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The Perfect Manhattan is one of those drinks that (good) bartenders know about and like to tinker with but hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet (or again, really). Like a lot of classic cocktails, this one has been around for centuries. The mix is a tad lighter than the heavy winter vibes of a classic Manhattan thanks to the “perfect” balance of both dry and sweet vermouth.

That addition of dry vermouth really helps this cocktail pop while still holding onto the deeper and darker flavors from the rye whiskey and botanical/floral sweet vermouth. The addition of a little orange oil and dark cherry bring that extra layer of late-fall feels. All together, you’ll have a great, deep but light, and fresh cocktail in your hand for easy sipping.

This is also a very easily batch-able cocktail (like all Manhattan variations). Simply change the ounces to cups and times the dashes of bitter by four. That’ll give you a four-pour batch of Perfect Manhattans for your next party. You can calculate up from there so let’s get stirring!

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

• Our ‘Perfect Whisky And Coke’ Recipe Uses The Last Brand You’d Expect
• The Hemingway Daiquiri Is A Deeply Refreshing Summer Cocktail — Here’s The (Very Simple) Real Recipe
• The Godfather Is A Simple Scotch Cocktail To Power You Through Winter
• Recipe: The Amaretto Sour Is The Ideal Cocktail To Close Out January
• The Tom Collins Is A Classic Cocktail That’s Perfect For The Hotter Days Ahead

Perfect Manhattan

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. rye whiskey
• 0.5 oz. dry vermouth
• 0.5 oz. sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• Ice
• Orange peel
• Cherry garnish

Always use quality ingredients to make quality cocktails at home. I’m using Michter’s US *1 Barrel Strength Rye, which is admittedly expensive. But goddamn does this whiskey make a killer Manhattan.

I also like to pair the vermouths within a single brand just to add a layer of continuity. It’s not that you can’t use Italian sweet vermouth and Spanish dry vermouth but they never quite cohere as well in my professional opinion. In this case, I’m going with Noilly Prat for both.

What You’ll Need:

• Cocktail glass, Nick and Nora, coupe, or lowball
• Cocktail jar/mixing jug
• Cocktail strainer
• Barspoon
• Spear
• Jigger

Method:

• Prechill the glass in the freezer.
• Add the rye, vermouths, and bitters to a mixing glass. Add a large handful of ice and use the barspoon to stir the cocktail until the glass is ice-cold to touch (about 20 to 30 seconds).
• Retrieve the glass from the freezer and strain the cocktail into the glass. Express the oils from the orange peel over the cocktail and rub the peel around the rim and bowl of the glass, discard.
• Spear a cherry and drop it into the glass. Serve.

Bottom Line:

Yup, it’s refreshing, deeply flavored, and light enough to beg for just one more. The rye truly shines through with a hint of dark rye bread crust with a hint of fennel and spearmint next to woody spices, fresh citrus notes, and a hint of toffee sweetness. The vermouth adds a teeter-totter between dry-and-light and deep-and-florally sweet.

Overall, this is a great cocktail to have in your arsenal as Halloween parties start popping off this weekend. It’s devilishly easy to make, has a nice nuance to an already-know classic, and it tastes really f*cking good.

On this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, Jack Harlow is the guest of honor, serving as both host and musical guest. Now, we know how next weekend’s episode (on November 5) is going to look: SNL announced today that Amy Schumer will host while Steve Lacy will be the musical guest.

The timing is good here, as Lacy’s “Bad Habit” is one of the most popular songs in the country at the moment: it just wrapped up a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, although Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” knocked Lacy off the top spot on the most recent ranks.

It remains to be seen just how Lacy will fit the show into his busy schedule, as he’s in the middle of his Give You The World tour right now. Lacy’s website currently indicates that during the week leading up to the show, he’ll be in Tucson on October 30, Las Vegas on the 31st, San Diego on November 2, Oakland on November 4, and Vancouver on November 6. So, either Lacy plans to give himself little time to actually prepare in-person in New York for the performance, or some of those tour dates could be canceled or postponed.

When it comes time for the show, perhaps Lacy will follow in Phoebe Bridgers’ footsteps but smash a camera instead of a guitar.

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

When Matthew Perry sat down to write a pretty heavy memoir about addiction and recovery, he might not have thought that everyone would be shocked by the various celebrity tidbits he had sprinkled in there. But that’s what people are interested in, so that’s what stuck!

First, news broke that Perry wished that Keanu Reeves was dead in an excerpt from his memoir. This was maybe blown out of proportion, but that happens when you come for America’s Sweetheart Keanu Reeves. He later clarified his comments, but it still stung!

Then, in another excerpt, Perry claimed that he had once made out with then-costar Valerie Bertinelli… while her husband Eddie Van Halen was “passed out 10 feet away.” Page Six reported that Perry and Bertinelli had “a long, elaborate make-out session,” while they were working on their short-lived 1990 sitcom Sydney. Perry claimed that their marriage was “troubled” and that he dreamed “elaborate fantasies about [Valerie] leaving Eddie Van Halen and living out the rest of her days” with him. That clearly didn’t happen, but Van Halen and Bertinelli divorced in 2001.

Now, Bertinelli seems to have responded to the ordeal in a TikTok. The actress uploaded a clip featuring Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” to express how she really feels. “Anyone else misbehave in their 20’s and early 30’s?” she captioned the TikTok, which features her looking embarrassed. “Are you mortified?” The audio features the lyrics “It’s me, Hi/ I’m the problem it’s me.” While she doesn’t explicitly mention Perry, her reaction is enough.

Perry has not reacted to the slight dig (probably because TikTok is more popular for those under 30) but he might regret putting out all of his secrets in one memoir. Yes, it’s all in the past and was over 30 years ago, but using “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift for her next TikTok would be a great power move!

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing hits bookshelves on November 1.

(Via Page Six)

Finding the best value bourbon is getting harder and harder. There are more bottles on the shelf these days in the $40-$75 price range that are more about marketing than anything else than ever before. There are still great bottles of bourbon in the $15 to $30 range, they’re just being pushed more and more to the fringes as the bourbon boom carries on unabated. One thing that’s truer than it’s ever been is that it pays to be a knowledgeable consumer, which is why I’m going to help find you some great value bourbons with a blind taste test.

Below, I’ll be tasting eight bottles of bourbon whiskey that all punch far above their price points (the average price of all of these bottles is just $22.62). One of the secrets of bourbon is that a whole hell of a lot of it is between four and six years old when it’s batched and bottled. At that age, it can only get so good, no matter what a marketing team tells you. So the question becomes, why pay $50, $60, or $75 for a four to six-year-old sourced bourbon with a fancy label when you can pay $20 for what’s essentially the same juice? Consumers often pay twice as much for the same thing in a different bottle.

Yes, different brands create unique flavor profiles that make them stand out from each other, no one is arguing that’s not true. But the quality of that brown juice is only going to be microscopically better or worse — that’s where true value resides. So maybe read through the below blind tasting and ranking, and then when you’re at the liquor store and you see that fancily labeled bottle of regular old bourbon for $60, buy two or three of the bottles below instead. Just a suggestion.

Our lineup today is:

• Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond
• Kirkland Signature Single Barrel by Barton 1792 Master Distillers
• J.T.S. Brown Bottled In Bond
• Jim Beam Single Barrel
• Benchmark Small Batch
• Wild Turkey 101
• Elijah Craig Small Batch
• Woodford Reserve

Let’s dive in.

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

• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• We Put A Whole Bunch Of Bourbons To A Giant Blind Test And Discovered Some Absolute Gems
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best-Known Basic Bottles Of Bourbon, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

There’s a lovely nose at play with soft taco mix spice next to creamy vanilla, caramel-dipped cherries, a hint of pear skins, and plenty of nutmeg. The palate has a minor not of cornbread muffins next to cherry-vanilla tobacco with a dash of leather and toffee. The end leans into some fresh gingerbread with a vanilla frosting next to hints of pear candy cut with cinnamon and nutmeg.

This is a damn good place to start. This is well-rounded, deep, and not overly sweet while maintaining a nice and varied fruitiness.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

This is a classic nose full of salted caramel next to dried red chili, Mounds bars, mulled wine spices, and creamy vanilla malt milkshakes with a cherry on top. The palate really leans into the sour mulled wine focusing on star anise, cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, and maybe even some cumin next o brown sugar clumps, creamy eggnog, and a cherry-dark chocolate tobacco vibe with a slightly woody edge. The end into the spiciness and wood with a hint of black potting soil, firewood bark, and warm cinnamon in a cherry-apple hot buttered rum cider.

Goddamn, this is delicious. It’s lush and bold at the same time. It’s higher in ABV but never overpowers or burns your palate. It’s also a classic bourbon that runs deep into the woods and dirt in a way that makes sense on that finish.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of cream soda cut with cherry syrup next to Hot Tamales cinnamon spiciness, dry leather gloves, caramel chews, and a hint of a Graham Cracker crust for a pie. The palate opens with a rush of classic cherry-vanilla creaminess next to plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon toast with a hint of woody pipe tobacco. The end has a note of creamy eggnog with a woody cinnamon stick dipped into cherry syrup and rolled up in an old tobacco leaf.

This was very standard but very good for being standard. It wasn’t bold or life-changing but it was kind of everything you need from a pour of bourbon whiskey.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla pound cake and salted caramel are countered by spicy cherry tobacco, mulled wine vibes, and dark chocolate cut with orange zest and a hint of corn husk. The palate brings in some floral honey sweetness and more orange oils with a sticky toffee pudding feel next to more spicy cherry tobacco and a hint of coconut cream pie. The end amps up the cherry with a little more sweetness than spice before salted dark chocolate tobacco folds into dry sweetgrass and cedar bark before a hint of fountain Cherry Coke pops on the very back end with a sense of sitting in an old wicker rocking chair.

This is just f*cking delicious. It’s straightforward but then goes that little bit deeper (orange, coconut, sweetgrass, old wicker), which helps this really stand out.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a clear sense of old boot leather, wet wicker with a hint of mold, floral honey, and dried chili-infused cherry crumble with a scoop of malted vanilla ice cream with just a speck of dark chocolate and salt. The palate is classic bourbon with sweet cinnamon, dark cherry, eggnog creaminess, and a hint of toffee mocha lattes. The end has a hint of butter cornbread next to rum-raisin, vanilla white cake, and cherry-bark tobacco stems in an old cedar box.

I don’t know how else to say it, this is really nice too. It was deep and interesting.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

This is a cherry bomb on the nose with deep notes of burnt orange, buttery toffee, old oak staves, and cumin-heavy taco seasoning with a hint of old leather gloves. The palate has a vanilla pudding cup vibe next to butterscotch candies, nougat, and a twinge of menthol tobacco on the mid-palate. The end of this is a classic cascade of bourbon notes: caramel, vanilla, cherry, winter spice, and light woodiness.

This was another classic but was a little light on the finish. It wasn’t low-ABV but it kind of just ended.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

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

This was very smooth but also a little light. It landed really well but also kind of just ended without a lasting finish.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a rush of Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider, pear candy, and vanilla cake with a hint of dark chocolate, orange zest, salted caramel, and some sour red berries tossed with fresh tobacco and mint. The palate opens with some dried apple skins next to cinnamon sticks floating in hot and spicy apple cider, a hint of mint tobacco, and salted orange dark chocolate bars. The end has a nougat wafer vibe next to caramel and vanilla cookies with a hint of old porch wicker and boot leather.

This was also light but way deeper than the last two. This is a fun pour with a nice balance that’s just inviting.

Part 2: The Ranking

8. Elijah Craig Small Batch — Taste 7

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $26

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.

Bottom Line:

I was surprised to see this last but here we are. Overall, this was a fine pour but that light finish informed this more as a cocktail base than anything else. This is something that you build with.

7. J.T.S. Brown Bottled In Bond — Taste 3

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $13

The Whiskey:

This is a quality whiskey from Heaven Hill’s expansive bourbon mash bill (78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye). That means this is the same base juice as Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, several Parker’s Heritages, and Henry McKenna. It’s a bottled-in-bond, meaning it’s from similar stock to their iconic Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond, amongst others on this very list.

Bottom Line:

This was also a decent pour of whiskey. I feel like you could get away with this on the rocks but you really want to be mixing with this one. It’s a great base for cocktails (and holy shit, this is cheap).

6. Wild Turkey 101 — Taste 6

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

Classic Wild Turkey 101 starts with their classic 75/13/12 mash bill that inches the malted barley just above the rye in the mix. That whiskey then spends at least six years in the cask before it’s batched and just kissed with Kentucky limestone water before bottling.

Bottom Line:

Another classic pour but, again, this felt like a cocktail base more than a sipper.

5. Benchmark Small Batch — Taste 5

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $19

The Whiskey:

This is a one-step-up “small batch” from Buffalo Trace’s budget brand, Benchmark. There’s not a whole lot of information on what this is exactly when it comes to the mash bill or aging. The “batch” could be 20 barrels or 200. We do know that the bourbon is cut down to 90-proof before bottling.

Bottom Line:

I liked this a lot. It was well-rounded but felt more like something I’d passively drink on a weekday eve when I really didn’t want to think about anything else.

4. Woodford Reserve — Taste 8

ABV: 45.2%

Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

The mash bill on this bourbon is mid-range rye heavy with 18% of the grain in the bill for support. Triple distilling in pot stills (like Irish whiskey) and blending with column-distilled whiskey is utilized. The bourbon then rests for six to seven years — taking time to mature before barrels are pulled for blending, proofing, and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This really is a solid goddamn bourbon whiskey. It’s deeply hewn and has a varied profile that’s always fresh and fun. It’s also a great value in that you’re getting a bourbon that’s a little extra (thanks to more distillation and longer aging than your average juice). Still, this is very much in the “great cocktail whiskey” category that also works on the rocks with a dash of bitters.

3. Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond — Taste 1

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $17

The Whiskey:

The juice is standard Evan Williams that’s blended from bonded barrels. The juice is brought down to 100 proof, allowing a bit more of that Heaven Hill craft to shine in the bottle compared to a standard Black Label Evan Williams bottle.

Bottom Line:

This is where we get into the sippable on the rocks bourbons. I use this for cocktails too, don’t get me wrong. But this really has a nice flavor profile that delivers serious depth. The only reason it’s not higher on the list is that it didn’t quite pop as much as the next two.

2. Jim Beam Single Barrel — Taste 4

ABV: 54%

Average Price: $24

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.

Bottom Line:

This is a killer pour of whiskey. It’s deep yet familiar. There’s nice nuance but it doesn’t get lost in the weeds. You always know that you’re sipping stellar and classic bourbon whiskey.

1. Kirkland Signature Single Barrel by Barton 1792 Master Distillers — Taste 2

ABV: 60%

Average Price: $32 (1-liter bottle)

The Whiskey:

This Costco release is sourced from Sazerac’s other Kentucky distillery, Barton 1792 Distillery down in Bardstown, Kentucky. The whiskey in the bottle is very likely the same distillate/barrels as 1792 Full Proof. However, this is proofed down a tiny bit below that at 120 proof instead of 125 proof, adding some nuance to this release.

Bottom Line:

This was the winner with ease. There’s so much good stuff going on with the whiskey from the deep nose to the fresh and fun taste profile to the long and satisfying finish. This is a killer bottle of whiskey (it popped as number one blind without knowing the price) that’s also an amazing value at $32 for a one-liter bottle.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

There’s just no beating that Kirkland Signature Single Barrel. It lives up to the hype while also delivering something truly solid. Moreover, it is an amazing deal for a liter of single-barrel whiskey at 120 proof. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, it might just be the best deal in bourbon whiskey right now.

All of that said, every bottle on this list is a great deal/value. Every one of these bottles offers a little something different on the profile but everyone is also truly well-made and even better priced. In the end, you cannot go wrong grabbing any of these bottles. But to really amp up that value prospect, you have to go to Costco, folks.

Sir Jonathan Price obviously received his knightly distinction from Queen Elizabeth I. He also joined The Crown to portray the older Prince Philip. He did so despite the royal opposition to the show, particularly while it careens toward painting then-Prince Charles in an increasingly unflattering 1990s light. This fifth season will include the final phases of Charles and Princess Diana’s disintegrating marriage, throughout which he still saw Camilla Parker Bowles, who is now the real-life Queen Consort. As shown above, the series will also include Philip’s special “friend/confidante” Penny Knatchbull, who will be portrayed by Natasha McElhone.

Price has heard all about the rising backlash to this season. Some of the fuss came from Dame Judi Dench, who reportedly entered into “serious” discussions for picking up a small role Season 5. Criticism also comes from the likes of Piers Morgan, who’s furious about Prince “Harry’s silence” on the show. Interestingly enough, Harry was a fan of Matt Smith as a younger Philip, and he’s also a Netflix content maker, so there’s a lot going on there.

Meanwhile, Pryce wants his “fellow artistes” to chill out. Here’s what he told Deadline:

The Crown’s Jonathan Pryce, who portrays Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in the show’s upcoming fifth season, has told Deadline he’s “bitterly disappointed” by those he termed “my fellow artistes,” for publicly criticizing the drama and demanding it carry a disclaimer.

Pryce was referring to comments made by Judi Dench in The Times where she called the series “cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.”

Following Dench’s criticism, Netflix added a “fictional dramatisation” to the latest trailer on YouTube. The season also reportedly angered royal sources with a Season 5 episode, that portrays Charles as extremely salty about having to wait to be king. Well, Charles had to wait three more decades to be king, and he’ll be formally coronated next May. By that point, everyone will (hopefully) have given their take on the current The Crown controversy.

(Via Deadline)

Week 8 of the NFL season features only two teams on bye weeks, meaning there are 15 games to navigate from a handicapping slate. From Thursday night through Monday night, the NFL takes center stage, and the schedule even features a Sunday morning tilt in London. In this space, challenges have emerged when trying to break it all down on a weekly basis, including a 2-3 showing in Week 7 that left an empty feeling. Alas, there are five more selections coming and, before we get to the picks, let’s take a big-picture look at the 2022 progress.

• Week 7: 2-3
• 2022 Season: 16-19

Come get these winners.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1.5) over Baltimore Ravens

It would’ve been better to get on this early in the week with Tampa Bay listed an underdog, but there is still value in this number. Tampa Bay has failed to cover in five straight games, losing four games outright. That downturn was headlined by a hideous performance in a loss to Carolina last week. In short, we’re buying low. Baltimore is a team that I value at a pretty high level, but Mark Andrews is banged up, JK Dobbins is out, and the Ravens are No. 29 in the NFL in EPA per play on defense. Hold your nose.

TEASER: Denver Broncos (+8.5) over Jacksonville Jaguars AND Houston Texans (+8.5) over Tennessee Titans

Wong teasers are actually getting rocked this season, both overall and in this space. That is likely attributed to small-sample variance, and this is one I like a lot. Denver has Russell Wilson back for Sunday in London, and the best unit on either side of the ball in that game is the Broncos defense. As for Houston, the Texans are not very good. With that said, they are bumped through key numbers to 8.5 at home in this game against what I believe to be an overvalued Titans team.

Detroit Lions (+3.5) over Miami Dolphins

Thinking about Detroit’s passing defense against Miami’s weapons is admittedly scary. I will simply note that this number should be lower, and Detroit projects to get some help with the potential (or likely) availability of Amon-Ra St. Brown and De’Andre Swift. The Lions are plucky. We’ll take the points.

New England Patriots (-2) over New York Jets

I’ve actually been quite low on the Patriots this season, but this number should be higher. New England was brutal against Chicago a week ago, accounting for the change in the market, but the Patriots are well-equipped here. Bill Belichick has a history of bouncing back well after embarrassing results, and the Jets aren’t the same team without Breece Hall. Lay the small number, even if I hate road favorites.

Green Bay Packers (+7) over Buffalo Bills in the first half

I like the full-game number here as well, but prefer the first half. Green Bay’s offense is a nightmare right now, and Buffalo is in a juicy position after a bye and with the MVP favorite on the field at home under the lights. That’s a bit terrifying, but a full touchdown in the first half is a bit much. Buffalo does have a history of flattening overmatched teams, but most of that comes in the second half traditionally. Let’s sneak into the break in a one-score game.

Late last night, Harry Styles teased a new video for “Music For A Sushi Restaurant,” which premiered this afternoon. Through both the teaser and the video itself, one thing immediately stuck out to fans: Styles had a beard (for the video, at least) and tentacles.

In the clip, Styles is a mermaid-like sea creature with a beard and tentacles in place of legs. He gets captured by fisherman and brought to a restaurant, where he worries about being turned into sushi. He actually ends up being treated quite well, though, getting pampered and becoming a mascot for the restaurant.

Regardless of what happens in the video, folks on the internet have a lot of thoughts about Styles’ look, specifically the beard-iness of it.

There are those who think it’s a fantastic look that Styles should keep around:

Not everybody loves it, though, with one person declaring, “i need harry styles to never grow his beard ever in his life.”

And there are others who are still shocked and just trying to make sense of it all:

While he’s rocking a beard in the clip, one thing he hasn’t been wearing recently as Adidas shoes. They’ve been included as part of his tour wardrobe, but he switched to Vans for a recent show, prompting rumors that he’s boycotting Adidas in light of the Kanye West antisemitism drama.

Jack Harlow is having a big year after the release of his album Come Home The Kids Miss You. He’ll only be getting higher from here, especially since it was recently announced that the “First Class” rapper will be pulling double duty on SNL by both hosting the show and performing as a guest on Oct. 29.

This is not Harlow’s first collision with the SNL universe. He was the musical guest on March 27 of this year. He performed a medley of “Tyler Herro” and “What’s Poppin” as well as “Same Guy” with Adam Levine. He has never hosted it before, though.

We already received the promo for his forthcoming SNL episode. In it, the cast members try and fail to guess his “Halloween costume,” to his disappointment. The guesses include “a box of Kleenex,” “a cotton ball,” “the whole White Lotus,” “a pimp on a cruise ship,” “a sexy Yeti,” “Fluff Daddy,” “almost historically-accurate Jesus,” and Macklemore, none of which are remotely close to his actual inspiration. Finally, he tells them, “this is just my outfit,” but once he gets a moment alone, he reveals that it is really is a costume — a really funny one, at that.

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

This week on Fresh Pair, El-P stopped by Uproxx Studios in Los Angeles to talk shop with Just Blaze and Katty Customs, breaking down the influence ’90s rap duo EPMD had on his own production style, getting deep on sneaker culture in his beloved NYC, and his days on the city’s underground scene.

That makes this week’s list especially daunting. How do you break down a 25-year career into just a handful of tracks and then call those tracks “the best?” As Jaime and Just point out in this episode, calling something the “best” is sort of a futile gesture, because everyone has their own standards and no one will ever agree. With that said, I still had to impose some rules on myself just to keep myself from going crazy.

Since a lot of El-P’s most iconic work comes from group projects alongisde Company Flow and Run The Jewels, we’ll limit ourselves to one song from each group to keep this thing from spiraling out of control and maintain the focus on El-P himself. So, most of this list will be from his three solo albums, with two absolute standouts from his group efforts. Now, without further ado, El-P’s best songs, ranked.

10. “Deep Space 9mm”

The lead single from El-P’s 2002 solo debut is highly emblematic of his style as a whole at the time (and since). The beat’s busy as all hell, with DJ scratches, sci-fi buzzers, and crashing percussion, while his rhymes match, full of metaphorical, dense, abstract wordplay. Maybe a little too abstract and dense; the clutter can sometimes get distracting, which was another hallmark of El-P’s earlier output.

9. “Stepfather Factory”

So, like a lot of El-P’s solo output, the rhyme schemes are all over the place in this diatribe against the dissolution of the family unit, but the industrial-sounding, haunting instrumental and devastating storytelling are no less effective for it. He’s at his relatable best when he peels back the curtain on those angsty motivations.

8. “EMG”

Appearing on 2007’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, “EMG” is probably the closest El-P ever got to sounding like his influences in that decade, opting for a stripped-down approach to the beat (more cowbell!), and a more straightforward rap delivery that wouldn’t be out of place at your local hip-hop shop’s Friday night open mic cipher. It’s also a breath of fresh air in a suffocatingly paranoid and anxious album.

7. “Population Control” with Company Flow

The absolute epitome of late-’90s, mean-mugging, backpack rap. With an eerie beat straight from the Black Lagoon — the Creature is right behind you, by the way — and aggressive, anti-everything lyrics, this track from Co Flow’s 1997 debut Funcrusher Plus is likely indirectly responsible for a lot of rap fans’ contemporary faves even being a thing. No Co Flow, no Rawkus; no Rawkus, no Black Star; no Black Star… who knows where J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, or dozens of other names in rap would be?

6. “Oh Hail No” Feat. Mr. Motherf*cking Exquire & Danny Brown

By the 2010s, El-P had nailed down a more palatable sound that still reflected his particular rebellious outlook and left-field aesthetics. On 2012’s Cancer 4 Cure, he expanded the scope of output, and a new crop of MCs — ones likely at least a little bit influenced by him in the first place — began to rub off on him lyrically, sharpening his pen skills. “Oh Hail No” is a perfect example.

5. “Flyentology” Feat. Trent Reznor

Only El-P could sound so hard wrestling with religion. The conclusion is ambiguous; after all, while there may be no atheists in foxholes, all the prayers in the world don’t stop planes from crashing. If nothing else, this I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead standout gives an insightful peek into El-P’s anxious worldview, which explains a lot of his music.

4. “Delorean” Feat. Feat. Aesop Rock & Ill Bill

Look, man. At the end of the day, the essence of the backpack era was getting together and talking sh*t — the sort that you just couldn’t hear on the radio. This Fantastic Damage posse cut is very much the distillation of that philosophy.

3. “Tougher Colder Killer” Feat. Killer Mike & Despot

See above, but like 5,000 years in the future. On a spaceship flying through a Warhammer-esque imperialistic war over galactic territory. Killer Mike takes it here. Cancer 4 Cure is kind of underrated.

2. “The Full Retard”

El-P’s most successful solo track to date, the unfortunately named “The Full Retard” is when he perfected his whole schtick. His flow is perfect, the beat is boisterous and bold without being obnoxious, and the hook (such as it is) acknowledges the futuristic outlook of El-P’s music explicitly for the first time in his then 15-year career.

1. “Legend Has It” with Run The Jewels

While the production on RTJ4 is likely El-P’s best, there isn’t a song in the group’s catalog with the impact of this RTJ3 gem. A lot of that is probably the effect of the song appearing in the Black Panther trailer in 2018, but on the other hand, it’s also very much the moment when Run The Jewels went from internet favorite to mainstream hitmakers.

When reviewing Rina Sawayama’s second studio album Hold The Girl last month, Uproxx described the track “Frankenstein” as “unhinged melodrama.” The video, out today (October 27), delivers deliciously in that vein.

The Jak Payne-directed video begins with an R-rating as a “dirty hit” with a disclaimer from Sawayama, “I don’t wanna be a monster.” We’re plopped in the middle of a raging house party. Sawayama wanders around seemingly undetected and feeling out of place. She makes her way to an upstairs bathroom, where she looks in the mirror and sees a boss version of herself. “You’re the one / That can save me from myself,” she sings to her reflection — her Frankenstein? — as it crawls out from the mirror. “Destruction triple 9, I need your help / All I want is / To feel beautiful.”

The confident version of Sawayama storms back downstairs and owns the room, dancing unapologetically while the original Sawayama is left locked in the bathroom. The performance (by both Rina Sawayamas) is dizzying — and maybe explains how she landed her debut film-acting role in John Wick: Chapter 4.

Sawayama explained the meaning of “Frankenstein” in a statement. “I wanted to write about how I’ve relied on my partner to help put me back together, but I realized it’s no one’s job but mine,” she said.

The British-Japanese pop star is bringing her Hold The Girl Tour to the US, beginning at the Avant Gardner’s Great Hall in Brooklyn, New York, next Tuesday (November 1). See all 13 dates here.

Watch the “Frankenstein” video above.