ASAP Rocky celebrated a huge milestone this past weekend. Last Saturday (January 15) marked the 10-year anniversary of his debut album, Long. Live. ASAP. Today, ASAP celebrated the anniversary of the album by sharing a reworked visual fan-favorite.
The song “Angels” was first-featured on the deluxe edition of Long. Live. ASAP, but had been acclaimed by fans since its release. On the heels of the album’s anniversary, Rocky has shared “Part II” of the song’s original video.
In the video, ASAP is seen out in Los Angeles with the ASAP Mob, including ASAP Ferg and the late ASAP Yams, who noticeably has a halo digitally imposed over his head throughout the clip. A lot has happened for ASAP over the past decade. He has released three studio albums, a furniture line called Hommemade, and has become the father to a son with Rihanna.
In a recent interview with Complex, ASAP shared that in this point of his career, he is prioritizing his artistry, first and foremost:
“I’m in a place where I want to give my all to all of this. All I have is my craft, my art, my family. That’s just my life. That’s what encompasses or completes my life at this moment. So I’m really compassionate about everything that I do. And I’ll reiterate I want to express myself musically in a way that I haven’t. And it’s such a really weird time for hip-hop. We’re losing so many legends. And the scope of the game, pop is fighting for the number one spot, as far the most predominant genre. It’s a really weird time right now. I don’t really care for the politics of it. I just want to give motherf*ckers some dope sh*t.”
Following the release of their special digital single “Reason” last Friday (January 13), and in celebration of their sixth anniversary, Dreamcatcher announced their upcoming US tour of the same name.
Officially titled Reason : Makes Dreamcatcher 2023, the Dreamcatcher Company girl group is expected to make nine stops in the US beginning next month. The seven-member ensemble — composed of JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon, Dami and Gahyeon — will kick off tour in Atlanta, Georgia’s brand new Coca-Cola Roxy concert venue on February 28, followed by stops in major US cities like Washington DC, New York, Reading, Chicago, Denver, Irving, and Oakland before concluding in Los Angeles, California on March 20.
Tickets for Dreamcatcher’s Reason : Makes Dreamcatcher 2023 tour will go on sale on Wednesday, January 19, 2023 at 9 a.m. PT (12 p.m. ET), according to concert tour organizer MyMusicTaste, and the group’s social post on Twitter.
Just last summer, the group concluded the US leg of their [Apocalypse : Follow us] 2022 Dreamcatcher World Tour that was soon followed by the European leg in the fall. The group also made their music festival debut as the first K-pop act as part of Primavera Sound in Madrid, Spain last June.
Some of the best bourbons on the shelf are found at this price point. There’s a balance, not only on the palate but in what you actually get in the grand scheme of things. Bourbons in the $30 to $40 range tend to be both accessible — you can generally find them — and they’re relativelycheap for a high-quality juice.
That’s a winning combo. Perhaps the best combo.
That said, when listing the 20 best bourbons you can buy in the $30 to $40, I did include a few gems that are a little harder to find. What fun would it be otherwise? Sometimes a little sleuthing adds extra joy to this whole bourbon thing.
As for the ranking, this is based on taste alone. But let’s be honest, some whiskeys are made for mixin’ and some for sippin’ — even at this price point. But having tasted well over 2,500 whiskeys in the last two years, judged spirits competitions, and consulted on tons of barrel picks, I feel sure I won’t lead you astray. Read my tasting notes, find something that jumps out to you, and give that a try.
Before we dive in, these prices are based on Total Wine’s inventory and prices in Louisville, Kentucky. Prices and availability will vary regionally.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This entry-point bottle to the beloved Remus Reserve yearly releases. The whiskey is MGP’s bourbon 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 really highlights that cherry while layering in new leather, more oak, and nice and lush vanilla cream.
Bottom Line:
This is a very nice, fruit-forward bourbon with deep sweetness, which makes it a nice cocktail bourbon if you’re making a smash or sour.
High West Bourbon is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after sourced whiskeys. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of two to 13-year-old barrels rendered from high-rye and low-rye mashes alongside undisclosed whiskeys, some of which are sourced from MGP.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a hint of funk on the nose that leads to raw leather, vanilla pudding, and buttered sweetcorn.
Palate: The taste is soft and velvety with a touch of nougat next to quickbread biscuits with plenty of butter and vanilla-laced honey.
Finish: The finish dries out toward vanilla pods and cedar bark with a hint of apple chips with a flake of Kosher salt.
Bottom Line:
This is just a solid bourbon. There’s a nice balance of creamy and classic bourbon notes that feel nostalgic to the senses. You can sip this over a glass full of ice, but it really shines in simple cocktails like an old fashioned.
Stephen Beam is working some serious magic from his tiny Limestone Branch Distillery. While we really love his limited-edition releases, Yellowstone Select is the entry point to the brand’s vibe. The whiskey is a blend of four to seven-ish-year-old barrels with a mash bill Beam keeps to himself. The whiskey is largely sourced and the barrels are stored at Luxco’s massive property down the road before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a classic on the nose as soft and sweet oak mingles with vanilla pods, caramel apples, a hint of singed marshmallows, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Palate: The palate lingers in a bowl of fresh peaches and rich cream infused with vanilla as almost sweet suede leads towards a tiny note of spicy streusel.
Finish: The finish is straightforward and dries out with a cedar box full of vanilla-laced tobacco leaves, a hint of Cherry Coke, and a dusting of fine white pepper.
Bottom Line:
This feels like an old-school bourbon from yesteryear. There’s a deep sense of stone fruit and vanilla that makes this feel like something you should be baking with. I mean that in the best way possible. Seriously, cut your next peach or apple pie with this. Then serve that pie with an old fashioned made with this on the side and you’ll be all set.
This whiskey from Luxco is a throwback brand that the company is pushing for a bit of a comeback. This expression is a high-rye whiskey they source from an undisclosed distillery in Kentucky. The whiskey is cut down to 100 proof and bottled in old-school bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens very nut-forward with a walnut bread vibe with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg (maybe a hint of clove) next to vanilla extract, a dose of buttery toffee, and a hint of Graham cracker.
Palate: The palate largely builds on those flavor notes while leaning into the nuttiness and creating a sort of walnut pie with plenty of vanilla-laced whipped cream drizzled with syrupy toffee and just touched with dry brown woody spice.
Finish: Those dry and woody spices drive the finish towards a soft and thin finish.
Bottom Line:
If you love that mid-century modern vibe, this is the bottle for you. It’s a throwback to the heady days of the 1950s and 1960s with a palate that screams to be mixed into Manhattans, Sazeracs, and whiskey sours.
Green River Distillery has been pumping out contract-distilled whiskey for a while. In the spring of 2022, they finally released their much anticipated Green River Bourbon to much hoopla. The bourbon is a blend of five years and older barrels of bourbon made from a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% winter rye, and 9% malted two-row and six-row barley. Those barrels and batched, proofed, and bottled as-is for this new whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a hint of dry cornmeal on the nose with clear and rich butterscotch (which feels a little young) alongside vanilla pudding cups, wet brown sugar, and a hint of an old leather jacket.
Palate: The taste holds onto that leather note as a foundation and builds layers of sticky toffee pudding with vanilla buttercream, a handful of roasted almonds, and a thick buttery toffee sauce tying it all together.
Finish: The finish is green with a big note of fresh mint that leads back to the leather with a whisper of dark fruit leather and Red Hots.
Bottom Line:
This is a promising whiskey. The composition is balanced but a little young. Still, this makes a killer cocktail and has tons of promise for 2023 releases and beyond.
Standard Penelope Bourbon is a great place to start with the brand’s ever-expanding line. This expression is an MGP four-grain bourbon that’s aged a minimum of two years before vatting, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This whiskey opens with a nose full of wet yellow masa next to a buttery Graham cracker crust holding a light vanilla pudding that’s countered by a note of red chili spice and a touch of cinnamon.
Palate: The taste is very soft and touches on stewed raisins, more of that vanilla, sweet oak, and some orange.
Finish: The softness leans back into that wet masa while the finish smooths out with vanilla before ending on that chili pepper spice.
Bottom Line:
This is just good. It’s more of a cocktail base than a sipper but no one is stopping you from pouring it over some rocks as an everyday table bourbon.
This is a celebrity-owned bourbon from UFC’s Bruce Buffer. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of four to six-year-old bourbons from Kentucky that are touched with a little proofing water after blending.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a slightly tannic nose (think old, red-wine-soaked oak) with woody vanilla, nutmeg, and a lush vibe.
Palate: The palate mixes up the sweet vanilla with sweet yet sharp spice, some dark chocolate, and a hint of orange zest.
Finish: The end combines everything into a lush finish that highlights old oak, soft nutmeg, and a soft orange-chocolate vibe with a hint of clove and anise.
Bottom Line:
We’re not even to the top 10 and things are already getting really good. This is an easy everyday sipper (over plenty of ice) that also works really well for any cocktail application.
Old Scout is MGP’s classic high rye bourbon — 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malt barley — that’s aged for five years. The whiskey is batched in small quantities and proofed down with West Virginia’s Appalachian water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with a soft masa vibe with a mix of Tex-Mex spices (think chili powder and a hint of cumin and garlic powder) that’s countered by cedar park and chocolate-laced tobacco leaves (the nose takes me straight back to my favorite childhood Tex-Mex joint).
Palate: The taste veers more towards a classic bourbon with cherry tobacco and bales of damp straw next to a smooth vanilla foundation cinnamon-infused dark chocolate and a touch of dry oak.
Finish: The finish lingers for a bit as vanilla toffees, a smidge of marshmallow, and spicy cherry tobacco round everything out.
Bottom Line:
This is another winner that highlights the superb bourbon barrels coming out of Indiana’s MGP right now. It’s just good, folks. Drink however you like to drink your whiskey.
A few years back, Wild Turkey brought on Matthew McConaughey to be the brand’s Creative Director and create his own whiskey. The product of that partnership was launched in 2018. The whiskey is a wholly unique whiskey for Wild Turkey, thanks to the Texas Mesquite charcoal filtration the hot juice goes through. The whiskey then goes into oak for eight long years before it’s proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Christmas spices meet oily vanilla, subtle caramel, and a whisper of singed cedar bark up top.
Palate: The palate adds orange oils and buttery toffee to the mix, as the edge of the spices upwards on the palate, next to a creamy vanilla pudding body.
Finish: That velvet texture builds throughout, with toasted oak and cedar notes as a hint of sweet firepit smoke arrive on the long and satisfying finish.
Bottom Line:
This is an easy-going whiskey that hits just right. It’s great in a cocktail but can easily be used as an everyday sipper over some rocks at this price point.
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 a perfect Manhattan whiskey. It’s also pretty damn good in a glass with a little ice and a twist of orange.
Town Branch is Lexington’s destination distillery/brewery right in the city. Their flagship bourbon is a high-malt mash bill, adding more smooth sweetness to the mix. The whiskey ages for four to five years before it’s blended and proofed with water from the “town branch” of Elkhorn Creek, which runs through Lexington.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is as soft as it is classic on the nose with hints of rich caramel mingling with dark cherry, soft nutmeg, and a hint of leathery oak.
Palate: The palate follows that path while layering in a hint of orange blossom next to cherry leather with cinnamon and clove hints and a bit of pipe tobacco in a wooden box.
Finish: The finish is subtle and short and marries the cedar with the orange blossom with the cherry lingering the longest on the backend.
Bottom Line:
This is supple and inviting. It’s another one that’s simply a good whiskey, folks. Drink it however you like, you won’t be disappointed.
This four-year-old whiskey is rendered from a mash bill of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley. That whiskey is then blended under the bottled-in-bond laws and proofed down to 100 proof before bottling in New Riff’s dark bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a rush of cinnamon rolls with plenty of butter, brown sugar, spice, and an echo of sourdough next to oily vanilla, baked apple, and a hint of firewood on the nose.
Palate: The palate leans into baked apples with more wintry spices, dry vanilla pudding packets, deep caramel, a touch of sweet cedar, and apple-laced cotton candy.
Finish: The finish leans into the winter spices with sharp cinnamon next to lush vanilla, a hint more of that sweet cedar, and a note of spicy yet dry tobacco.
Bottom Line:
You cannot go wrong with a bottle of New Riff. The distillery never misses. This is their entry point to the brand and it’s f*cking delicious.
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 and 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 really 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 interesting and deep. There’s a lot going on but it all makes sense on your palate. It’s a solid sipper all around but really makes an incredible Manhattan.
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 really solid workhorse bourbon. It’s a great, easy backyard sipper, cocktail base, or on-the-rocks pour.
This whiskey is made from Jack’s classic mash of 80% corn, 12% barley, and 8% rye before it’s twice distilled and run through Jack’s long Lincoln County sugar maple charcoal filtration process. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with a little water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with Cherry Jolly Ranchers next to sweet cedar bark braided with old strands of leather and orange-laced tobacco leaves while a hint of vanilla wafer and general “health food store” vibes underneath it all.
Palate: The palate feels like warm apple pie on a sunny day with the best vanilla ice cream on top as layers of eggnog nutmeg and creaminess move toward a Cream of Wheat vibe.
Finish: Some apple wood chips for a smoker and a hint of almond shells pop on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This has no business tasting this good at this price point. The lesson here is that higher proof Jack is better Jack, especially if you’re looking for a killer cocktail base or easy sipper.
5. Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Signature Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This crafty Southern Indiana whiskey is made with a high-corn mash bill in a tiny farm distillery. The hot juice is aged on-site among the apple and peach orchards for at least four or five years before it’s batched, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a mild sense of sweet orchard fruits next to buttered cornbread with a hint of green chili pepper, touches of vanilla oils, and a hint of orange zest.
Palate: The palate has a sweet grits vibe with a buttery underpinning that leads to vanilla cake, caramel frosting, and a twinge of marshmallow sweetness countered by woody spice and orchard tree bark.
Finish: The woody spice leads to a finish full of eggnog creaminess and a hint of burnt orange by way of cinnamon sticks with a whisper of apple cider to them.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect place to start your Starlight journey. The bourbon is a classic with a hint of craft vibe to it thanks to those sweet and grainy corn vibes. Still, if you’re looking for something new, unique, and delicious, then this is the bottle to add to your bar cart.
This whiskey from Sazerac’s other Kentucky distillery of note (they own both Buffalo Trace and Barton’s 1792 distilleries) is a bit of a hidden gem. As with all Sazerac products, there’s a lot of secrecy around what the actual mash bill is, aging times, and so forth. It is likely a high-rye mash that’s aged over five years.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Salted caramel and apple pies lead the nose with a nice dose of nuttiness, winter spices, and eggnog creaminess with a butter vanilla underbelly.
Palate: Bruised peaches with clove and nutmeg drive the palate toward woody orchard barks, rich toffee, and a sense of vanilla cake with cardamom icing.
Finish: The end is softly full of woody cedar bark, cream soda, and apple-cinnamon tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is going to be hard to find and way more expensive if you don’t find it right when it drops. If you are lucky enough to walk into the liquor store on that fateful day and they haven’t marked up the price too egregiously, then buy two. It’s that good. But you don’t need to tell me in the comments how much more expensive this is wherever you live. I know.
We know that this is a “small batch” and from barrels that are a minimum of four years old (some say as old as ten). Since it’s a Willett product, we can also assume that this is good ol’ Heaven Hill whiskey. But that’s about it.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The whiskey opens with a note of wintry plum pudding next to an oatmeal cookie, a hint of worn leather, and dried mint leaves.
Palate: The palate luxuriates in vanilla-laced pancakes dripping with real maple syrup, a touch of orange zest, and a little more of that leather next to a mild spicy tobacco leaf.
Finish: That tobacco leaf attaches to a woodiness that’s almost wet like cordwood as the vanilla smoothes out the finish and leaves you with a smooth menthol tobacco vibe.
Bottom Line:
This is a great all-around whiskey. It’s well-balanced and deeply flavored, making it a solid choice for either everyday sipping or cocktail mixing.
This is Heaven Hill’s hand-selected single barrel Evan Williams expression. The whiskey is from a single barrel, labeled with its distillation year, proofed just above 86, and bottled as is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a really nice nose full of woody cherry, salted caramel with a tart apple edge, and a soft leatheriness.
Palate: The palate feels and tastes “classic” with notes of wintry spices (eggnog especially) with a lush creaminess supported by soft vanilla, a hint of orange zest, and plenty of spicy cherry tobacco.
Finish: The end is supple with a hint of tart apple tobacco with a light caramel candy finish.
Bottom Line:
There are still a few bottles of this out there. But since this became a Kentucky-only release in 2022, it’s going to get rarer and more expensive outside of the Bluegrass State. That said, if you’re in Kentucky or traveling there, buy a case of this. It’s still cheap, delicious, and the perfect everyday sipper with real depth.
This much-lauded bourbon is Woodinville’s touchstone expression. The whiskey is made with those same family farm grains. The hot juice spends years in the toasted and heavily charred barrels maturing until it’s just right (around five years in total). The results are batched and proofed down with local water to a very welcoming 90 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: You’re greeted with a thick vanilla pudding with caramel candy and a cedar box full of dark spices.
Palate: The caramel thickens to a buttery and rich toffee with notes of dark chocolate peeking in next to more of those woody spices and a vanilla oil velvetiness.
Finish: The end is long and really embraces the sweeter edges of the vanilla pudding while allowing the spice to warm the senses.
Bottom Line:
Woodinville is finally getting wider, nationwide releases and we’re all better for it. The whiskey from Washington is a true gem, even at this entry-point level. This makes a hell of a cocktail and is the quintessential backyard everyday sipper on some ice.
This is Maker’s Mark classic wheated bourbon that’s bottled at a higher proof to bring about a “richer flavor.” Well, that’s what the label says anyway. In short, this is classic Maker’s that’s treated with a little less of that limestone water to let the barrel techniques shine a bit more while still holding onto the Maker’s vibe.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a bowl of vanilla ice cream covered in stewed apples that have been drizzled with extra caramel.
Palate: The taste really focuses on that caramel with hints of oak next to roasted almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, dry wicker, and a drop of soft mineral water.
Finish: The end lingers while it fades through salted caramel apples towards a mellow floral spiciness with a dried reed finish and a touch of vanilla tobacco chew.
Bottom Line:
This is the year that Maker’s Mark makes a comeback (not that it ever went anywhere). It’s a stellar wheated bourbon that you can actually find and afford (compared to Weller and Pappy). While Maker’s Cask Strength is their high water mark, this higher-proof expression is still goddamn delicious and worth adding to your bar cart as a neat sipper or mixer (it makes a greatManhattan).
21 Savage, can you do something for yourself? Find a way to keep cool when on a recorded line. The rapper, real name Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, may have plans to live a long life, but it might just be spent behind bars if he keeps it up.
A heated exchange with a user on the audio-based social media platform Clubhouse could land him and an unknown associate in hot water. Savage’s sassy flexing of machismo end in several unintended emotional confessions on alleged criminal activities in Chicago.
As tempers flared, 21 Savage screamed to the user, “You waited for this moment your whole life, so you could argue with a n**** on Clubhouse.” He later said, “You keep letting all these Chicago n****s boost your head up, like y’all n****s ain’t dying in real life. Stop playing.”
The rapper then let slip, “Every n**** on we beef with, 30 of they n****s get smoked and don’t nothing happen to us. In real life. It’s real life.” Savage ended with, “Aye, cap, you from Chicago. I advise you to shut the f*ck up, cause the n****s that I f*ck with up there spanking sh*t, so stop playing. Y’all ain’t spanking nothing, n****. You will die.”
No one seems to be claiming that TLC’s MILF Manor, which premiered on January 15, is prestige TV. The show’s essentially a 30 Rock bit that’s springing to life in a series that follows MILFs as they embark upon a getaway with 20-something bros. There’s a “shocking” twist that has been confirmed as the participants’ sons landing in the “dating” pool, so it sounds like maybe this will hold people’s attention spans more than HBO Max’s FBoy Island did. I mean, these are silly shows, and everyone (especially Jennifer Coolidge) is aware of “MILF” means.
The women on this show embrace the term, obviously, and no one seems to be getting hurt. They’re all in on the joke, but a segment on Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus takes umbrage with the meaning of “MILF” — specifically the “F” part. In the below clip, host Harris Faulkner appeared to complain about a double standard, which is that she can’t “talk about faith” without people complaining: “We can’t be bold in faith, but we want to know what the F stands for in MILF? Disgusting.”
Fox News host Harris Faulkner: “We can’t be bold in faith, but we want to know what the F stands for in MILF? Disgusting.” pic.twitter.com/36P2NFa7Lu
It’s something, alright. There’s not too much of consequence here, it’s just WTF stuff. There are so many hard-hitting issues to be covered, but the F word is getting even more coverage on Fox News.
Like Aaliyah once said, “If at first, you don’t succeed, you can brush it off and try again.” That seems to be the strategy the Lovers And Friends Festival is going with this spring (you just know Aaliyah herself would have been on the lineup), bringing back the nostalgic event for a second attempt at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on May 6. Today, the fest announced its millennial-baiting lineup, which features TRL faves like Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, and of course, the fest’s inspiration, Usher, whose 2004 hit is the festival’s namesake.
Unfortunately, Lovers And Friends Festival has had a bumpy road so far, starting with its first planned iteration in Carson, California in 2020. Numerous artists on the original lineup initially denied their involvement after the show was announced before their respective booking agents let them know they were on the c/o 2000 fever dream lineup. Once they were confirmed, demand for tickets skyrocketed, prompting the organizers to add a second day before the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on the whole event.
However, a revamped version of the festival came back in 2022, moving to Las Vegas and reverting back to a one-day fest. This turned out to be kind of a bad idea, as logistics for the fest were kind of a mess, leaving fans without shade or water in the 100-plus-degree desert heat (which tends to go the other way at night, leaving fans freezing instead). Then, there were reports of gunfire, causing stampedes and thankfully minor injuries.
Hopefully, they can learn from those mistakes as they return this spring and give fans the show they deserve because as an elder millennial (or Xennial or whatever you call us), I for one am extremely tired of having the rug pulled out from under me. Let us have something nice, for once. Please and thanks.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The photo was taken during a press conference shortly after it was announced that King was being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and shows King embracing his wife.
While not everyone is a fan of the new monument, which was unveiled on Friday in Boston — the city where the couple first met — Mediaite reports that Kelly took her artistic commentary to another level on Monday’s episode of her SiriusXM radio show. As she explained:
So they wanted to do a statue. They hired Hank Willis Thomas to create this sculpture that would wind up in Boston Common. Sitting on the 1965 Freedom Plaza, which honors 69 local civil rights leaders… It was meant to be just, be the arms and the hands of the hug. What it looks like, I’m just gonna say it — is a giant penis being held by two hands.
Look at this. Look, YouTubers, I’m sorry, but that’s a — that looks like a giant penis right there. I’m sorry.
Megyn Kelly: Keeping it classy.
Kelly’s guests included two editors from the National Review, a conservative news magazine. Editor-in-chief Rich Lowry agreed with Kelly: “This is why you need to run stuff by people close to you — your spouse. You know, ‘What do you think of the design, honey? Well, it looks like a schlong, dear.’” You can watch the full conversation here.
Others also took issue with the statue, but for different reasons.
It doesn’t sit well with me that Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King are reduced to body parts– just their arms. Not their faces- their expressions.
For such a large statue, dismembering MLK and Coretta Scott King is… a choice. A deliberate one. pic.twitter.com/Asi0SCHtPg
— Karen Attiah IS ON INSTAGRAM @karenattiah (@KarenAttiah) January 16, 2023
Some of the public discourse around “Embrace” (MLK Statue) by Hank Willis Thomas is so disheartening, especially from those within the black community. No matter what your opinion may be… tearing down another black man who’s genuinely a great artist and good human is gross. pic.twitter.com/szTBbYPJe0
If you Google “smartest dog breeds,” most lists you’ll find put border collies in the No. 1 spot, followed in some order by poodles, German shepherds and golden retrievers.
But a new study of canine cognition from the University of Helsinki puts a whole different breed at the top of the ladder—one that most of us have probably seen before but haven’t heard the name of—the Belgian Malinois.
Best known as a police or security dog, the Belgian Malinois is a shepherd breed that looks very similar to a German shepherd. Both breeds are of similar height and coloring, but the Malinois is lighter weight and its ears are more triangular-shaped, according to the American Kennel Club.
So what is it that makes the Belgian Malinois more intelligent than other dog breeds?
The study published in Scientific Reports analyzed 1,002 dogs from 13 different breeds using a battery of smartDOG cognition tests. These tests involve food reward tasks that determine a dog’s capacity for memory, problem-solving, impulse control, reading human gestures, copying human behavior and logical reasoning. Despite a wide field of research on dogs, according to the study, only a handful of studies have examined cognition of specific breeds instead of breed groups. Additionally, not much empirical research has been done on nonsocial cognitive traits such as memory, inhibitory control, spatial problem-solving and logical reasoning—all of which were covered in this study.
The researchers identified a few different tests as signifying high intelligence. For the most significant measure of intelligence, logical reasoning, the study revealed no significant difference between the dog breeds. So the three tests the authors singled out instead for measuring and comparing intelligence, according to The Telegraph, were:
– A V-detour test, in which a dog had to detour around a transparent V-shaped fence to get to a food reward, showing some problem-solving ability.
– A human gesture reading test, in which a dog’s response to five gestures—constant pointing, brief pointing, pointing with the foot, pointing at something while facing another direction and following a human’s gaze—was measured.
– An unsolvable task test, in which a dog tries to access food in an unopenable box, measuring independence and how quickly a dog asked a human for help.
The Belgian Malinois scored 35 out of a possible 39 points on these three tasks, making it the top scorer for high intelligence overall. Border collies came in second with 26 points and hovawarts came in third at 25 points.
The study authors point out that there are strengths and weaknesses in most breeds. Some score very high on some tests and very low on others. Some breeds saw middle-of-the-road scores across most tests.
According to IFLScience, one weakness the Malinois showed was in the cylinder test, in which a dog is taught to retrieve a piece of food from inside an opaque cylinder. The opaque cylinder then gets replaced with a transparent one to see if the dog will go around to the end of the cylinder to retrieve the treat, as it did with the opaque one, or try to go directly through the side of the cylinder to get to it. This test measures inhibition, and the Malinois scored among the lowest of all breeds on it.
Every dog has its bright and dim spots, but it’s clear why the Malinois is a dog of choice for security work. High intelligence, of course, but even being low on inhibition can be seen as a plus for a working dog that needs to be highly responsive and act quickly when needed.
“The Belgian Shepherd Malinois stood out in many of the cognitive tasks, having very good results in a majority of the tests,” study author and owner and CEO of smartDOG Dr. Katriina Tiira told The Telegraph.
“Border Collies also performed well in many of the tests,” she added.
Another day, another festival announcement. The latest is from Goldenvoice’s Just Like Heaven Festival 2023. While other festivals have broadened their musical lineup to match the multiple segments across the sonic landscape, the organizers behind Just Like Heaven stand firm in their indie rock and electro-dance roots.
The one-day event is slated to take place on Saturday, May 13. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will headline the festival. MGMT will perform their critically acclaimed 2008 debut album Oracular Spectacular as part of their set. Near the top of the poster’s bill is the band Future Islands. Just Like Heaven will be held inside Brookside at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
2000s-era post-punk revival fans are in for a treat as The Walkmen will be reuniting for a special set. Additional performers on the lineup include Empire Of The Sun, M83, Hot Chip, Caribou, The Bravery, Fever Ray, Peaches, Azealia Banks, Ladytron, STRFKR, Metronomy, The Faint, The Sounds, and Cults.
The festival will also feature a live podcast taping of How Long Gone hosted by Chris Black and Jason Stewart.
Tickets for Just Like will be available for purchase starting on January 20 at 10 a.m. PT. To be added to the queue for tickets, click here.
Memphis rap icon Gangsta Boo was laid to rest this weekend. At her funeral Saturday (January 15), however, technical difficulties caused some video tributes from her bandmates and other prominent Southern rap personalities to be cut from the service. According to TMZ, the videos from Juicy J, Drink Champs cohost DJ EFN, and Yelawolf had to be nixed as the video files were unable to be played on the church’s projector. Instead, they can be viewed in full on TMZ.
In Juicy’s video, he says, “Rest in peace to the queen of Memphis… Prayers to the family, the friends, the fans… We lost a great one.” Meanwhile, Yelawolf’s video gets interrupted by a semi truck’s horn prompting him to joke that it’s Gangsta Boo herself, getting in one last jibe from beyond.
Although these names were absent from the service, one of Boo’s more recent collaborators — and arguable heir apparent — GloRilla was able to attend, telling reporters outside the church, “She’s still alive. You know what I’m saying? Big Memphis. We gonna keep representing. Long live Lola. Big Memphis. Let’s go!”
News of Gangsta Boo’s death was met with a wave of dismay from across the rap community. Collaborators such as Big Boi from Outkast, Latto, Missy Elliott, Monica, Project Pat, Run The Jewels, and her Three 6 Mafia bandmates all paid tribute on social media.
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meet us at our pasadena paradise saturday, may 13 