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will.i.am has long held a reputation for being at the forefront of innovation in music. The Black Eyed Peas frontman has been quick to embrace technology, from a Bluetooth face mask to an AI-powered messenger platform for artists to collaborate. And as AI has come to dominate the discussion of the musical landscape, it’s only natural that will has some strong opinions on where the technology is headed.

will shared those views with UPROXX at the launch of his FYI messaging platform, giving his candid view and explaining why he thinks “the machine is gonna do everything.” Comparing AI to well-worn tools in hip-hop like turntables and beat machines, he envisions a future where AI is not just “the group” — writing, producing, and “performing” the music — but also the marketing, legal, and accounting departments, ensuring that algorithms maximize the efficiency of every aspect of the music industry, essentially replacing human beings in most fundamental positions, save for one.

“The future of popular music isn’t people,” he predicts. “But the future of social activism around music, that’s the only way I think we are still going to be needed.” He suggests such artists as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Public Enemy, and Stevie Wonder as examples before warning that creating music to feed recommendation algorithms is going to become impossible. “The algorithm will out-algorithmic you.”

The antidote, he says, will be to create “organic” music that taps into human emotions more effectively than the machine-created variety. The future is full of possibilities and not all of them are particularly appetizing, but there’s no question: The genie is out of the bottle, and there’s no going back. will.i.am knows this and remains on the cutting edge, whether that’s pushing the genre into new markets like Formula 1 racing or just continuing to contribute his unique viewpoint in songs like “The Formula” with Lil Wayne.

Watch will.i.am break down the future of AI in music above.

What’s the difference between bourbon and whiskey, you ask? As basic as it might sound, that question still gets asked a lot. And with good reason. There are always new people coming of age and getting into the brown sauce in one way or another. And while some people in this industry would roll their eyes, scoff, recriminate, or harrumph (do people still harrumph?) at getting asked a question like that, I’ve always taken it as a moment of curiosity that can lead someone deeper into the wonderful world of bourbon and the wider world of whiskey.

There’s never anything wrong with asking a question like that. In fact, that question is a great opportunity to teach someone what whiskey actually is and how bourbon whiskey fits into that spectrum. Also… a lot of “well, actually” snobs actually get this simple question and others like it wrong. So there’s that.

I’ve been deep in the spirits industry for over a decade behind high-end cocktail bars, in media, in spirits judging, and behind the scenes on some great bottle releases. And to drive the point home, this column and my answer to this question are never going to be about talking down to the whiskey curious. This is about helping someone find their own path into whiskey and hopefully gaining a little knowledge along the way so that they can enjoy their journey all the more.

• The 100 Best Bourbon Whiskeys From Kentucky, Ranked
• The 100 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2022, Ranked
• Our Head Drinks Critic Reveals The Expensive Bourbons He *Won’t* Pay Above Retail For
• The Absolute Best Bourbons Between $50-$60, Ranked
• Every Single Buffalo Trace Whiskey & Spirits Brand, Ranked

What Is Whiskey?

Whiskey (or whisky) is a spirit produced only from grains. That’s in comparison to brandy (cognac, slivovice, schnapps, or otherwise) that’s produced from any fruit and, say, rum that’s solely produced from sugar cane products. Vodka, on the other hand, can be produced with anything from grains to fruits to vegetables to milk fats and everything in between — truly anything that has fermentable sugars.

Pretty much every grain has been used to make whiskey at some point but a few are most common. Scottish whiskey is most often made with barley (single malt) but there’s a massive amount of “grain whisky” from Scotland which primarily uses wheat, rye (a cousin of wheat and barley), and maize (corn). American whiskeys focus more on corn, rye, and wheat with barley in a more supporting role. Irish whiskeys tend to lean more toward Scottish grain whiskies with slight variations in distilling and aging. There’s of course way more to it than just this, but that’s the general soul of it.

Moreover, whiskey does not have to be aged to be called “whiskey.” Still, a lot of folks/brands/experts will call unaged whiskey “white dog,” “moonshine,” “white whiskey,” “poitín,” “new make,” “rotgut,” etc. No matter the name though, it’s still already whiskey when it comes off the stills. By comparison, whiskey that spends time in oak is still just whiskey too. You’d never really hear anyone call it “aged whiskey.”

We could go deeper into rye whiskey’s origins in mainland Europe, especially Germany, how Ireland plays into whiskey’s development, the variation in specialty grains use in craft distilling in the 21st century (millet, sorghum, and things like that), and a million other things, but let’s stick to the gist when it comes to what whiskey is at its core : It’s a grain-based spirit (corn can be considered a grain, depending on when it’s harvested).

What Is Bourbon?

All bourbon is a type of whiskey. So, yes, bourbon is whiskey. Always. The first part of bourbon’s definition is that “bourbon whiskey” is an exclusively American product. Back in the Johnson administration in the mid-1960s, the U.S. government codified bourbon as America’s “native spirit” and laid down some laws/guidelines for export/tariff reasons to put bourbon on the same pedestal as agricultural products like cognac from France or prosecco from Italy.

The rules are:

• Bourbon must be made within the borders of the United States of America.***
• Bourbon must contain at least 51% corn (maize) in the grain mash bill (recipe).
• Bourbon has to come off the still at 160 proof (80% ABV) or less and go into the barrel at 125 proof (62.5% ABV) or less.
• Bourbon must be aged in new oak (the type of oak and shape of the container do not matter as long as it’s a new vessel).
• Bourbon must go into the bottle no lower than 80 proof (40% ABV) but there is no limit (besides what’s scientifically/naturally possible) to how high that proof can be in the bottle.

So bourbon is made from a grain mash bill that’s fermented into a beer with grains, yeast, and water (like beer, lactobacillus can also be a key factor). That “beer” is then distilled (mostly on column stills but pot stills are used too) a couple of times. What happens to that distillate after distillation is what makes that whiskey a “bourbon whiskey.”

These days you’ll see bourbon labeled as “Bourbon Whiskey,” “Straight Bourbon Whiskey,” “Blended Bourbon, and just “Bourbon.” There’s a reason for this and it’s about barrel aging … mostly.

“Bourbon whiskey” is something that’s touched oak but likely for less than two years. Legally, when the corn distillate comes off the stills, it’s just “whiskey.” The second (literally) it hits new oak, it becomes “bourbon whiskey.” That “bourbon whiskey” becomes “straight bourbon whiskey” if it rests in that oak for at least two years and is bottled according to bourbon laws, including that the only additive in the straight bourbon whiskey is water for proofing.

Whiskey can be bottled a “Bottled-In-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey” if it’s aged at least four years and proofed (with water) to 100-proof (50% ABV) from barrels stored in a federally bonded warehouse (it’s a tax thing from the 1800s and all warehouses are federally bonded, in general).

“Blended bourbon” and some bottles just labeled “bourbon” are often bourbons cut with a neutral grain spirit (like basic vodka) but must still contain at least 51% bourbon whiskey in the bottle. That means that something could be 49%, say, caramel liqueur and 51% one-minute-old bourbon whiskey and still be labeled a “bourbon whiskey.” More often than not something like that would be labeled a “flavored bourbon” though. Legally, it’s still 100% a bourbon, just a variation on the theme if you will.

***Legally, one could make bourbon in the U.S. Embassy in, say, Moscow, Russia, and it’d legally be bourbon due to that land being the United States. This also applies to U.S. territories. Where’s your bourbon at, Puerto Rico?!

Final Answer

All bourbon is whiskey. But not all whiskey is bourbon.

Whiskey/whisky is a grain spirit. Brasstacks, bourbon whiskey is an American whiskey (grain spirit) that’s made with a majority corn base and aged in new oak.

There’s, of course, so much more to both whiskey and bourbon whiskey, but that’s the basics you need to know to get a good start.

Janelle Monáe is absolutely living her best life lately. Ever since she ditched the Monopoly Man fits, she’s seemingly been on a mission to blast as much of her ample sex appeal into our faces as we can possibly stand. From showing off her “Jamaican food and sex“-formed, Florence Pugh-approved physique to teasing fans with steamy images from her upcoming videos, Ms. Monáe has completely upended our expectations.

The video for her latest single, “Lipstick Lover,” reinforces that in two ways. One: it is ridiculously unserious, cheekily poking fun at Western squeamishness with a plethora of sex toys and kinky visuals (Janelle’s got a thing for feet, apparently), and two: it is very, very, extremely not safe for work. It’s downright porny. Monáe and friends throw a pool party/orgy that involves a lot of exposed flesh — tastefully blurred for the prudes at YouTube, naturally — and so much food, you just know someone caught a cramp while swimming.

“Lipstick Lover” follows “Float,” another song that had quite the steamy buildup, although we never did get a video for that. All of this is building up to The Age Of Pleasure, which will be the title of Monáe’s new album dropping June 9.

Meanwhile, in other non-sexy news, Janelle Monáe is going to be booked and busy this year, with performances planned at Outside Lands and Montreux Jazz Festival all while she’s expanding her Fem The Future non-profit’s mission to support girls and non-binary youth of color in the arts and education.

Watch the “Lipstick Lover” video above — just not at work. The Age Of Pleasure is due on 6/9 via Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic Records. You can get more info here.

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

Justified: City Primeval will soon (but not soon enough) arrive to catch us up on Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens’ post-Harlan life in a different environment. That’s one reason why “Long in the Tooth” is an essential rewatch, since it highlights the legend of the legendary lawman, who will soon emerge in Detroit with a “new Boyd” as teased in a new Entertainment Weekly feature piece. Of key interest in the piece is the question of whether Raylan, who made it out of Harlan alive, will be lucky enough to do the same with Detroit.

Really? Man, I don’t know if I can handle this franchise pulling a [SPOILER ALERT] similar move as a certain set of beloved movies. Apparently, though, showrunners Dave Andron and Michael Dinner feel that we should be prepared for anything to happen to Raylan, and that includes a visit from the Grim Reaper in addition to being confirmed as a not-so-ideal father. Dammit:

“If you’re bringing Raylan back, you put him up against a really, really bad guy who doesn’t have any problem killing people, because Raylan could die,” Andron says. “This is a limited [series] and Raylan could very well not make it out of this. Every season we ended the show with ‘You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,’ but then he does. Right up until the end of the show, you know Raylan’s not going to die, and obviously he did not at the end. But I think, at this point, all bets are off.”

Dinner explains that one of the core aspects of the novel is how it’s really a “three-hander” between the cop, the criminal, and the lawyer in between them. “We wanted to stay true to that,” he says. “When American crime fiction is working on all cylinders, you have a feeling that cosmic forces are maneuvering people together and that one, if not all, of them will not be standing at the end. Raylan’s made it this far, but will he survive this? He very well might not.”

The series will co-star Timothy Olyphant’s real-life daughter, Vivian, as Raylan’s daughter, Willa Givens. And Vivian also delivers some valuable information in while reminiscing about visiting the Justified set during finale filming and revealing that there was so much ice cream on the scene. This revelation checks out for sure.

We shouldn’t expect any familiar faces beyond Raylan, however, because Olyphant warned that “[y]ou’re not going to recognize anyone” in this spinoff. The “new Boyd,” as referenced by Olyphant to EW, will be Clement Mansell, “a.k.a. The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once.”

Mansell will be portrayed by Boyd Holbrook, who will hopefully be doing the same accent that he did in Narcos. So there, Grim Reaper!

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Beyoncé is flourishing on her Renaissance World Tour, which opened in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday (May 10), but Jay-Z is handling business back home.

In December, The New York Post reported Jay-Z and Roc Nation had joined forces with SL Green and Caesars Entertainment, a “three-way partnership” aimed toward opening a casino in Times Square in New York City.

This morning, May 11, Roc Nation shared an open letter (buying ad space in multiple newspapers) making the case as to why their group should be granted the license to open their desired casino and their intent behind it.

According to Billboard, Jay-Z and Roc Nation’s group is competing with New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Stefan Soloviev, and John Catsimatidis — all billionaires as well. The publication additionally noted that Roc Nation’s open letter “was placed in The New York Post, New York Daily News, and Amsterdam News.

Read the full letter below.

“IT’S TIME, TIMES SQUARE

Dear New York,

A gaming license is going to be awarded to New York City. A bill was passed in the state legislature confirming it. The question is: which applicant will get the license? Some conflicted parties have attempted to spread misinformation, so we wanted to speak to you, New York City, directly.

The winning group must have a track record of turning words into deeds — of putting New York City and its residents first — people of all races, religions, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and socio-economic statuses. New Yorkers in every corner of every borough — all of us. The winning organization must have a history of campaigning for fair hiring, representation, and reform. Hate, as well as groups that have a history of oppressing the most vulnerable, have no place in New York.

The winning licensee must always put the well-being of New Yorkers at the top of their agenda and do right by its residents. This is too important of moment in our city’s illustrious history. Times Square, the epicenter of entertainment with palpable energy, is unmatched. Roc Nation and our partners are here to ensure Times Square remains connected to all facets of culture. There’s no better location for a Caesars Palace entertainment destination than the Crossroads of the World.

Our proposal lays out an innovative plan that will not only draw additional tourists to our city but will also enhance the lives of everyday New Yorkers.

• Gives back to all surrounding businesses.
• Benefits mass transit.
• Invests money into sanitation and security from the bowtie all the way west into Hell’s Kitchen.
• Develops and delivers a much-needed transportation plan.
• Protects the interests of the actors, producers, theatre staff, writers and patrons that represent the true heart and soul of Broadway.
• Provides opportunity for all.

Caesars Palace Times Square will benefit all of New York — the hotel and restaurant workers in the area, retailers and surrounding neighborhoods. Our bid commits $115 million for diverse theater programs that include daycare for Broadway workers and their families.

Our bid honors the city of dreams, New York City, and the people that have made this place we call home the cultural and entertainment capital of the world. This is our moment, our opportunity to capture the energy of Times Square and invest in our city. You’re a New Yorker, you get it.

In service,
Roc Nation.”

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.

IDK is one of the most creative rappers working today. But more importantly, he knows how to apply that creativity to his new album F65. The follow-up to 2022’s Simple expands the sonic palette but retains the incisive focus, pairing IDK’s unique outlooks with experimental production that pushes the boundaries of the familiar.

F65 feels like an evolution of IDK’s 2021 album USEE4YOURSELF, which now seems as though it was a dry run for the kind of eclecticism the Maryland rapper wanted to embrace then, but only recently mastered his impressive well of creativity enough to grasp. While he may never truly shake some of the most common criticisms against him (I mean, he can’t change his voice, but he can certainly use it better than his doppelganger Kanye), he certainly transcends them here.

The binding theme of F65, as you could probably guess from the cover, is Formula 1 racing. However, there’s also an unexpected thread throughout: IDK’s burgeoning appreciation for classic jazz. As he explains in the interlude “Champs-Élysées,” this stems from his grounding practice of “driving fast” playing jazz. The unusual pairing of energies is perfect for IDK, whose entire life and career have been shaped by the pairing of paradoxes.

Contrasting truths and the tension between them are the core of IDK’s personality. He’s a self-declared middle-class kid who embraced the streets in an effort to live up to social expectations of Black masculinity. While he details that experience on his debut album IWasVeryBad, he reiterates and distills those motivations here in the thundering “Paperchaser.”

He also attacks the question of the friction between the above-mentioned expectations of Black masculinity and the fear of femininity on “Pinot Noir,” ceding his spotlight to Saucy Santana and Jucee Froot. This is a duo I’d love to hear more of; Santana defies conventions by being a loudly-out gay man while embracing many of the dynamics of gangsta rap. Yes, he carries a purse, but he also carries a gun in that purse. Watch your tone.

While IDK is far from what you’d consider a “conscious” rapper, he shows his awareness of systemic and social problems in far subtler ways. The F1-themed interludes focus on commentary revolving around Lewis Hamilton, a champion driver who nonetheless feels the strain of being one of the only Black drivers on the circuit. He’s faced discrimination in spite – or perhaps because of – his success, while carrying the weight common to all pioneers in traditionally white spaces.

That isn’t to say that IDK doesn’t address the tribulations of Black life head-on when he needs to, though. “Mr. Police” is a prime example, borrowing the familiar refrain coined by NWA decades ago; in typical IDK fashion, however, he turns the song into a jazzy deflection of the more casual racism involved in his interactions with the law – the most common kind, the ones that don’t end in bloodshed, but cost Black folks in other ways.

If there’s a thesis here, it’s in IDK’s love of his Blackness. From dipping his toes into a dizzying variety of Black musical genres – Afrobeats, Jersey club, the aforementioned jazz – to sampling a cluster of classics from Black canon – Michael Jackson’s “Can’t Help It,” Carl Thomas’ “I Wish” – IDK gives a musical lesson in Black history. He talks up his love for Black women on “Still Your Man” and “Superwoman,” receiving advice on life and love from no less an authority than Snoop Dogg. By the final song, “Freetown,” a four-minute jazz instrumental, the message is clear: It’s all Black, and we shouldn’t be limiting ourselves to any one genre or interest. We are many things.

F65 is out now on Clue No Clue / Warner Records.

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

Tom Hanks has starred in many hits (and a handful of misses) over the years, but he definitely leaves an impression with every role he takes. He’s been nominated for numerous Academy Awards, but there is one role that always sticks out when Hanks is brought up…besides Toy Story.

One of Hanks’ earlier roles was the titular character in Forrest Gump, which promptly brought boxes of chocolates back into the minds of adults and children alike while boosting American’s interest in cross-country running (probably!) But Hanks wasn’t particularly sold on the story, which follows Gump as he navigated his life through a series of important historical moments. And ping pong!

While filming, Hanks asked director Robert Zemeckis, “Is anybody going to care about this movie?” Hanks recalled at a recent event with The New Yorker. He added, “This guy sitting on a thing in these goofy shoes and this cuckoo suit with a suitcase full of Curious George books and stuff like that. Are we doing anything here that is going to make any sense to anybody?’”

Sense? Not really. Fun? Yep! It was easy for fans to root for Hanks as Gump, and it was probably all thanks to that spiffy suit he ended up wearing. Zemeckis then told Hanks that you never know when a movie will resonate with audiences or attract moviegoers, but you just have to try it anyway.

“Bob Zemeckis — God bless him, I’ve worked with him more than once — landed on the absolute truth of anybody who has gone forward and said, we are going to commit something to film today, and eventually we’ll cut this into something,” Hanks added. “You do not know if it is going to work out.” Hopefully, Hanks wasn’t a grumpy jerk on this set, but it seems doubtful that Sally Field would tolerate that.

(Via Deadline)

The Donald Glover-produced Amazon show Swarm was one of the most talked-about television/streaming events of the year so far. Fans were blown away by the Black woman anti-hero tale, from its controversial opening sex scene with Chloe Bailey to its guest starring turns from Billie Eilish and Paris Jackson to its mind-bending ending. But because it was so closely associated with Beyoncé, even the show’s creators were worried about its reception from the real-life Swarm analog, Beyoncé’s infamous fanbase, the Beyhive.

Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour just had its first show, and fans can’t help but wonder whether the queen herself responded to Swarm during the concert. Dressed as a bee and posted up next to one of those “on air” signs you see at movie studios and radio stations, Beyoncé seemingly shouts into the mic, “Swarm on these hands, n****!” — which is one of the top ten funniest things anyone has ever said. What does that even mean!?

Fans can’t help but wonder the same thing. The short, elusive clip above doesn’t really offer much context for the statement, and there appears to be some disagreement on just what Beyoncé is actually saying in it. For instance, she could be saying “Swarm on these Ms,” as in, millions, which would probably make more sense. But the Hive is feisty and loves a good internet fight, even if they have to reach and contort reality to get it — I mean, that’s what the show was about in the first place!

So, no, Beyoncé probably wasn’t shading Swarm or its creators, Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, but hey, if they need inspiration for season two, I’m sure they can wrangle something out of this. Now, that’s entertainment.

You can check out more about the Renaissance World Tour opener here, from the custom wardrobe to the setlist to the merch.

Queens Of The Stone Age last released an album in 2017 with Villains. A lot has happened since then, including the tragic death of their frequent collaborator Mark Lanegan and public tumult between Josh Homme and his wife.

Today (May 11), the band has announced their new album In Times New Roman… arriving in June. The lead single “Emotion Sickness” is out now. Against playful instrumentation, Homme sings of destruction: “Use once then destroy / Single servings of pain / A dose of emotion sickness / I just can’t shake / Then my fever broke.”

In 2021, Mark Ronson recalled the time he kicked Dave Grohl out of a Queens Of The Stone Age recording session. “It was the first time we were doing vocals and I was like, ‘Dave Grohl, rock legend, get the f*ck out of here,’” he said. “It was like the first day we were doing vocals and Josh was like really in a rhythm and it hit something, and I’m such a fan of Foo Fighters, Nirvana. It was not pleasant to have to ask Dave Grohl nicely to leave the session.”

Listen to “Emotion Sickness” above. Check out the In Times New Roman… artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Obscenery”
2. “Paper Machete”
3. “Negative Space”
4. “Time & Place”
5. “Made To Parade”
6. “Carnavoyeur”
7. “What The Peephole Say”
8. “Sicily”
9. “Emotion Sickness”
10. “Straight Jacket Fitting”

In Times New Roman… is out 6/16 via Matador. Find more information here.

Right-wing commentator Dan Bongino is no longer employed at Fox News (on top of being permanently banned from YouTube), so you’d think the topic of jobs is the last thing he’d want to bring up. Guess again. During an online spat with prolific author Stephen King, Bongino really thought he had something by telling one of the most recognized bestsellers of all time to find work.

It all went down after Bongino insulted President Biden, which prompted King to hop in the right-wing commentator’s replies.

“Biden is a disgrace to humankind. An embarrassment to the human race in every respect,” Bongino tweeted to which King replied. “But he’s got a real job, not a podcast.”

That quip set off Bongino, who tried to insult King with such a weird attack that people genuinely started to question if Bongino even knows who the author is because it sure doesn’t seem like it.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Bongino shot back. “Millions of listeners a day on a podcast while you’re watching porn in your momma’s basement yearning for the days that people actually gave a sh*t about your dumb ass. Nice comeback dipsh*t. Get a job loser.”

Following the “comeback,” Bongino got roundly mocked on Twitter as users couldn’t believe that he actually told Stephen King to Get a job.

(Via Stephen King on Twitter)