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If David Simon makes something for HBO, whether it’s one of the greatest television shows of all-time (The Wire) or a miniseries where Oscar Isaac has a mustache (Show Me a Hero), it’s worth watching. His creative collaboration with the network continues with We Own the City, Simon’s first series set in Baltimore since The Wire.

We Own the City “chronicles the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work,” according to HBO. The six-episode limited series is directed by King Richard‘s Reinaldo Marcus Green, while Simon worked on the scripts with George Pelecanos, William F. Zorzi, and Ed Burns, all of whom also wrote for The Wire.

You can watch the trailer starring Jon Bernthal (there’s going to be a lot of confused Blue Lives Matter folks seeing their beloved Punisher as a crooked cop) above. Here’s more:

In the 2000s, the Baltimore Police Department struggled to respond to crime with meaningful police work, giving itself over to mass arrest and drug warring instead. We Own the City shows how the department’s desperate reliance on statistics over substance eventually led to the inability of department officials to supervise the Gun Trace Task Force and the further inability of the department to discipline rogue police. At the time of the GTTF scandal in 2017, though there were numerous indications of corruption within several plainclothes units going back almost a decade, Baltimore police commanders held to the belief that any street unit that could bring in guns and drugs consistently had to be championed and protected. We Own the City depicts the inevitable corruption of a unit given this carte blanche.

We Own the City, which also stars Wunmi Mosaku, Jamie Hector, and Josh Charles, debuts on Monday, April 25.

Ed Sheeran is fresh off a major legal win as his years-long copyright battle over “Shape Of You” has come to an end in his favor. This comes after Sheeran settled a copyright claim over “Photograph” in 2017, now Sheeran says that since then, he has filmed “every single” one of his songwriting sessions to prevent future plagiarism accusations.

In a recent interview with BBC2’s Newsnight, Sheeran said:

“I started doing it from ‘Photograph,’ started filming every single session for my stuff, so I would film every single session for my album, because I’d be like, ‘I don’t want to have this situation happen again.’ So now I just film everything. Everything’s on film and we’ve had claims come through on songs and we go, ‘Well, here’s the footage and you watch, and you’ll see that there’s nothing there’

I mean, there’s the George Harrison quote where he says he’s scared to touch the piano because he might be touching someone else’s note, and there’s definitely a feeling of that in the studio sometimes. I personally think the best feeling in the world, the best feeling, is the euphoria around the first idea of writing a great song, like the first spark where you go, ‘Oh this is special, we can’t spoil this, this is amazing.’ But that feeling has now turned into, ‘Oh wait, let’s stand back for a minute. Have we touched anything?’ You know? You find yourself, in the moment, second-guessing yourself.”

Watch the interview clip below.

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

The question I’m asking today is if an average bottle of bourbon (and remember that an “average bourbon” is really quite solid) could ever live up to a true-blue unicorn/expensive bourbon. Is a $500 bottle of bourbon really that much better than a $50 one? How much better can it even be, honestly?

The best way for me to test this is to actually line up some bottles in a blind tasting to see if I can find the unicorn while also seeing how they stand up next to each other. Because let’s face it, prices in bourbon are a fickle beast. Bottes that have an MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) of maybe $69, $99, or $129 can sell for hundreds and even thousands of dollars on the aftermarket. Weller and Pappy are among the bottles that are notorious for this kind of secondary price hike. Then there are the bottles that actually have an MSRP in the hundreds and thousands of dollars. Yes, there are bottles of bourbon whiskey that hit shelves with a price tag that’s around $300 to $500 from the manufacturer. (Those prices often get inflated on the secondary market too, but let’s stay on track here.)

For the blind tasting below, I’m pulling ten new bourbons released in late 2021 and early 2022 and seeing how they stack up. I’m adding in the extra ripple to see if any of them can topple one killer bottle, Barrell Craft Spirits’ Gold Label Bourbon — which actually has an MSRP of $500. For the most part, I’m including bourbons in the $40 to $60 range with a few limited/allocated releases that get that big secondary price hike thrown in for good measure.

Our lineup today is:

• Elvis Tiger Man Tennessee Whiskey
• I.W. Harper Cabernet Cask Finish Bourbon
• Frey Ranch Small Batch Bourbon Batch #5
• Broken Barrel Cask Strength
• Brother’s Bond
• New Riff Red Turkey Wheated Bourbon
• Barrell Gold Label Bourbon
• Larceny Barrel Proof A122
• Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Spring 2022
• Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast

While I knew which bottles were in this lineup, I didn’t pour these. That means I had no idea the order. Let’s dive in and see if an actual $500 bourbon really does stand out.

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

• The Single Best Bottle Of Whiskey From Each Of The 50 States
• The 50 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2021, Ranked
• Every Winning Bourbon From Our 2021 Taste Tests, Blind Tasted And Re-Ranked
• The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

The nose is really light with hints of “oak” next to sweet corn kernels, a twinge of apple, and light orange citrus. The palate is a little woody with a touch of maple syrup over vanilla pudding with a slight Granny Smith apple tartness. The mid-palate thins out dramatically before dark cherry and a hint of caramel lead to a very sweet and watery end.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

The nose is buttery with notes of caramel and vanilla cream next to sweet cherry and a meaty dried apricot. That ripe cherry drives the palate toward almost tart berries with a salted caramel sauce, soft oak, and hint of mulled wine spices. The spices peak with cinnamon and nutmeg next to very mild yet chewy cherry tobacco that’s just touched with vanilla oils and orange zest, which brings about a mellow yet complex finish.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Fruity cherry gummies mingle with raw sourdough bread dough, vanilla beans, dry firewood, and burnt brown sugars on the nose. The taste has a very crafty corn chip vibe that leads to tart cranberry, more of that vanilla, and a cinnamon-spiced oatmeal raisin cookie. This all coalesces on the finish with the spice, oats, tart red fruit, and vanilla playing second fiddle to the dry firewood and slightly spiced tobacco end.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Dark chocolate powder opens the nose up to fresh raspberry, vanilla husks, buttery toffee, and those candy orange wedges with the sugar coating. The palate leans into the berries as oatmeal cookies dipped in Earl Grey tea lead to almond shells and dark earthy soil. The mid-palate re-sweetens with a vanilla shortbread that ends up at an eggnog creaminess and spiciness next to a very mild and dry cornmeal finish with a hint of dark chocolate pipe tobacco.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens up with apple cider cut with caramel next to a hint of oak and vanilla with this echo of marzipan in the background. That marzipan becomes a bit more prominent on the palate as apples dipped in caramel lead to a lightly spiced vanilla tobacco vibe. The finish arrives pretty quickly with a slight wateriness before the apple, caramel, and almond all fade out.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

Crunchy sourdough crust rests next to cherry pie filling on the nose of this one with bursts of orange zest (and maybe some grapefruit pith) and a nice and soft sweet cedar and old leather. Stewed cherry with plenty of cinnamon leads the way on the palate as more old leather, wintry spices, and a sweetgrass note round things out. The mid-palate sweetness leads to black cherry tobacco with a nice chew as wet granite leads to red grape skins on the finish.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a sense of wet oak staves (think rained on barrels) next to freshly pressed sugar cane juice, damp, almost still unharvested cherry tobacco leaves, the seeds from a vanilla pod, rainwater, stringy cedar bark, and fresh apricot next to Bing cherry.

Yeah, this is massively different even on the nose due to the notes being so specific. The palate pretty much confirms, instantly, that this is a whole different class of bourbon.

Dark cherry leads to candied ginger on the opening of the taste as orange marmalade mingles with toasted sourdough, sticky yet subtle fir resin, and creamy key lime pie filling with just a hint of the butter in the crust of that pie. The mid-palate leans into the sugar in that pie filling as the cherry kicks back in with a sliver of tartness next to overripe peaches, dried hibiscus, mild anise, allspice berries, sassafras, and dried cacao nibs. The finish gently steps through a field full of orange blossoms as that cacao dries out more, leaving you with dried choco-cherry tobacco that’s been inside of a cedar box that’s wrapped in decades-old leather.

I mean, come the f*ck on. This is outstanding. Levels beyond anything we’ve had on deck in the previous six tastes.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with old, almost dusty cedar beams next to river rock, a crackling fire, brown butter melting into a pancake (though kind of raw batter more than cooked) with plenty of maple syrup, and this walnut/orange/vanilla tobacco vibe. This is also a very good whiskey already. Almonds roasted in that maple syrup and dusted with big flakes of salt lead to bold Christmas spices on the palate as notes of figs, prunes, and dates create a sticky toffee pudding feel. The sweetness on the mid-palate abates as the spices really start to amp up — think Red Hots cinnamon, anise, red peppercorns, and fresh ginger — as dry sweetgrass and drier cherry tobacco counters everything. The end is pretty hot, but it still leaves you with a clear sense of dry cedar, sweetgrass, and tobacco next to all that spice with a nice underbelly of hazelnut and dark chocolate.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

Cherry tree bark, dried roses pressed in an old bible, and almost musty vanilla oil lead the way on the nose as wet cedar and old leather play back up with a whisper of singed orange peel. Another killer whiskey is in hand — the nuance is amazing. The palate opens with lush and creamy vanilla sauce dusted with a matrix of winter spices (nutmeg, clove, anise, cinnamon, allspice), almost smoldering cherrywood, and sticky, classic pipe tobacco with a rich chew. The mid-palate pivots with a dried cherry covered in dark yet milky chocolate with hints of brandy-soaked dates, a hint more of that winter spice mix, and subtle, mildly woody cherry tobacco on the backend of the finish.

Taste 10

Tasting Notes:

Raspberries and cinnamon sticks mingle with freshly cracked walnuts, browned butter, and a hint of orange zest on the nose. The palate leans into that bright orange zest as salted caramel is cut with a hint of unbaked buttermilk biscuits, an inkling of orchard wood, and plenty of wintry spice. The finish marries a lot of that toward an oatmeal cookie with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg, raisins, and vanilla next to soft pine and a hint of walnut-laden tobacco leaves.

Part 2: The Ranking

10. Elvis Tiger Man Tennessee Whiskey — Taste 1

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This bottle from Grain & Barrel Spirits is a sourced Tennessee whiskey, likely Dickel. The mash bill is 80 percent corn, ten percent rye, and ten percent malted barley. The juice is aged for two years before blending, proofing, and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was fine for what it is — an 80 proof mixing whiskey for Coke or ginger ale. There was nothing that really stood out though, and you’d never, in a million years, confuse this for a high-end whiskey.

9. Brothers Bond Bourbon — Taste 5

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $38

The Whiskey:

This celebrity whiskey comes from Vampire Diaries actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. The juice is from an “undisclosed” source but from Indiana (gotta be MGP, obviously). The mash bill is a four-grain recipe of corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley that’s aged for an undisclosed amount of time before proofing it all down to 80 proof and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This might be ninth, but it’s miles ahead of the tenth entry. That said, this is clearly a cocktail whiskey, and that’s fine.

8. Frey Ranch Small Batch Bourbon Batch #5 — Taste 3

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

Frey Ranch is all about the farm behind the whiskey. In this case, that’s a 165+-year-old farm in the Sierra Nevada basin near Lake Tahoe. The grains (corn, wheat, rye, and barley), fermentation, distilling, aging, and bottling all happen on-site at Frey Ranch.

Bottom Line:

This, again, felt like a perfectly suitable mixing bourbon. It was complex enough to stand up to any cocktail while having just enough panache to be a nice pour over plenty of ice.

7. Broken Barrel Cask Strength — Taste 4

ABV: 57.5%

Average Price: $48

The Whiskey:

This whiskey, from Owensboro Distilling Co., is all about the finish. The whiskey is finished in casks with staves from ex-bourbon, sherry, and French oak barrels. Once that whiskey hits the right point, it’s vatted and bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

This was “nice.” Well, that’s what I wrote in my notes anyway. Still, we’re squarely in the middle of the road here.

6. I.W. Harper Cabernet Cask Finish — Taste 2

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This Diageo whiskey is a sourced Kentucky bourbon that’s aged at the famed Stitzel-Weller distillery for four years. The whiskey is then finished in red wine barrels from California before blending, proofing, and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was pretty nice overall. I’d still lean towards this being more of a cocktail base than a sipper (this will make one hell of an old fashioned). That said, this would be perfectly fine over some rocks too, though it’s not going to taste amazing.

5. New Riff Red Turkey Wheated Bourbon — Taste 6

ABV: 50%

Average Price: Limited Availability ($50 MSRP)

The Whiskey:

This release from craft whiskey darling, New Riff, is all about the heritage grains. The whiskey uses a 19th-century grain, Red Turkey Wheat, to create a unique whiskey. The juice is aged for five years at New Riff’s warehouse before it’s vatted, proofed ever so slightly, and bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

Now we’re getting somewhere. This truly felt like the first bourbon of the flight that had a unique POV. It wasn’t mind-blowing but it was distinct. This is an easy choice as a sipper on the rocks or a killer Manhattan base.

4. Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast Bottled-in-Bond — Taste 10

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $90

The Whiskey:

This California whiskey is a four-grain bourbon with a mash bill of 69 percent corn, 22 percent rye, five percent malted barley, and four percent wheat. That juice spends five years mellowing in oak before only 26 barrels are small-batched and proofed down for bottling.

Bottom Line:

This is the biggest surprise on the whole list. This is pretty damn good. It’s not a top-three whiskey by any stretch but it is nuanced and easy-sipping whiskey with a lot of character. This is easily a nice slow sipping bourbon either neat or on the rocks. I can also see this making a killer Manhattan or Sazerac.

3. Larceny Barrel Proof Batch No. A122 — Taste 8

ABV: 62.2%

Average Price: $86

The Whiskey:

Larceny is made from a mash bill of 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley, which is Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbon standard mash. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of six to eight-year-old barrels that are vatted and bottled at cask strength as-is. It’s as easy as that, folks.

Bottom Line:

Goddamn, this really stood out as a great whiskey. The only reason it’s not ranked higher is that the heat on the finish was a little over dialed. It kind of washed out the profile for a moment before the finish recovered. Still, this was a complex and delicious sip of whiskey worth seeking out and adding to any bar cart.

2. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 17-Year Spring 2022 Edition — Taste 9

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $185 (MSRP)

The Whiskey:

This whiskey was distilled and laid down in barrels back in 2004. The barrels were vatted after 17 years and proofed down to the bottled-in-bond standard of 100 proof and then bottled in the iconic Old Fitz decanter for a Spring 2022 release.

Bottom Line:

While I’d like to say that this was close, I didn’t have to think about what was number for more than a split second. Still, this was just outstanding in every way. It just didn’t quite have the unique depth of the Barrell Gold Label. This felt like the most beautiful classic whiskey but still just classic.

1. Barrell Craft Spirits Gold Label Bourbon — Taste 7

ABV: 56.77%

Average Price: $621 ($500 MSRP)

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is a blend of Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky bourbons. Each barrel in that blend is a minimum of 16 years old. The barrels were specifically chosen for their cherry, nutty, high-proof, and chocolate profiles. Half of those barrels were then finished in new American oak for a final touch of maturation before vatting and bottling as-is.

Bottom Line:

This was so clearly in a different class it wasn’t even funny. While the Old Fitz and Larceny are world-class sips, they just didn’t quite reach the heights of this one (refinement, specificity, and beauty are hard to deny in a stellar whiskey). When it comes to the other seven sips on this list, forget about it.

They didn’t even feel like they were in the same dimension as this. Sorry friends, I know how much we all love the “whiskey pro fooled by a $10 bottle” story but… not happening here. This is too good to play in the B league. Or even the A league. This dram is for the whiskey Olympics only.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

No, cheaper bourbon does not compare to the unicorn stuff. Even something as unique and allocated as Old Fitz really didn’t come that close to Barrell Gold Label.

The key lesson here is that when a brand releases something with an actual MSRP in the hundreds of dollars, there’s usually a pretty good goddamn reason for it. No one wants to kill their rep by overpricing a bottle. Barrell found unicorn barrels of whiskey in three states, shipped them to Louisville, and then tinkered with them to create something even bigger, better, and more unique. That’s talent and value that’s undeniable. If you have the money, I say it’s worth your hard-earned dollars.

$500 for a 750ml bottle? Well, I don’t keep your books. I can say that it’s worth it to me for that special Christmas, birthday, or New Year’s Eve pour. That said, if I wasn’t quite as passionate, I might just buy five $100 bottles of Stellum Black first. Or ten $50 bottles of Rare Breed. Or… You get the point.

In the end, if you ever come across Barrell Gold Label, pay for a pour, enjoy, and come to your own conclusions. Then, if you have the cash, buy a bottle for the vault and forget about it for a while.

A new era of Lizzo began late last year with the unveiling of her first single in two years, “Rumors.” Last month, Lizzo announced on Instagram that her follow-up to 2019’s chart-topping Cuz I Love You was finally finished. It was clear from the caption that she’s happy with the material and excited to share it with the world.

She’s so stoked about her new music, in fact, that she can’t help but give us glimpses of it. On The Late Late Show a couple of weeks ago, she previewed an unreleased track titled “About Damn Time.” Corden pulled out a vinyl record with a simple sleeve that said, “TOP SECRET Lizzo New Music 2022.” He then popped the record on a portable turntable and played about 30 seconds.

Now, she’s back with a brief clip of the ’70s-inspired song again, this time on Instagram with a fierce video that shows off a lot of skin while she walks onto a plane. Her caption reads: “SONG OF THE SUMMER DROPPING 4/14.” Fans in the comment praise her confidence — both in herself and her body as well as in her forthcoming music. Considering the success of her last album, she has every reason to believe these new songs will take over the world.

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

Following Bruce Willis‘ family announcing that the iconic star is retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, there was an outpouring of love celebrating his numerous memorable performances over the years. One such performance is Willis’ breakout role as David Addison on the ABC series Moonlighting. However, when fans went to stream the TV classic that paired Willis’ wise-cracking private investigator with Cybill Shepherd, it was nowhere to be found.

Considering almost every show can be found somewhere, Moonlighting is an odd exclusion given the show’s popularity and the fact that it put Willis on the map. Naturally, the culprit turned out to be the number one killer of streaming availability: music rights.

Via Entertainment Weekly:

Series creator Glenn Gordon Caron tells EW that it’s largely the issue of music licensing that has prevented any streamer from picking up the rights. “When we made Moonlighting, television shows didn’t typically use pop music,” he says. “It was really just us and Miami Vice at that time. So when deals were made for the music, no one anticipated streaming. In order to exhibit the show [on streaming], the owner of the shows, which is the Walt Disney Company, has to go back and make deals for all that music — and they’ve resisted doing that for six or seven years now.”

However, as Caron notes, Miami Vice had a similar issue, and that ’80s classic is currently available on Peacock. There is a way to make it work if Disney is willing, and now couldn’t be a better time to get Moonlighting out there.

“With all the attention that Bruce has been getting, hopefully one good thing that might come out of it is we can reinitiate the conversation with Disney about releasing the streaming rights,” Caron said.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The Lakers season came to an end on Sunday night with a fairly incredible comeback win in overtime over the Nuggets that featured a 31-point triple-double from Austin Reaves. However, the ability to celebrate that one final win was dampened considerably as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Frank Vogel was going to be fired on Monday as the final buzzer sounded.

That of course led to Vogel being asked about it, to which he bluntly retorted “I haven’t been told sh*t.” This being the end of the Vogel tenure in L.A. has been expected for months, but it certainly didn’t feel like the way the news should’ve been handled for a coach who brought another championship to the Lakers. In any case, the coaching search is on and the Lakers are making it known that they’ll be on the hunt for an established big name.

Quin Snyder and Doc Rivers have already been linked to the Lakers’ pursuit of a new coach, and you can add another name to that list in Raptors coach Nick Nurse, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Nurse has been the coach of the Raptors since 2018-19, when he led Toronto to its first championship in his first season, and has done a tremendous job this season leading Toronto to the 5-seed in the East. Charania reports Nurse will be a “top target” for the Lakers, but rather hilariously notes, “it’s unclear whether he will be attainable or whether he would have interest.”

It would be fairly shocking if Nurse engaged on talks with the Lakers in a serious way whenever the Raptors season ends, if for no other reason than he has two years left on his deal in Toronto and L.A. would have to get permission just to speak with him and then, if they somehow got him on board, work out a trade with the Raptors. Considering the Lakers do not have an awful lot of assets to begin with, coupled with the need to likely attach some of those to Russell Westbrook if they’re going to trade him this summer, it seems like an extreme long shot.

On top of that, it’s not hard to argue that the Raptors are a better situation to be in as a coach. While the Lakers boast LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the rest of the roster remains a huge question mark and confidence in the Lakers front office to build a coherent supporting cast is at an all-time low after the disaster of this season. The Raptors have far more depth and much younger All-Star caliber talent compared to an L.A. team with an incredibly murky future whenever LeBron James is gone. Nurse is also a beloved figure with the Raptors which provides a great deal of job security, whereas he’d be coming into a Lakers team with championship or bust expectations who just fired a coach two years removed from a title.

Mostly, this feels like one of two things happening. One, the Lakers are trying to show fans they are targeting the best coaches, which could backfire if they are unable to poach one of those big name coaches from another team and have to settle (again) as they did with Vogel’s hire — which it should be noted, worked out quite well initially. The other option is this is going to be like in college football when a big job opens up and agents use that opening to get a bigger, long term extension done.

In any case, Nurse to the Lakers seems like an extreme long shot but it shows just how wide a net L.A. seems to be trying to cast to reel in a big fish — Michigan coach Juwan Howard, who was with LeBron in Miami, is also noted as a potential candidate.

Nicolas Cage is currently promoting The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, in which he plays a not-version of himself named Nick Cage, and his interviews have been particularly entertaining of late. He’s revealed that he regrets nothing about his VOD roles (and in fact, they helped him a whole lot), and we’ve learned plenty about his pet crow. In addition, Cage stepped up to do a Reddit AMA.

Yup, these things can often take a “for better or for worse” turn, but the event yielded some gems, including how he and Charlie Sheen both went bonkers about some square-tube pasta about 25 years ago in San Francisco. Multiple Reddit commenters joked about John Travolta actually running the thread, and the subject repeatedly turned to sequels. There was one Cage project that did receive an unconditional “yes” from him, and no, it wasn’t Con Air (I really only wanted to use a Con Air photo, so that’s what happened above). Rather, Nic feels great about doing a Face/Off followup:

However, he’s not so keen on a Ghost Rider sequel, although he seems open to hearing more, should Kevin Feige decide to come calling:

As far as a National Treasure sequel goes, Cage has clarified that it’s not up to him:

You can read the rest of Nic Cage’s Reddit AMA here while everyone waits for Mandy director Pano Cosmatos to reconsider shutting down an idea for a sequel there. Just put a dozen of them in production, alright? Get it done, Hollywood.

Rap and basketball often go hand-in-hand. Many of the NBA’s players have dabbled in rap, with some, like Shaq, Kobe Bryant, and Dame Lillard, carving full-blown careers in music. Rappers, too have begun to show off their hardwood exploits, with Jack Harlow taking a role in a White Men Can’t Jump remake, Drake hosting his own recreational basketball league, and J. Cole even playing professionally for the Basketball Africa League’s inaugural season. Uproxx has even done a bit of an investigation into the better basketball players among rap’s most enthusiastic wannabe ballers.

But over the weekend, no less an authority than LeBron James, the face of the NBA for nearly two whole decades, crowned rap’s best hooper during his most recent episode of The Shop on HBO. “Lil Durk can hoop,” he said of the Chicago star whose No. 1 album 7220 helped secure him a $40 million contract. “He can hoop for real. Man, he [at] Lifetime hooping. He got a f*cking cannon, too. He got a peel, and he look like a muthaf*cka that can [ball].” Durk was happy to repost the clip of the discussion, which also mentions 2 Chainz, J. Cole, Sheck Wes (who also recently played overseas), and Quavo. “I don’t want to hear sh*t nomo from nobody,” Durk crowed in the caption. Check out the clip below.

Eddie Vedder‘s sixth annual Ohana Festival has been announced today, taking place from September 30 to October 2 at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California. The headliners include Vedder himself, as well as Jack White, Stevie Nicks, and Pink.

The rest of the lineup is an eclectic range of great artists: Khruangbin, St. Vincent, Brittany Howard, Billy Strings, Dermot Kennedy, Manchester Orchestra, Grouplove, The Revivalists, Broken Social Scene, Bomba Estéreo, Inhaler, Gang Of Youths, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Cautious Clay, Joy Oladokun, Dope Lemon, Briston Maroney, Kevin Morby, Kolohe Kai, Noga Erez, Madison Cunningham, Beach Goons, Devon Gilfillian, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, S.G. Goodman, Y La Bamba, CMAT, and Habi.

An exclusive pre-sale starts April 13 at 10 a.m. PT. if you sign up for early access here. The sale for the general public is on April 14 at 10 a.m. PT.

This announcement follows the release of the All Things Go lineup earlier this morning, which is a festival just outside of Washington, DC. Lorde, Mitski, and Bleachers are the headliners, with indie artists like Lucy Dacus, Bartees Strange, and Julien Baker. This fall looks like a good season for music festivals after the troubling past couple of years during the pandemic.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Jack Harlow revive a 2000s classic and Pusha T spearhead a big-name collaboration. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Jack Harlow — “First Class”

Harlow first made his presence known in a major way in 2020 thanks to singles like “Whats Poppin” and “Tyler Herro.” While he’s one of rap’s newest rising stars, he decided to draw inspiration from an older tune on his latest single, “First Class.” Fergie fans should immediately recognize the sample that pops up on the track, as Harlow uses “Glamorous” in a fun new way.

Pusha T — “Neck And Wrist” Feat. Jay-Z and Pharrell

Pusha T has made plenty of friends in his years in the industry and he got two of them on his latest single: Jay-Z joins on the Pharell-produced song “Neck And Wrist.” He later noted of his working relationship with Jay, “I know I can count on him to say things I just can’t say. He lives… Bro, [it’s] a different level.”

Maggie Rogers — “That’s Where I Am”

Last month, Rogers unveiled her long-awaited second album, Surrender, is on the way. The news didn’t immediately arrive alongside a single but Rogers finally offered the first taste of the album with “That’s Where I Am.” The tune broadens Rogers’ sonic palette as it delightfully incorporates psych-rock influences.

Bia and J. Cole — “London”

J. Cole famously has an up-and-down relationship with collaborations but he went ahead and hopped on one last week, teaming with Bia for “London.” This one was a big deal for Cole since he really loves the song, so much so he said he was actually nervous after being asked to add his talents to the track.

Lil Baby — “Right On”

Lil Baby is fresh off a pair of No. 1 albums and while it remains to be seen when his next LP is coming, the rapper did share some new material last week via a pair of new songs, “Right On” and “In A Minute.” The songs are different in that the former is the livelier of the two, but similar in that they both see Baby reminding his listeners just how great he is.

Syd — “Out Loud” Feat. Kehlani

Syd recently told Uproxx about linking up with Kehlani on her new album Broken Hearts Club, “I picked Kehlani just because we had been meaning to work together for so long and we just needed the right couple of songs. That’s one of my friends like in real life, we’re like finsta friends, so we always know what each other is doing and it was just like why haven’t we gotten in the studio for real? That was her saying that, she was like, ‘Can we make a project together or something?’ I was like, ‘Sh*t, I got a couple of songs we could start with.’”

Chlöe — “Treat Me”

Chlöe Bailey has had a successful launch of her solo career outside of Chloe x Halle as the R&B singer has managed to generate a lot of attention to her music and herself, which she continued last week with “Treat Me.” Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes the song “is carried by production that sports quite a bounce, which gives Chloe more than enough room to show off her dance moves and once again impress viewers.”

Father John Misty — “Kiss Me (I Loved You)”

Uproxx’s Steven Hyden notes of Father John Misty’s new album Chloë And The Next 20th Century, “The lustrous folk rock he is known for has been leavened with cocktail lounge jazz and dreamy bossa nova, giving the album a somewhat distant, ghostly vibe that evokes the chilliness of The Shining-era Stanley Kubrick. […] It takes a while for these songs to reveal their dazzling charms, but Chloë ultimately is another breakthrough for Tillman — as a lyricist, as a melodicist, as a singer, as a builder of worlds.”

Coi Leray — “Mountains” With Fivio Foreign and Young MA

Leray is in the midst of one of hip-hop’s biggest ascents of the moment, punctuated by her debut album last week, Trendsetter. She already has some noteworthy folks in her corner, like Fivio Foreign and Young MA, who come through to contribute to “Mountains.”

Wet Leg — “Ur Mum”

If Dave Grohl tells you to check a new band out, you listen. He spoke about his obsession with Wet Leg in a recent interview and he’s not the only one drawn to the group, as they’ve become perhaps the buzziest indie-rock band of the year. Their self-titled debut album came out a few days ago and one of the many highlights is “Ur Mum,” of which Wet Leg told Apple Music, “It’s about giving up on a relationship that isn’t serving you anymore, either of you, and being able to put that down and walk away from it.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.