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Easy-To-Find Bourbons Under $50 For Super Bowl Sunday, Ranked

Super Bowl Bourbons
Shutterstock/UPROXX

This weekend is going to be a good weekend for some bourbon drinking. Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest non-holiday holiday on the American calendar and it’s one that’s awash in booze. If you ask me (your friendly neighborhood whiskey critic), you should be grabbing tasty, affordable, and easy-to-find bourbon for this weekend’s festivities.

Sure, you can finally crack that bottle of Pappy 20 if your team wins. But the rest of us will need a reliable and affordable bottle of bourbon to enjoy during the game, the commercials, and amidst gorging ourselves on wings. So let’s focus on that.

Below, I’m calling out 20 bottles of bourbon that all cost under $50 — all of which you should be able to find at any liquor store. That does narrow it down a bit. I’d love to call out local to Kansas City bourbon J. Riger’s Bottled In Bond, but it’s not available nationwide yet and it’s just north of $50 per bottle. The bottles listed below are going to be right there at any Costco, Total Wine, Whole Foods, Kroger, or wherever good liquor is sold.

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

20. Old Grand-Dad 114 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Beam Suntory

ABV: 57%

Average Price: $24

The Whiskey:

Hailing from the James B. Beam stills and warehouses, this “Old” whiskey is a fan favorite. The whiskey is from Beam’s high rye mash bill. The hot juice is then matured until it’s just right. After the barrels are blended, the whiskey is just touched with water to bring the proof down, and then it’s bottled.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Vanilla tobacco meets hints of rye spiciness with a dose of caramel and old oak on the nose.

Palate: The palate holds onto that rye spice as notes of cherry and oak dominate the vanilla and toffee sweetness.

Finish: The end returns to the spice with a chewy tobacco edge that lingers for a short time but leaves you wanting more.

Bottom Line:

This is a good crowd-pleaser that’s not going to break the bank. It works wonders in Coke or 7-Up since it’s bold enough to stand out with those big sweet soda flavors. It makes an easy and fun old fashioned thanks to the cherry and vanilla sweetness. And you can shoot it with a beer if you’re so inclined. That’s versatility.

19. Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Sazerac Company

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $28

The Whiskey:

This is the whiskey that heralded a new era of bourbon in 1999. Famed Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee came out of retirement to create this bourbon to celebrate the renaming of the George T. Stagg distillery to Buffalo Trace when Sazerac bought the joint. The rest, as they say, is history, especially since this has become a touchstone bourbon for the brand.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Classic notes of vanilla come through next to a dark syrup sweetness, a flourish of fresh mint, and raw leather that veers towards raw steak.

Palate: The palate cuts through the sweeter notes with plenty of spices — like clove and star anise — next to a hint of tart berries underneath it all.

Finish: The end is long, velvety, and really delivers on the vanilla and spice.

Bottom Line:

This is a step up but still very much in the “mixer” category of good bourbons. You can batch this into a Manhattan or old fashioned very easily. Or just use it for mixing simple cocktails all day. It’ll shine.

18. Remus Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Remus Straight Bourbon
MGP of Indiana

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $34

The Whiskey:

This is the entry-point bottle to the beloved Remus Reserve yearly releases. The whiskey is MGP’s bourbon (from the Ross & Squibb branded distillery) but they don’t let us know the mash bill or how long these barrels age before they go into the batch.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose is full of berry brambles heavy with sweet, tart, and dark berries, thorny stems, green leaves, and even a little dark soil next to Cherry Coke with a hint of spicy and a touch of sweet oak.

Palate: The cherry morphs into a syrupy and spicy cherry pie with a lard crust next to hints of vanilla pudding, brittle toffee, and more of that soft and sweet oak.

Finish: The finish is short and sweet and highlights that cherry while layering in new leather, more oak, and nice and lush vanilla cream.

Bottom Line:

This whiskey is from one of the most renowned sources of bourbon on the planet, MGP. It’s simply quality whiskey that delivers exactly what you want for this price point — classic notes, easy drinking, and solid mixing prowess.

17. George Dickel Bourbon Whisky Aged 8 Years

Diageo

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $31

The Whisky:

The whisky in the bottle is the same Dickel Tennessee whiskey but pulled from barrels that leaned more into classic bourbon flavor notes instead of Dickel’s iconic Tennessee whisky notes. The barrels are a minimum of eight years old before they’re vatted. The whiskey is then cut down to a manageable 90-proof and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This nose is classic, with rich vanilla next to dry spicy tobacco leaves next to apple hand pies with sugar icing made with plenty of dark spices and butter.

Palate: The palate has a bran vibe that hints at a white Necco Wafer with a ripe white peach fresh off the tree with a hint of ginger bite to it.

Finish: The end circles back around to a vanilla wafer with nutmeg, orange zest, and a twinge of dark chocolate sauce leading to a dry and slightly molded wicker chair sitting in the sun.

Bottom Line:

This is a good bottle of Dickel whisky. The bourbon is perfect for mixing cocktails, especially if you want to lean into citrus or chocolate notes.

16. Jim Beam Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Jim Beam Single Barrel
Beam Suntory

ABV: 54%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

Each of these Jim Beam bottlings is pulled from single barrels that hit just the right spot of taste, texture, and drinkability, according to the master distillers at Beam. That means this juice is pulled from less than one percent of all barrels in Beam’s warehouses, making this a very special bottle at a bafflingly affordable price.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose opens with classic notes of vanilla sheet cake, salted caramel, wintry mulled wine spices, and a sense of cherry pie in a lard crust next to a hint of dried corn husk, old broom bristle, and dark chocolate pipe tobacco.

Palate: The palate layers orange zest next to sticky toffee pudding, old leather, and cherry tobacco next to dark chocolate with this lingering sense of coconut cream pie lurking somewhere in the background.

Finish: The finish leans into more woody winter spices (especially cinnamon bark and nutmeg) with rich toffee and cherry-chocolate tobacco braided with dry sweetgrass and cedar bark.

Bottom Line:

This is one of those bottles that has no business tasting as good as it does for this price. That said, the end is a little light, making this the perfect candidate for mixing up killer cocktails all Sunday long.

15. Elijah Craig Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Heaven Hill

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $25

The Whiskey:

This is Elijah Craig’s entry-point bottle. The mash is corn-focused, with more malted barley than rye. The whiskey is then rendered from “small batches” of barrels to create this proofed-down version of the iconic brand.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a light sense of rickhouse wood beams next to that mild taco seasoning on the nose with caramel apples, vanilla ice cream scoops, and a hint of fresh mint with a sweet/spicy edge.

Palate: The palate opens with a seriously smooth vanilla base with some winter spice (especially cinnamon and allspice) next to a hint of grain and apple pie filling.

Finish: The end leans towards the woodiness with a hint of broom bristle and minty tobacco lead undercut by that smooth vanilla.

Bottom Line:

This is another great cocktail base bourbon. It’s quintessential when it comes to the flavor profile — all that cherry, vanilla, caramel, and spice sings on the palate. That said, I’d still lean more toward mixing with this one than sipping, but I’m not stopping anyone from pouring this over some rocks and enjoying the hell out of it on Super Bowl Sunday.

14. Bulleit Bourbon 10 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Diageo

ABV: 45.6%

Average Price: $44

The Whiskey:

This is classic (sourced) Bulleit Bourbon that’s aged up to 10 years before it’s blended and bottled. The barrels are hand-selected to really amplify those classic “Bulleit” flavors that make this brand so damn accessible (and beloved) in the first place.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: A lot is going on with butter and spicy stewed apples, maple syrup, Christmas cakes full of nuts and dried fruit, and a hint of savory herbs all pinging through your nose.

Palate: The palate brings about smooth and creamy vanilla with plenty of butter toffee, sourdough crust, more X-mas spice, cedar bark, and a hint of dried roses.

Finish: The finish is long, warming, and embraces the toffee and spice before echoing the stewed fruits and buttery vanillas.

Bottom Line:

This is pretty damn good over ice in a rocks glass. It has a classic bourbon vibe that you’re looking for in an easy-drinking everyday bourbon. This also makes a mean old fashioned or whiskey sour.

13. Knob Creek Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 9 Years

Beam Suntory

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $44 (one-liter)

The Whiskey:

This is Beam’s small batch entry point into the wider world of Knob Creek. The juice is the low-rye mash aged for nine years in new oak in Beam’s vast warehouses. The right barrels are then mingled and cut down to 100 proof before being bottled in new, wavy bottles.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose on this feels classic with a bold sense of rich vanilla pods, cinnamon sharpness, buttered and salted popcorn, and a good dose of cherry syrup with a hint of cotton candy.

Palate: The palate mixes almond, orange, and vanilla into a cinnamon sticky bun with a hint of sour cherry soda that leads to a nice Kentucky hug on the mid-palate.

Finish: That warm hug fades toward black cherry root beer, old leather boots, porch wicker, and a sense of dried cherry/cinnamon tobacco packed into an old pine box.

Bottom Line:

This is where you get into the easy everyday sippers that work just as well in cocktails. This is basically a dealer’s choice whiskey pour with a vintage Kentucky bourbon vibe.

12. Rebel Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Single Barrel

Rebel Cask Strength
Lux Row Distillers

ABV: 60%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

This is Lux Row’s classic wheated bourbon recipe from 1849. The mash is made with 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley before it’s distilled and then left to mature for at least four years. Once aged, the whiskey barrels are batched and then bottled as-is at cask strength (mostly for retailers or bars).

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Pecan waffles, pancake syrup, and blueberries drive the nose with a hint of toasted marshmallow and old oak.

Palate: Those blueberries drive the palate toward honeyed Graham Crackers with a sense of almost floral honey, wet brown sugar, and old boot leather.

Finish: That honey amps up through the finish with the leather as cedar kindling and dry tobacco round out the hot finish with a sense of chili peppers stewed in brown sugar syrup with cinnamon and clove.

Bottom Line:

This whiskey has a little bit of punch to it, which is fun when applied in small doses. Overall, I’d pour this over a big rock and let it settle into itself a little. Then I’d try it in whiskey-forward cocktails for the rest of the day.

11. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select Tennessee Whiskey

Jack Daniel

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $48

The Whiskey:

This was first introduced in 1997. The whiskey is hand-selected from barrels on the upper floors of Jack’s vast Tenessee rickhouses. The whisky is bottled at a slightly higher proof to allow the nuance of the single-barrel whiskey to shine.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: A clear sense of toasted oak, dark apple tobacco, apricot jam, and a hint of molasses drives the nose toward pear syrup and pancakes covered in blueberry sauce.

Palate: Notes of caramel corn, mild winter spice barks, and plenty of oily vanilla beans are countered on the palate by cream soda, cinnamon cookies, and soft apple butter tobacco with a mild chewiness.

Finish: The sweet banana fruit arrives on the end and marries well to a peppery spice, apple clove gum, and mulled wine that amps up as the end draws near with a touch of woody pipe tobacco on the very end.

Bottom Line:

This whiskey is a fruit bomb but it works as a delicate and subtle sipper, especially over a single small ice cube. This is a good whiskey to have on hand on Sunday to pair with food too, those fruits work well against big savory and/or spicy flavors to calm them down.

10. Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 1870 Original Batch

Old Forester Bourbon
Brown-Forman

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $44

The Whisky:

This Old Forester celebrates the distillery’s founding in 1870. Back in the day, Geroge Brown would pull barrels from his three distilleries to create a consistent blend to bottle. Today, the good folks at Brown-Forman pull three barrels from three of their Kentucky warehouses. Each barrel will have a different day of distillation, a different entry proof before aging, and different ages. Those barrels are batched and then proofed down.

Tasting Note:

Nose: This opens with a rush of fresh wildflowers next to bold citrus notes — especially grapefruit and orange oils with a dash of lemon zest in the mix — before a deep and stewed cherry arrives with plenty of winter spice.

Palate: The taste takes that lemon and layers it into a very vanilla and butter-forward shortbread with a dusting of raw sugar that leads towards an eggnog spice mix cut with brandied cherries.

Finish: Spiciness drives the finish as a hint of that dark cherry and lemon mingle on the warm and fairly long end.

Bottom Line:

This is a whiskey that goes well beyond the ordinary to deliver something special and delicious. The fruit and floral notes really add something that elevates this whisky to a great sipper over a rock or a killer cocktail base for a whiskey-forward concoction.

9. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Brown-Forman

ABV: 45.2%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

This expression takes standard Woodford Bourbon and gives it a finishing touch. The bourbon is blended and moved into new barrels that have been double-toasted but only lightly charred. The juice spends a final nine months resting in those barrels before proofing and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a welcoming aroma of marzipan, blackberry, toffee, and fresh honey next to a real sense of pitchy, dry firewood.

Palate: The taste drills down on those notes as the sweet marzipan becomes more choco-hazelnut, the berries become increasingly dried and apple-y, the toffee becomes almost burnt, and the wood softens to a cedar bark.

Finish: A rich spicy and chewy tobacco arrives late as the vanilla gets super creamy and the fruit and honey combine on the slow fade.

Bottom Line:

The nutty fruitiness and silk nature of this one amps it above the average pour. You can pour this over some rocks and sip at it all day long if you want to. That nuttiness makes this a great candidate for a Manhattan too.

8. Rabbit Hole Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Rabbite Hole Cavehill
Rabbit Hole Distilling

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

This four-grain Kentucky bourbon is made with 70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% honey malted barley, and 10% malted barley. That spirit is then aged for three years in toasted and charred barrels before it’s small batched from only 15 barrels, proofed, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This has a lot of apple cobbler on the nose with sweet and bright stewed apples, plenty of dark brown spices, brown sugar, buttery pastry cobbles, and a touch of honey sweetness.

Palate: The honey becomes creamy and spiked with orange zest as the malt shines through as a digestive cookie with a hint of fresh mint and more of that honey with a flake of salt.

Finish: The finish brings about that spice again with a little more of a peppery edge this time as the fade slowly falls off, leaving you with a creamy vanilla tobacco feeling.

Bottom Line:

This is another bourbon that goes far beyond the average. A lot is going on here and it all works to create a vibrant sipping experience or a delightfully deep and delicious (simple) cocktail.

7. Michter’s US *1 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Michters Distillery

ABV: 45.7%

Average Price: $43

The Whiskey:

Michter’s really means the phrase “small batch” here. The tank they use to marry their hand-selected eight-year-old bourbons can only hold 20 barrels, so that’s how many go into each small-batch bottling. The blended juice is then proofed with Kentucky’s famously soft limestone water and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose on this is very fruity with a mix of bruised peach, red berries (almost like in a cream soda), and apple wood next to a plate of waffles with brown butter and a good pour of maple syrup that leads to a hint of cotton candy.

Palate: The sweetness ebbs on the palate as vanilla frosting leads to grilled peaches with a crack of black pepper next to singed marshmallows.

Finish: The end is plummy and full of rich toffee next to a dash of cedar bark and vanilla tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is probably the best cocktail bourbon on the list. This whiskey will stand up and work with any flavor profile direction that you can go in the cocktail world. And if that sounds too tiring, you can easily pour this over some rocks and enjoy it just as well.

6. Maker’s Mark Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky

Maker's Mark Cask Strength
Beam Suntory

ABV: 56.25%

Average Price: $42

The Whisky:

This special release from Maker’s Mark is their classic wheated bourbon turned up a few notches. The batch is made from no more than 19 barrels of whiskey. Once batched, that whiskey goes into the barrel at cask strength with no filtering, just pure whiskey-from-the-barrel vibes.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Burnt caramel candies and lush vanilla lead the way on the nose with hints of dry straw, sour cherry pie, and spiced apple cider with a touch of eggnog lushness.

Palate: The palate has a sense of spicy caramel with a vanilla base that leads to apricot jam, southern biscuits, and a flake of salt with a soft mocha creaminess.

Finish: The end is all about the buzzy tobacco spiciness with a soft vanilla underbelly and a hint of cherry syrup.

Bottom Line:

This is an essential Kentucky bourbon. Pour it over a big rock and let it wash over you all Sunday long.

5. Russell’s Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 10 Years Old

Russell's Reserve 10 Year
Campari Group

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $37

The Whiskey:

This small-batch expression is hand-selected by both Jimmy and Eddie Russell (the father and son team behind all of Wild Turkey’s line). The duo picks out ten-year-old barrels that hit just the right spot in both flavor and texture then small-batch them into this tasty bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This is a classic bourbon nose with clear notes of spiced cherry cola, lush vanilla, salted caramel, and soft oak next to almost botanical winter spices.

Palate: The taste delivers with more lush vanilla next to spice barks, soft cedar, and deeply dark and red fruit with a whisper of smudged sweet sage.

Finish: The end dives into a dark spiced cherry vibe next to soft and luxurious vanilla, tempered oak, and a mild sense of just “bourbon.”

Bottom Line:

This is another crowd-pleaser. You cannot go wrong opening this bottle on any given Sunday for neat pours, on the rocks sipping, or mixing into your favorite whiskey-forward cocktail.

4. Coopers’ Craft Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 100-Proof Barrel Reserve

Cooper's Craft 100 Proof
Brown-Forman

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $31

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is from Brown-Forman (which also makes Jack Daniels, Old Forester, King of Kentucky, and Woodford Reserve in the U.S.). The Kentucky-distilled juice is aged in special oak barrels that are chiseled before charring to create more surface space for carbon filtering and aging in the barrel. The best barrels were then batched, slightly proofed with that Kentucky limestone water, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a sense of old oak and almost smoldering cinnamon bark on the nose with a hint of apple/pear cider cut with orange oils and a whisper of vanilla-nougat wafers.

Palate: That apple/pear cider vibe dominated the start of the palate with a Martinelli’s cider sweetness next to clove buds and more cinnamon bark, a light sense of vanilla cake, and burnt orange.

Finish: The cinnamon attaches to the apple/pear cider on the finish with a fleeting sense of sweet oak and old evergreen pitch and an echo of orange tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is a bit of a hidden gem bourbon that gets a little lost on an over-crowded bourbon shelf at the liquor store. Grab some and pour it over some ice and you’ll be in for a choice Kentucky bourbon treat.

3. Four Roses Small Batch Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon
Kirin Brewery Company

ABV: 52%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

This expression uses six of Four Rose’s ten whiskeys. The blend employs OBSV, OBSK, OBSF, OESV, OESK, and OESF (see what that all means here) all aged six to seven years before batching, much lighter proofing, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This nose is enticing with a mix of dark berries and cloves with a yeasty doughnut filled with dark fruit and covered in powdered sugar next to a thin line of berry brambles — stems, thorns, dirt, leaves, everything.

Palate: The palate is lush with a balance of dark berry pie filling next to winter spices, mincemeat pies, nutshells, and brandy butter vanilla sauce.

Finish: The finish arrives with a rush of fresh mint next to wet cedar, blackberry Hostess Pies, and nutmeg-heavy eggnog all leading to a final note of that dark berry bramble black dirt.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the best Four Roses bottles that money can buy. This whisky is excellent as a sipper or cocktail base (especially one that you can have fun with).

2. Legent Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Beam Suntory

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $39

The Whiskey:

This bottle from Beam Suntory marries Kentucky bourbon, California wine, and Japanese whisky blending in one bottle. Legent is classic Kentucky bourbon made by bourbon legend Fred Noe at Beam that’s finished in both French oak that held red wine and Spanish sherry casks. The whiskey is then blended by whisky-blending legend Shinji Fukuyo at Suntory.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Plummy puddings with hints of nuts mingle with vinous berries, oaky spice, and a good dose of vanilla and toffee on the nose.

Palate: The palate expands on the spice with more barky cinnamon and dusting of nutmeg while the oak becomes sweeter and the fruit becomes dried and sweet.

Finish: The finish is jammy yet light with plenty of fruit, spice, and oak lingering on the senses.

Bottom Line:

This is maybe the easiest and most rewarding sipper on the list. It’s lush and full of deep nostalgic flavor notes that’ll have you pouring more than one on Sunday.

1. Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Campari Group

ABV: 58.4%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

This is the mountaintop of what the main line of Wild Turkey can achieve (that is still easily found on liquor store shelves for the most part). This is a blend of the prime barrels that are married and bottled untouched. That means no filtering and no cutting with water. This is a classic Turkey bourbon with nowhere to hide.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This opens like a dessert table during the holidays with crème brûlée next to a big sticky toffee pudding with orange zest sprinkled over the top next to a bushel of fresh mint.

Palate: The palate hits an early note of pine resin as the orange kicks up towards a bold wintry spice, soft vanilla cream, and a hint of honeyed cherry tobacco.

Finish: The end keeps the winter spices front and center as a lush pound cake feeling leads to soft notes of cherry-spiced tobacco leaves folded into an old cedar box with a whisper of old vanilla pods lurking in the background.

Bottom Line:

This is it. This is the whiskey that you want to buy if you want the perfect pour this Sunday. Yes, it makes an amazing cocktail too. But this is good enough to pour neat and take slow all day long.

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‘Game Of Thrones’ Stars Sophie Turner And Kit Harington Will Reunite For A New Horror Movie

Sansa Jon
HBO

There is nothing like a good family reunion to remind you how weird family reunions can be, especially if your “brother” might actually be your “cousin.” Even though Sansa and Jon didn’t have the strongest relationship of the bunch, their off-screen counterparts are teaming up once again for a new movie, which will be a fun throwback for Game of Thrones fans, or anyone who has been waiting for Kit Harington to return to the big screen (Marvel’s Eternals doesn’t really count).

Harington will reunite with Sophie Turner for the upcoming gothic thriller, The Dreadful. According to Deadline, the film takes place during the War of the Roses and follows the Sansa Stark actress as Anne, a young woman who lives with her mother-in-law in isolation on the outskirts of society. When a man from Anne’s past (Harington) returns, he sets off “a sequence of events that become a turning point for Anne.”

The film will be written and directed by Natasha Kermani, who also directed the trippy horror segment “TKNOGD” in the anthology film V/H/S/85.

This will be the first time Harington and Turner have shared the screen since Game of Thrones went out with a whimper. Turner, fresh from her Jonas divorce, is set to star as a real-life housewife turned criminal Joan Hannington in the upcoming series Joan.

(Via Deadline)

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Ozzy Osbourne Said Kanye West Used A Sample Of ‘War Pigs’ Without Permission And He Wants ‘Nothing To Do’ With The Controversial Producer

ozzy osbourne
Getty Image

A few months ago, hip-hop and heavy metal crossed over when Ozzy Osbourne praised T-Pain’s live performance of the Black Sabbath song “War Pigs.” Well, Ozzy’s had another run-in with a hip-hop star who wanted to use the song, but this one was decidedly less amicable.

Apparently, Kanye West is back up to his sample shenanigans. As recently as December, the controversial producer was taking flak for an unauthorized interpolation of Backstreet Boys’ hit “Everybody” apparently intended for Vultures, his interminably tardy joint album with Ty Dolla Sign. It turns out, that wasn’t the only uncleared sample he tried to sneak past the publishing watchdogs.

According to Osbourne via Twitter, West “ASKED permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of “War Pigs” from US Festival without vocals and was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many.” However, West “went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening” Thursday night at Chicago’s United Center. Osbourne concluded his tweet by insisting “I want no association with this man.”

(Side note: It was actually a piece of “Iron Man” as seen in the clip below. Point stands, though.)

Perhaps this is why Kanye and Ty once again failed to drop the album today — which I’m beginning to think is sort of the point. Like Donald Trump, if Kanye keeps racking up violations for blatantly breaking the rules, he can cry to his supporters that the other team is cheating or the game is rigged, all while stringing them along with empty promises and milking them of their money for a product he has little intention of ever actually delivering.

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The Best Beers To Chase Down This February

Firestone Walker/Roadhouse/Dogfish Head/East Brother/istock/Uproxx
Firestone Walker/Roadhouse/Dogfish Head/East Brother/istock/Uproxx

February might be the month of love — full of candy hearts, giant flower bouquets, and everything else that comes with Valentine’s Day — but it’s also one of the coldest months of the year. And, more to the point, one of the best months for beer drinkers. The beer lover is treated to wildly diverse beer choices in Feb, from rich, dark beers to lighter, hoppier bangers.

It’s a month for stouts, porters, barleywines, winter warmers, and everything warming, bold, rich, and robust. But with the Super Bowl and Valentines and the potential for strangely warm weather as the month winds down, it’s also a month for double IPAs, sour beers, bocks, and many of the brews that you just can’t wait ’til spring to crack open.

To help you find the best beers for February, we picked eight great new releases, annual classics, and seasonal favorites. Keep scrolling to see the beers you should be drinking all month long.

Troegs Little ‘Nator

Troegs Little ‘Nator
Troegs

ABV: 5.5%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Maybe you’re a fan of Troegs’ spring seasonal bock called Troegenator but you wish it wasn’t so extra. That’s where its new Troegs Little ‘Nator comes in. This 5.5% ABV bock is a lighter alternative with all the bready, sweet, malty flavors of the original and crisp, floral, hoppy flavors perfect to enjoy while you wait for spring.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a blend of caramel malts, freshly baked bread, honey, citrus zest, and floral, hops. The palate is a mix of caramel, yeasty bread, honey, orchard fruits, light citrus, and a nice kick of floral, earthy hops at the finish.

Bottom Line:

This sessionable beer has everything that bock beer fans love, just a little lighter. It’s a great balance of bready, caramel malts, and crisp, floral hops.

Firestone Walker Mind Haze Brain Melter

Firestone Walker Mind Haze Brain Melter
Firestone Walker

ABV: 8.5%

Average Price: $10 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Firestone Walker Mind Haze is one of the best, easy-to-find hazy, juicy IPAs on the market. Recently, the brand launched a few versions of this popular beer. Our favorite is the aptly named Brain Melter. Brewed with 2-row malt, blonde road oat malt, malted oats, white wheat, and torrefied wheat, it gets its ridiculous hop presence from Mosaic Cryo, Vic Secret, Citra, Strata, Idaho Gem, Sabro, and Rakau hops.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a symphony of complex tropical fruit aromas including caramelized pineapple, mango, peach, guava, and a nice piney, floral kick. The palate is creamy, hazy, and juicy, and has a ton of sweet oats, bready, guava, passionfruit, pineapple, grapefruit, and floral, dank pine flavors. Sweet, juicy, and highly memorable.

Bottom Line:

This creamy, hazy, juicy, tropical fruit-centric beer is the perfect respite for the chilly winter air outside.

Melvin 2×4 DIPA

Melvin 2x4 DIPA
Melvin

ABV: 9.9%

Average Price: $13 for a four-pack

The Beer:

Melvin 2X4 DIPA isn’t a new beer. But we figured February was a good month to highlight this double IPA because the iconic Wyoming-based brewery is releasing this popular beer in a supersized 19.2-ounce can this month. This 9.9% ABV double IPA is known for its mix of floral, citrus, and hoppy aromas and flavors.

Tasting Notes:

Yeasty bread, grapefruit, honeydew melon, caramelized pineapple, grapefruit, peach, and floral hops make for a very welcoming nose. Drinking it reveals notes of ripe pineapple, juicy, tart grapefruit, tangerine, melon, cracked black pepper, and grassy, floral, resinous hops. The finish is pleasantly dank and bitter.

Bottom Line:

This is a classic double IPA. It’s perfectly piney, dank, and bitter. You’ll drink it this month and the rest of the year.

Breckenridge Sexy Motor Oil

Breckenridge Sexy Motor Oil
Breckenridge

ABV: 13.1%

Average Price: Limited Availability

The Beer:

Breckenridge Distillery and Breckenridge Brewery collaborated to make two Sexy Motor Oil products. The distillery makes Sexy Motor Oil Whiskey, a 107-proof whiskey. The beer is a a 13.1% ABV oatmeal stout that’s matured for more than six months in Breckenridge Distillery’s high-rye bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find scents of dried cherries, oats, dark chocolate, caramelized sugar, and boozy whiskey. Sipping it brings forth warming notes of vanilla beans, dark chocolate, dried fruits, peppery rye, coffee beans, and sticky toffee. It’s sweet, indulgent, and very warming.

Bottom Line:

This beer is a borderline dessert beer. It’s a sweet, creamy oatmeal stout that gets added, boozy, complex flavor from barrel aging.

Dogfish Head Nordic Spring

Dogfish Head Nordic Spring
Dogfish Head

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $14 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This 6.5% ABV beer is so much more than a hazy IPA. This annual spring seasonal from the evil geniuses at Dogfish Head is a Nordic-themed beer brewer with Norwegian Kveik yeast, wild juniper berries, orange peel, and Danko rye malt.

Tasting Notes:

Juniper pine, orange peel, allspice, yeasty bread, and floral, earthy hop aromas make for a great start to this spring beer. The palate continues this trend with a gin-like, juniper start that moves into yeasty bread, candied orange peels, cracked black peppers, and floral, earthy hops. This is a very unique, memorable beer.

Bottom Line:

If you’re a fan of the botanical, juniper-centric, citrus flavors of a well-made gin, you’ll love this spring seasonal IPA.

East Brother Baltic Porter

East Brother Baltic Porter
East Brother

ABV: 8.6%

Average Price: $13 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

What could be better in the middle of winter than a classic, robust Baltic porter? Brewed German lager yeast as well as a Halcyon malt base as well as Crystal, Black, and Chocolate malt. The result rich, sweet, complex porter with a ton of chocolate, roasted malt, and fruity flavors.

Tasting Notes:

Roasted malts, chocolate, molasses, dried fruits, licorice, and nutty aromas can be found on the nose. On the palate, you’ll find a wallop of plums, dried cherries, molasses candy, bitter chocolate, roasted malts, and licorice. It’s warming, complex, and leaves you wanting more.

Bottom Line:

If you’re a fan of Baltic porters or porters in general, East Brother has a great, complex version for you.

Road House Loose Boots Après IPA

Road House Loose Boots Après IPA
Road House

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $11 for a six-pack

The Beer:

The term “après ski” is used to refer to beverages (usually featuring alcohol) that are enjoyed after a day on the slopes. Road House understands the draw of cocktails, wine, and beer because it created a beer designed to be imbibed after a day of skiing or snowboarding called Road House Loose Boots Après IPA. It’s a highly sessionable 5% ABV well-balanced, crushable hazy IPA.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a nice blend of yeasty, bready malts, caramel, peach, citrus peels, and lightly floral hops. It’s gently hazy and juicy with a nice balance between bready, caramel malts, light tropical fruits, citrus peels, and piney, floral hops. Very crushable and flavorful.

Bottom Line:

There’s no better way to describe this sessionable hazy IPA than to describe it as an “Après IPA” — which… should definitely be a genre.

New Holland Cabin Fever

New Holland Cabin Fever
New Holland

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $10 for a six-pack

The Beer:

If you live anywhere that gets any depth of snow during the winter months, you’ve had your fair share of cabin fever over the years. This brown ale from New Holland pays homage to being bored and stuck inside with bready, roasty, fruity, nutty, wintry flavors and aromas.

Tasting Notes:

Complex aromas of bready malts, raisins, coffee beans, light chocolate, and candied nuts start everything off on a great foot. More of the same on the palate with freshly baked bread, dark chocolate, roasted malts, coffee, dried fruits, and a nutty sweetness taking center stage. All in all it’s a warming, roasty, rich beer for the winter months.

Bottom Line:

With complex, wintry aromas and flavors, we wouldn’t mind being snowed in with New Holland Cabin Fever all winter long.

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Alicia Keys Is Reportedly Joining Usher, Her ‘My Boo’ Collaborator, For The 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show

Alicia Keys 2024
Getty Image

Will Ludacris perform with Usher at the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show this weekend? What about Justin Bieber? We don’t know for sure about either of them yet, but speculation has been flying. Now, we have our first report that claims to confirm a guest is joining in on the fun.

According to a report from TMZ, Alicia Keys is set to join Usher during his big performance this weekend, on February 11. The publication notes, “Sources close to the production confirm eyewitness accounts that AK rehearsed with Usher inside Allegiant Stadium on Thursday.”

This follows a February 8 tweet from Las Vegas Locally, a popular X (formerly Twitter) account that covers Vegas-related news, that said, “Lil Jon, Alicia Keys, and Usher are at Allegiant Stadium practicing their Super Bowl performances.” So, if that tweet is accurate, Lil Jon is involved, too, not just Keys.

Keys and Usher, of course, collaborated on “My Boo,” which was a No. 1 hit in 2004. So, presumably, the song made Usher’s Super Bowl setlist. Usher and Jon, meanwhile, linked up (along with Ludacris) on “Yeah!,” another No. 1 single from 2004, so it appears we can expect to hear that classic song in Las Vegas, too.

Learn more about how to watch Usher’s (and Keys’, it looks like) performance here.

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The Batanga Is The Only Cocktail You’ll Need This Weekend — Here’s Our Recipe

Batanga
Shutterstock/UPROXX

The weekend is here and it’s time for a drink — a good drink that you can easily make, enjoy, and repeat until Monday dawns yet again. And right now, one tequila cocktail (highball really) is dominating the online conversation… the Batanga.

The Batanga is one of those cocktails that feels new and fresh (because people are just coming to it in 2024) but is actually an old-school classic. The highball is a mix of salt, fresh lime juice, blanco tequila, and Coke. It’s a simple “tequila and Coke” with a little extra oomph to elevate it. You don’t need any special skills to make this one — it couldn’t be more straightforward.

The drink goes back to Tequila, Mexico, and legendary bartender Don Javier Delgado Corona. He came up with the drink back in 1961 for tourists visiting nearby tequila distilleries. The moment that made this drink so special was that when Corona was mixing them up at La Capilla in Tequila he would use his paring knife to mix the drink — the same knife that was used to cut mountains of limes, make pico, and slice avocadoes for decades. This cool moment added that little bit of magic that made a simple drink into an iconic cocktail.

While I too have a paring knife dedicated to cocktails, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t. This drink will still shine either way.

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

Batanga

Batanga
Zach Johnston

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz. blanco tequila
  • 0.5 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 4 oz. Mexican Coca-Cola
  • Salt
  • Ice

Two things are crucial here. The first is Mexican Coca-Cola — made, famously, with real cane sugar. Luckily, you should be able to find that at any good grocery store these days. The second is a quality blanco tequila. I’m using the newly minted and organic Pantalones Tequila Blanco Organico from husband and wife team Matthew and Camila McConaughey.

The tequila has a nice velvety vanilla and citrus base that just works with real Coke. It’s a match made in tequila heaven.

Batanga
Zach Johnston

What You’ll Need:

  • Highball glass
  • Paring knife
  • Hand juicer
Batanga
Zach Johnston

Method:

  • Use a sliced lime to wet the rim of the highball glass. Coat the rim in salt.
  • Add the ice to the glass. Then add the tequila and fresh lime juice with an extra pinch of salt for good measure.
  • Lastly, fill the glass up with the cola and give it a short stir with the paring knife. Serve.

Bottom Line:

Batanga
Zach Johnston

Tequila and Coke are a great mix. I’d argue that it’s leaps and bounds better than its overly sweet cousin, the rum and Coke. But that’s just me.

The beauty of this drink is the balance between the lime juice and tequila with the spicy soda. There’s depth that gives you something new on each sip. The salt adds a nice savory counterbalance to all the sweetness and citrus that makes it all the more refreshing sip after sip.

This is a perfect weekend sipper that’s going to have a cornerstone placement in your cocktail/highball rotation going forward. It’s tasty AF, super easy to make, and perfectly balanced.

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Lil Wayne Really, Really Wants To Play The Super Bowl Halftime Show In 2025 For A Sentimental Reason

lil wayne
Getty Image

It seems that the days of musicians rejecting the NFL’s Super Bowl Halftime show slot are long over. Thanks to the co-sign of Jay-Z, the league has been able to secure some of the industry’s biggest acts in recent years. As the recently dubbed King Of Vegas, Usher was the only logical headliner for Super Bowl LVIII’s show.

But for the 2025 show in New Orleans, there’s one person who just leapfrogged to the front of folk’s minds. Yesterday (February 8), Hollygrove representative Lil Wayne put his bid in to play the coveted concert. During a chat with YG and Stevie on their 4HUNNID podcast, Lil Wayne not only expressed interest but lamented that he hasn’t even been contacted yet to begin talks.

“I will not lie to you, I have not got a call or nothing,” he said. “But we are praying. We praying. We keeping our fingers crossed. I’m working hard. I’mma make sure this next album and everything I do is killer. I wanna just make it hard for them not to holler at the boy.”

Lil Wayne is an avid sports fantic (even a part-time commentator), hometown hero, and rap superstar, so why not? It’ll be a good while before an act is secured for the 2025 Super Bowl, but as Lil Wayne implied, it’s best to put your bid in early.

Super Bowl LVIII will air on CBS starting at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, February 11. Find more information here.

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Here’s Jake Gyllenhaal Taking A Whole Lot Of Punches To His Jacked Abdomen While Prepping For ‘Road House’

Road House Jake Gyllenhaal
Amazon/MGM

Jake Gyllenhaal took on quite the challenge when he signed onto director Doug Liman’s remake of Road House. Not only would he have to compete with the cult classic status of the original film starring Patrick Swayze, but he’d also have to go toe-to-toe with UFC fighter Conor McGregor as well as a slew of other stuntmen who’d be landing blows on the actor.

While the jury’s still out on whether Gyllenhaal can match one of Swayze’s most iconic performances (although, the trailer did look fun as hell.), there’s no denying that Gyllenhaal pushed his body to the limit for the film. We’ve already seen stills of the actor’s insanely jacked transformation, but now he’s revealing how much punishment he learned to take while prepping for Road House.

In a new video posted to Instagram, Gyllenhaal showed his millions of followers that he’s fully prepared to take a punch and then some.

“Lots of punches thrown, lots of punches taken,” Gyllenhaal wrote. “Thanks @stevebrownwrestler & @garrettxwarren and the incredible stunt team on @roadhousemovie”

Gyllenhaal isn’t exaggerating. In the training video, he’s seen taking 40 punches (2o on each side of his torso) and that’s just in preparation for the film. That doesn’t even count the actual blows he’ll have to take on set, which judging by the trailer, will be a considerable amount and brutally delivered by Conor McGregor no less.

You can watch Jake Gyllenhaal take a whole lot of punches straight to the torso below:

Road House starts streaming March 21 on Prime Video.

(Via Jake Gyllenhaal on Instagram)

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Malcolm Kamulete On Why ‘Champion’ Was A Calling, How Bosco Helped Him Grow, And His Hopes For A Second Season

Malcolm Kamulete 'Champion' interview
Merle Cooper

“Why are you being so silly? Why don’t you just do the thing that’s in front of you?”

With those questions, British actor Malcolm Kamulete accurately captures the frustrations viewers, like myself, had with his character Bosco Champion in the BBC and Netflix series Champion.

Bosco Champion is a complicated man, to say the least. His trajectory as a successful British in the U.K. was stunted after a stint in prison. Following his release from prison, he hopes to return to a world that exists in the same way that he left it. However, the conundrum with re-establishing his career, the trauma that’s attached to being imprisoned, accepting his sister’s decision to break out from his shadow and establish her own music career, and fighting for his desires in his respective families as both a son and a father.

For Kamulete, his lead role Champion marks a return to the spotlight after nearly a decade following his appearance on Top Boy: Summerhouse. That return resulted in a new understanding of himself and the real-life world and people that inspired a character like Bosco Champion. Though it wasn’t clear to him in the Summerhouse days, today, acting is his undeniable passion and he couldn’t have found a better role to exhibit that.

Following the release of Champion on Netflix, which came six months after its original release on the U.K.’s BBC, Uproxx caught up with Malcolm Kamulete to discuss Bosco Champion, his growth as a result of being on Champion, and what he would love to see in a yet-to-be-confirmed season two.

What about Champion, its script, your character — everything — made it the perfect role for you to take on as the next step in your career?

What made Champion the perfect fit for me would ultimately be the fact that I was as multifaceted as the character. I did the music [and] I did the acting, I was juggling an innate sense of what his career situation was in terms of just wanting to be a musician of some kind and wanting to be in that fold. Having a role that allowed me to work on my two personal strengths was very endearing to me, [and] that was very attractive. Also, it was the element of being in something predominantly Black, telling a story that I truly understand in terms of the family dynamic and things of that nature.

Lastly, my biggest connector was that I had actually lost a very near and dear friend of mine, whose name was Champion Ganda. When the role like presented itself, I felt like it was my role to lose. From the beginning, it just felt like a calling more than a usual role.

There are so many ways to look at the show. There’s the rise of a young singer, Vita, who looks to get out of her brother’s shadow. There’s the return to form for Bosco as a rap artist after his prison release. There are the post-incarceration struggles for Bosco both for music and his mental health. There are the familial struggles of the Champion family and its dynamic. How do you best view the story of Champion from your or Bosco’s point of view?

If I’m talking from my character’s perspective, especially with the decisions he makes, his temperament, and things of that nature, I’d say it’s a very chaotic show. It’s very much of a roller coaster, we’re up and down, we’re happy then we’re sad, we go through all the emotions. I’ve said this before in a previous interview, but it’s an enigma. It’s one of its own kind. I’ve not seen a show with this many left turns you know. I’ve not seen a show with this many dislikable characters since like Game of Thrones or something. It has that very — oh, I can’t explain it, but it’s like a boomerang film and something keeps you hooked and something keeps you in that storyline. It’s amazing writing and amazing actors as well, so something keeps you in it. I think the shortest way I can describe it is crazy [and] chaotic.

Bosco fails to realize the value of his sister Vita as a collaborator in the early episodes. I see his ego and some insecurities as the root of that, but what do you think are the faults with Bosco that led to the split between him and Vita?

The fault is, well, my discovery of it when I was planning the character was to make it a thing where he is more so entitled, he’s more so comfortable. Because it’s his sister, he expects her to just do it whereas if it was somebody that he had on payroll or something or somebody that’s just a part of his team that’s not family, he wouldn’t probably feel that much comfort to throw his weight around or maybe make her feel small or not as good as she actually is. I feel like there is a naivety in him, like an ignorance, to be able to just expect Vita to turn out the goods for him. It’s like the end of episode one when he goes to her at the shop and he’s like, “Yeah, I need you to help me again. The label wants a single, help me write the single.” In his mind, this is such an easy ask because you do this all the time. So I think it’s just more entitlement in that sense.

It’s implied that Bosco had some connection to the streets and maybe gang life, but we never see anything worse than a fight. I feel like other shows would’ve showcased that, but why wasn’t it shown in this case?

We were so happy that we didn’t have that, that’s just the honest truth as an actor [and] as a performer. I didn’t want too many glorifying elements of life that we’re actually not writing about. It might remotely touch on it because we all come from these environments, but I was very happy that his story was he’s come out of jail and we’re not covering him inside there. I was happy that those little elements were left out. I was just happy that there was more of a positive ring to it and it almost even painted it as if he went to jail and it wasn’t really his fault. I liked how it was mapped out and put together, almost as if he shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. That gave it that strength and that power because if we had gone the opposite direction where it shows the flashbacks and we have the scenes of me being actually in the environment, then I think it’s harder to pull away from that and say this is a good guy. It plays hand in hand brilliantly.

Bosco’s growth and self-improvement are made clear when he returns to perform with Vita at the award show. As for you and your acting career, how do you feel like you’ve grown from the start of taking on this Bosco role to completing it and seeing the show be released to the world?

I think the biggest thing I’ve come away with is patience. I’ve always felt like I’m a person who carries a lot of humility, but since doing this role, I’ve had a lot more humility [and] a lot more awareness. These are the main things I’ve taken from this because also, it opens your eyes to a world you might not understand or know about. It opens your eyes to certain things — things as little as just telling myself, “People are all going through their own sh*t,” and having the patience, the understanding, and the awareness to say, “Don’t jump the gun with anybody.”

It can be something as small as me arguing with my sister, my actual sister in real life or something, and we fall out about, I don’t know, who ate the last chocolate bar or something. In reality, that could just be a projection of me having a bad day or her having a bad day. People actually go through things outside of you and bring that energy from the outside, inward. So yeah, just taking the example of being Bosco and having to be in those environments and understanding his headspaces. Even with his impulsive nature, some of his decisions are crazy, but if you put yourself in his shoes and give yourself some empathy in that moment, you start to kind of come around and say to yourself, “Oh, well, maybe he’s already going through that because of this, or maybe this is only happening because of that. Oh, it’s not personal.” That would be the main thing, just not taking anything personally. I’ve learned a lot, I’d say I’ve grown with Bosco.

The show recently premiered here in the States, how has the perception of the show and your role been different considering that it’s also an introduction to a new culture?

It’s been very good. Honestly, I’ve been very, very impressed by how people have taken to the series. A lot of people want a second series, [and] so do we. [Laughs] No disclaimers, but so do we. We’re getting a lot of like 8 Mile comparisons and Empire comparisons. A lot of people say we’re like Rap Sh!t, I haven’t seen it, but I’ll give it a watch. But we’re getting good reviews, good benchmarks, good comparisons, and a lot of people are actually gunning for a second season. So it seems like it has made a good connection, it seems like it made the translation that we were hoping for in the beginning because it did come out on BBC nearly a year ago and it just didn’t translate as well as it’s translating now. We had high hopes for it from the beginning and I personally believe it’s not only until now that it’s done the Netflix one that it’s getting the flowers that it deserves.

I read that you made music prior to your role on Champion and that you even submitted two original raps for your audition. How did your work on the show, and working with Ghetts who wrote music for Bosco, influence your approach or thought process around the music you make?

It influenced me massively because Ghetts just took me under his wing. He treated me like a little brother from the beginning and it was nothing short of organic to just be in a setting and see how he works. We were working on Bosco’s songs [and] I was finishing Bosco’s songs quite quickly, they set a time for a session, maybe 2-3 hours, to get two songs done or something and I’d finished the songs in maybe like 30-40 minutes. So [they’d say], “Oh we’ve got a lot of time, you can chill if you want or wherever.” I’d just chill and watch him go into his own process because he was in his album mode at that. Seeing him in his element, how he created, how quickly he made songs, and the type of ways he makes songs, his routine if you like, in the studio, soaking it up and being a part of that readied me to be an artist. It readied me to be in those environments, it readied me to understand what it takes to be good [and] consistently good as well.

This is your first big moment since Top Boy. Coming off the success of Champion, how are things different for you in terms of what you want to do next in your acting career and the certainty you have towards this passion?

It’s never been different, to be honest. I’ve locked in with acting to a sole purpose level where it feels like I’ve put all my eggs in this basket and I’ve really gone to this wholeheartedly. When you’re younger, you dibble and dabble with a lot of things. I wanted to be a footballer, I was following a lot of other things, obviously music and things of that nature. So acting was never really a sole decision. From when I’ve made the sole decision, I’ve not faltered from it. The goal is to build notoriety as well as I can just to be a great every time you mention my name. That’s literally what I’ve been on and how I felt about it. My personal goals or my personal drive towards this hasn’t faltered because this was all part of the plan for me.

What is something you would like to see in a potential storyline for season two of Champion? Whether it be about your character Bosco or someone else.

I’ve brought my long list! [Laughs] For Bosco, I’d like to see him get some good revenge on his dad, that would be greatly needed. I’d like to see it be made clear that he writes something, that he writes some form of music for himself. I would like maybe his redemption story, maybe his arc to go up. I feel like he just goes through a lot of trials and tribulations. I’d love to see my father’s downfall after this, I’d love to see what comes from him. I’d love to see what happens with Bula and Rusty’s characters because I feel like they’ve got a lot to give. I feel like Junior in Jamaica as well, I’d love to see what happens with his character. There are so many! Vita, with her newfound panic attacks, I’d love to see how she navigates through the musical world with bigger platforms and elements, having now found out that you’re dealing with the same thing I’m dealing with. I’d love to see what happens with mom because I’m seeing online that a lot of people don’t like her character. There are so many things going on, I’d love to see how everyone’s story blossoms from here. Also, some new faces if needs be, it’d be nice to like freshen it up and just get a mixture of different storylines going on.

‘Champion’ streams on Netflix.

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What Time Does ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Season 12, Episode 2 Come Out?

larry curb
hbo

Attention everyone but Wil Wheaton: there’s a new episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm this Sunday.

The second episode of season 12 of Larry David‘s HBO comedy is titled “The Lawn Jockey.” It follows Larry, who’s still in Atlanta following last week’s premiere, as he “finds himself stuck at a rental home with a questionable lawn ornament. Meanwhile, Jeff pays the price for taking Larry’s advice for Susie’s birthday gift,” according to the official plot synopsis.

“The Lawn Jockey” premieres on HBO and Max this Sunday, February 11th, at 10 p.m. EST.

To go back to Wheaton: the Star Trek: The Next Generation actor called David a “stupid, self-centered, tone deaf asshole” for playfully attacking Elmo on the Today show (to be fair, Elmo had it coming). “He had to indirectly tell everyone who opened their hearts to a Muppet that they were stupid, and he thought it was a good joke to physically attack and choke this character who is beloved by children and adults alike “You know what that tells impressionable young people about sharing their feelings?” he wrote on Facebook.

Wheaton added, “A man who would belittle and mock that isn’t much of a man at all. Shame on you, Larry David.” It’s a shame this is the final season of Curb — this would make for a great Curb plot.