “I remember thinking, ‘Uh oh, we’re making two different films here.’ That’s a true story. It was a different time. The Batman I wrote was definitely a way different type of take than they ended up making.” What “they” ended up making Batman Begins, which turned out pretty well for everyone involved, and Phoenix won an Oscar for playing the Joker. Aronofsky, too, has been up for an Academy Award (Best Director for Black Swan), but he has an even rarer distinction: he’s one of the few people who has “shocked” Frank Miller:
Apparently even [Miller] was shocked by how dark Aronofsky was looking to go, with Batman veering into torture territory. “The Batman that was out before me was Batman & Robin, the famous one with the nipples on the Batsuit, so I was trying to undermine that, and reinvent it,” he explains. “That’s where my head went.”
You think that’s dark?
doing the jack nicholson nodding gif while envisioning the untethered insanity of a nic pizzolatto batman movie pic.twitter.com/4sZ0xVoCGe
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Westside Gunn is a survivor. After years of grinding on the gritty, frigid streets of Buffalo, New York, the Griselda Records founder and self-declared Fly God recently found himself facing a battle of a different kind. This enemy wasn’t one he could shoot it out with, make deals with, or even out-rap in a lyrical contest. It was the COVID-19 coronavirus and it laid him low for several weeks as he battled chest pains that felt “like a tornado went through my chest.”
Yet, just like those Buffalo avenues, unforgiving the drug game, the cutthroat rap game, and the stark spotlight of his burgeoning stardom, Gunn “thugged it out,” practically overcoming the virus before he even let his closest associates know he was fighting for his life. Somehow, in the midst of all that, he maintained the insane work ethic that had him pumping out three-to-four projects a year over the past decade, wrapping up work on his latest full-length release, Pray For Paris.
Following up 2019’s Flygod Is An Awesome God, Paris is Gunn’s ode to the finer things in life and showcase of his eclectic tastes, inspired by a recent trip to the titular French capital for Fashion Week — his first trip out of the country. The city’s influence on the project is undeniable; Gunn’s usual heavyweight grit is balanced by the smooth polish of one of the world’s jazz epicenters, with less focus on gunplay and more on the artistic vibes he soaked up on his first trip abroad. Don’t get it twisted, though: There are still plenty of his signature “boom boom boom boom” ad-libs peppered throughout.
Gunn was generous enough to accept an interview by phone — despite still recovering from his respiratory illness — to break down the new album, his artistic growth, and his post-rap plans, including design, film direction, and executive producing many more potential classics.
How are you? I know that you have been going through it and I just want to make sure you’re doing all right.
I’m good. Just maintaining. I didn’t even make the announcement that I already was feeling at least 80% better. I’m not one of those people that want everybody to feel sorry for me and call me a thousand times a day to check on me. I was just thugging it out. It’s been healing in my own kind of way. And I was really focusing on this project and getting love. And everybody that was involved in the project, we’re having conversations on it through text, and just building. Just designing. Shit like that was like my therapy, just getting stronger again.
I got to get my breath back right, of course. Because I’m an asthmatic, too, so it’s taking a little longer to get my breath back 100%, but another week or two I should be back up. I was having bad chest pains for a long time. It was like a tornado went through my chest. So once that pain started subsiding a little bit, I’m like, “Okay.” Eventually I’m like, “Okay, I’m starting to feel a little better.” Because the pain was crazy. It was like, this shit killing people.
With all of that happening, it’s so good to actually hear somebody still being able to work. And that’s what we want to talk about today, is the work. So let’s get into it. What is the concept behind Pray For Paris?
It started off as a EP. I was out in Paris. I had no idea I was even going to record one record, because I went out there for fashion week. Everything was based off of fashion week. And I’m not a guy who just raps all year long. “Hey, I’m a rapper. Let me go in the studio.” Some people, they live in the studio.
When I went out there, all I was focusing on was fashion. Anybody that know me, know I’m a fashion guy. Even if you listen to my lyrics, since Hitler Wears Hermes one, it’s always fashion. So, this was my first Fashion Week in Paris, this was actually my first time leaving the country. So, I went out there and I was just inspired, by the city, by fashion shows, by the parties, the culture out there.
So after like five days, all the shows, and parties, and shit was over. I ended up booking some studio time, because the thing was, I wanted to rap. I wanted to do something in Paris that was special, because I was so inspired. I had never experienced nothing like that in my life. I was just like on a natural high, just being out there. I’m like, okay, I’m going to make a EP, when I get back to the States on Tuesday, and I’m just going to drop it on everybody Friday.
But once I got back, I was just like, yo, I should make an album, man. But like the vibe of this album was just…. I set the tone in Paris. The first six songs was made out there. But just me coming back and working — the fans need more. I need to make it a full length, and let me just go hard. I haven’t dropped nothing since October. The fans need more than just six songs.
This one is probably your most feature-laden project. So I was wondering about what was the reasoning behind why, especially since some of these names might be unexpected to people. Tyler The Creator, Wale, even Jay Versace got a beat on here. So, what was the reasoning behind putting so many features in, especially so many features that might be considered unusual for a Griselda project?
Well, when I was in Paris, the first six songs, of course, was no features at all. It was just like the Paris vibe. But it was just like when I came back, man, and if I’m going to do it… that’s the one thing about me. If I’m going to do a project, you always going to get the best out of me. Every single time. When I first made Flygod, it was like, “There’s no way he could top Flygod.” Then I dropped Supreme Blientele.
“There’s no way you could top Supreme Blientele.” Then I dropped, Hitler Wears Hermes 7. Then it’s like, “There’s no way you can top Hitler 7. So now it’s this. I love the art, I love pushing the culture forward, I love bringing something new to the table, I love the fact that I can bring certain people into my world. I brought Tyler into my world, I brought Jay Versace into my world. Love just bridging the gap, and bringing the best hip-hop and art to the game as possible.
Yes, sir. Which song from the album can you just not wait for people to hear? Which is the one that you know people are going to go bananas over?
My favorite is “French Toast” with Wale and Joyce Wrice, because it’s a different kind of Westside Gunn. It’s not the shoot-em-up, bang bang Westside Gunn. It’s just kind of just like fly, smooth, you can play it on the radio, you can play it in the club. If it wasn’t for this damn corona, you would have a video.
It would have definitely been something crazy, man. I’m a fly dude, Wale a fly dude. The ladies in it would have been immaculate. And we would have been in Paris. So it would have been like something crazy. I say “French toast.” I also say the “327” with Joey and Tyler.
You guys have been in the game 10 years strong. You guys probably dropped your first joint, what, in 2011, 2012 right?
Yeah. Yep. [Hitler Wears Hermes] Part one was October, 2012.
So, what did it take to remain in the game almost ten years strong, as an independent artist, as an independent label that people might not know?
It’s all art, man. I love it. I love it, man. And it didn’t matter if I was the most popular, or not. You’re going to get two, three projects out of Westside Gunn every single year. Last year alone, I did Flygod Is An Awesome God and Hitler Wears Hermes 7.
Even with the songs that I just was performing on tour like Awesome God is probably — definitely — on my top three projects I ever made. And it was so overlooked at the time it came out. And people just really didn’t even get the lyrics. I was so ahead of my time, talking about shit people still don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s going to be one of them projects that people still won’t get for another two, three years.
But after all of that, what’s going on with all of these retirement announcements? Because you said you were going to retire sometime in 2021 or 2022. And then Conway is talking about he’s going to retire. What’s going on with half of Griselda trying to retire all of a sudden? You guys are just getting started.
I can’t speak on bro. Bro ass probably was drunk and high, and just tweeted some shit. I don’t know. You know how sh*t go. But me, personally, I’ve been saying this sh*t for two years already. And it’s not like I just start saying it. My crew knew, my family knew. In this business, I’m not a rapper. I’m a artist. I love painting pictures. I hate when people call me a rapper. I’m not a rapper at all. I’m a artist, man. I start with that blank canvas, and I get to work. I always said 2020 was going to be my last year because I was going to push a wrestling company and executive produce some of the illest. Just because I’m not rapping, don’t mean I’m not about to executive produce the illest groups people ever heard, still.
I want to go to Milan, and Paris, and Japan and design, and start interning for a major house, things like that. I came into this game knowing I had to do what I had to do to get my team on. Conway was first. Then came Benny. We all came together, and we did what we had to do together. Everybody making noise. And it’s like, okay, what I came to do, I did.
I just want to focus on a lot of other things. I was doing fashion before the rapping. The GxFR brand, the clothing brand, was before Griselda Records. I still want to do film. It’s so much shit I want to do. I’m still going to direct movies and videos. I’m still going to be behind the illest shit you still see in the culture.
Pray For Paris is out now on Griselda Records. Get it here.
When Atlanta debuted back in 2016, I was utterly flabbergasted, like much of the viewing public. However, unlike the majority of the show’s viewers, my astonishment stemmed from a slightly different place. While many were floored by the show’s off-kilter humor and subtle performances from Bryan Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield, and the show’s creator, Donald Glover, I was instead flummoxed at the show’s depiction of my actual life from the ages of about 18 to 25.
I had the similar, eerie feeling of watching my own life story — at least, in part — when I watched the first handful of episodes of Lil Dicky’s new FX show, Dave. With each of the two dark, awkward comedies, I felt a veil had been lifted. Each of the shows approached the chase for rap superstardom from slightly different angles, but some truly authentic ones — ones only someone who had been through the tribulations themselves would understand, but ways that only true outsiders would dare to portray. As it turns out, with all the shows out there that purport to pull back the curtain on the inner workings of the rap game, the most authentic depictions of the music industry on television come from a pair of deeply satirical, at times outright surreal comedies.
Let me disclaim here: I was by no means ever on the same path to stardom as Atlanta‘s Paper Boi or Dave‘s fictionalized version of Lil Dicky. None of my songs ever went viral; I never even finished a full project, aside from a poorly-mixed EP — the same project that ultimately convinced me to lay my dream to rest. But I did watch my friends and associates — guys I’d grown up with, performed with, recorded with, and cheered on from the sidelines — go through similar experiences to those portrayed on those shows. Blu, Pac Div, Thurz, and more were my compatriots in the early “blog era” hip-hop boom, and I had a front-row seat to the often bizarre goings-on of the rap industry periphery.
There are some shows — and to be honest, a lot of magazines, documentaries, interviews, and other “journalistic” endeavors — that would have you believe that the rap music industry is a ship-shape, buttoned-up, professional enterprise run by folks who have a total grip on how it works and crystal-clear plans on breaking out to mainstream attention and critical acclaim. But the fun thing about watching FX’s dark hip-hop comedies — at least to me — is how quickly those facades are stripped away to show the dirty truth that seemingly no one in the music business wants “civilians” to know: Nobody has any clue what they’re doing.
Dave‘s fictionalized version of Dave Burd — aka Lil Dicky — bumbles through all the insecurities I went through as a young artist. He’s too scared to ask for help and insecure about his prospects, so he hides behind bluster. His encounters with would-be peers in the rap game such as Young Thug, Trippie Redd, YG, and more and his arguments for not trying to recruit their assistance remind me of my own reticence to ask Pac Div for a feature, or to tell Blu I wanted in on that one song during a recording session. Likewise, all of Dave’s and Paper Boi’s struggles to parlay their tiny bit of internet fame into other opportunities are exactly what I watched friends go through, from charity celebrity basketball games to problematic meetings with label A&Rs and potential sponsors.
Watching Donald Glover’s Earn grapple with learning the tricky interpersonal politics of management is exactly what it looks like on the ground. While social media makes it looks like managers and publicists float above it all, making deals and connections with ease, the reality is much closer to GaTa’s “wiggling,” fast-talking, finesse, trying to convince seemingly important people that you’re important enough to buy a few moments of their time. The picture on the ground is much closer to the everyday grind of Atlanta and Dave‘s hardscrabble hustle, flying by the seat of your pants and hoping things work out at the 11th hour.
The shows are also much more realistic depictions of artists themselves. When Dave‘s engineer Elz approaches Trippie to pitch his production, Trippie tells the timid wannabe that he should show some more heart. In reality, these stars are much more down-to-earth than glowing profiles and prickly public personas would suggest. In truth, hip-hop artists are just people, as prone to bad moods and bouts of emotional insecurity as anyone. They may boast a lot on record, but in both my years pursuing the craft and more recently interviewing and profiling them, I’ve found that the vast majority are just like any of your everyday friends and neighbors, albeit with a lot more money and an image to uphold.
Contracts are often solidified on-the-fly, fan encounters veer from exasperating to uplifting, and through it all, a love of the art form keeps everyone going, chasing a dream that only a spare few ever get to truly execute at the highest level. Almost any artist would agree; why else are these shows populated with cameos from the likes of trap rappers and blog favorites? It’s likely because they recognize the authenticity behind these shows’ narratives, seeing their own stories reflected on screen and in the scripts as the only true representations of the rap game as they know it, having seen it from behind the curtain in all its surreal oddity, awkward drama, and yes, its dark comedy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown everything into upheaval, and wrestling TV ratings are just one small sign of that. Viewership is down across the board, probably for the simple reason that shows with no live crowd tend to feel kind of awkward, and a lot of fans are understandable looking for entertainment that helps them forget the current crisis, while wrestling reminds them of it. However, NXT has worked hard to make its episodes feel like a big deal, while AEW Dynamite has pretty much just done what they can with the people they have around (which doesn’t include a lot of their biggest stars), and that’s been reflected in the total viewership these last couple of weeks.
Last week’s NXT was promoted as Takeover USA, and featured a big women’s ladder match and the latest (and supposedly last) extended Gargano vs Ciampa painfest. According to Showbuzz Daily, that show drew 693,000, while only 692,000 people watched AEW Dynamite.
Dynamite still came out ahead in the 18-49 demographic, however, with a 0.26 rating compared to NXT’s 0.19. That put Dynamite at 32 in the Cable Top 150 rankings, and NXT at 51. The Fox News show Special Report With Brett Baier came in first that night, with a 0.64 demo rating. That show was also first in overall viewership with 5.531 million people watching.
This week, NXT was on top once again, although both shows lost some viewers. Showbuzz reports that this week’s NXT had 692,000 viewers (the same amount AEW Dynamite had last week) while Dynamite dropped to 683,000 viewers.
Those key 18-49 demographic ratings still only changed a little bit, with AEW Dynamite getting a 0.25 this week, compared to NXT’s 0.17. Special Report With Bret Baier on FOX News remained first among cable shows, with a 0.56 rating and 5.586 million viewers.
It seems likely that NXT will stay on top in viewership for the weeks to come. As unethical as it might be for WWE to be running live shows right now, it does help them keep things a little bit fresher.
In December of 2014, Chromatics announced a new album called Dear Tommy. That album has not been released yet. In fact, the group has released another album, Closer To Grey, since then. Dear Tommy has had a long and mysterious history, but now things are clearing up: The group has unveiled a new Dear Tommy tracklist and shared a new song from it, so it appears the album is finally coming out.
The album will feature the new cut “Teacher,” a synthy and thumping electronic song, as well as previously released singles “Just Like You,” the title track, and “Time Rider.” It does not include, however, the songs they released earlier this year, “Toy” and “Famous Monsters.”
The group shared a message alongside the new song, which reads:
“‘The apple obscured in fog is enigmatic & open to the interpretation of the viewer. Are we sinking into the unknown or rising from beyond the grave? An apple a day keeps the doctor away & music is the medicine. Our teachers transfer knowledge of good & evil. From the fairytale of Snow White’s endless sleep to the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis, exposure is the agent of change. Music is a language communicated by the artist but ultimately defined by the listener’s own exposure to sound throughout their life time. I can’t change my past, but I can choose to break the cycle & not pass the poison apple I was fed to my daughter.’
Bazzi’s quick rise stems from his unique ability to proliferate hits by offering an exuberant mix of smooth pop and R&B. The singer released the heartfelt ode “Renee’s Song” to his girlfriend just a few weeks ago that followed the playful ode to young adulthood “Young & Alive.” Now, the singer has returned with the snappy track “I Got You.”
When Bazzi sat down to write the tune, he knew he wanted to make a viral TikTok hit. A day after releasing the track, Bazzi began a successful TikTok dance challenge using the memorable beat. Starting off slow, the single quickly picks up a rolling beat under Bazzi’s tender vocals. “I know I haven’t been a lover, I’ll be here for a while / There’s some insecure people tryna mess with the plans / You help me focus on myself, help me focus on the fans,” he croons.
Sharing the song, Bazzi wrote on Twitter that he completed the song relatively quickly: “i woke up today & decided i would make a song and put it online no matter what… i think it actually turned out kinda hard lol”
i woke up today & decided i would make a song and put it online no matter what…
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