New Rap & New Wine: Chance the Rapper, "Best New Artist & Best Rap Artist of 2017"

Chancellor Bennett, known as Chance the Rapper on stage, is Hip-Hop’s newest rising star. He won three awards at the 2017 Grammys for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance with four additional nominees. He made Grammy history by becoming the first black hip-hop artist to win the “Best New Artist” category since Lauryn Hill in 1999 and he is the first artist to be nominated or win a Grammy award without a physical album. All of Chance’s music is free and available to be streamed online. He is an independent artist, who has turned down contracts from many major labels to preserve his creative and artistic freedom in his music. All of his revenue comes strictly from merchandise and ticket sales and he has every intent of keeping it that way. In an interview with Vanity Fair he said, “I never wanted to sell my music, because I thought putting a price on it put a limit on it and inhibited me from making a connection. I honestly believe if you put effort into something and you execute properly, you don’t necessarily have to go through the traditional ways.”

“We don’t do the same drugs anymore...Don’t you color out. Don’t you bleed on out. Stay in the line, stay in the line.”

— "Same Drugs", Chance the Rapper

For those wondering, "Same Drugs" isn't actually about drugs--it's about past lovers changing, choosing different paths in life, and now having dissimilar mindsets than the other. We all evolve daily and this song paints a beautiful portrait of what it feels like to experience that change with someone you once loved and knew intimately. It's the story of transformation from being deeply familiar to becoming strangers.

  My Favorite Tracks from the Coloring Book Album

·       "All Night" (featuring Knox Fortune)

·       "Summer Friends" (featuring Jeremih and Francis and the Lights)

·       "How Great" (featuring Jay Electronica and My Cousin Nicole)

·       "Blessings (Reprise)" (featuring Ty Dolla Sign, Raury, BJ the Chicago Kid and Anderson Paak)

·       "Angels" (featuring Saba)

·       "Same Drugs"

·       "All We Got" (featuring Kanye West and Chicago Children's Choir)

·       "No Problem" (featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz)

To match the vibrant and distinctive music of "Coloring Book", I chose REVEILLE's 2012 Ultra-Violet Cotes du Roussillon blend of 70% Syrah, 15% Grenache, 10% Carignan, and 5% Mourvedre. The owner and winemaker of REVEILLE, France Crispeels, is a first generation winemaker who comes from an eclectic background of the arts including architecture and writing. Ultra-Violet is made from old vines on a high altitude vineyard in the Vallée de l’Agly of Roussillon. The vines are farmed organically, hand harvested, and partially destemmed. The wine is fermented with native yeasts and aged in concrete tanks for 15 months. This wine reminds me of black olives, plum skin, barnyard, and rhubarb. Without a doubt, this is a natural wine; it has all the funky nuances you would expect. 

Balmain x Kanye West x Bérêche et Fils

The French fashion house, Balmain, and Kanye West teamed up to create a campaign based on the song ‘Wolves’ from his album “The Life Of Pablo”. Neither party has ever done a collaboration like this before. This is the first of its kind- merging music and fashion in a brilliant and revolutionary way. Each model, outfit, movement, sound, and emotion contributes to the video in a powerful way. The video stars Kanye, Kim Kardashian, Vic Mensa, Sia, and top models like Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn, and Alessandra Ambrosio dressed in Balmain couture. This video really inspired me because Olivier Rousteing (design director for Balmain) and Kanye West did something “out of the box” for their industries that I want to see happen within the wine world. They created a new way to connect one artistic industry to another by pairing fashion with music; in the same way I hope to see music and fashion paired with wine. For many years we’ve only focused on food and wine pairings but no one has spoken about wine in relation to other aspects and interests in our lives. That’s why I’m so excited to be working with I Like This Grape to promote modern wine culture through fashion, film, and music. It’s time for this industry to evolve and reach the newest generation of wine drinkers by making wine relatable.

“You’re much too good to be true. I’m just, bad for you.”

Push this Balmain and Kanye West collaboration further and pair it with Bérêche et Fils Brut Reserve Champagne from Montagne de Reims and Vallée de la Marne. The assemblage consists of 30% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 35% Pinot Meunier including 30% of reserve wines from previous vintages. Bérêche has been a family owned Champagne House since 1847. They do not use commercial yeasts to start primary fermentation. The wine is aged on the lees, unfiltered, and manually disgorged. The Brut Reserve Champagne tastes of baked red apples, biscuit, honey, toast, and yeasty flavors. I chose a grower Champagne to pair with Balmain to continue on the exclusive, French, luxury theme. What else would you pair with crystal embroidered couture other than something sparkling? The song ‘Wolves’ is dismal, painful, lonely, and regretful. Tears are seen on Kim and Kanye and all the models. It tells of heartbreak, regret, sadness, and feeling lost. Like Napolean said, Champagne is deserved in victory and defeat. While watching this video I hope your only pain be Champagne. 

Exciting Announcement!

I'm beyond thrilled to announce that I'm the newest Staff Writer for I Like This Grape, a digital wine magazine promoting modern wine culture through fashion, film, food, and music. I'll be answering wine questions every Wednesday on my weekly column #SommNextDoor. Send in any questions you have about wine to cheers@ilikethisgrape.com or Twitter and Facebook.

I'm so excited for this journey and I hope you'll join me over at I Like This Grape. We have so much new and interesting content and write about wine in a way you've never read before. If you liked my Rihanna x Sake post and The Life of Pablo Pairings check out #VINOMUSIC for other creative music and wine pairings. Thank you all for the support and for following me on LadySomm.

Read my first two posts on #SommNextDoor by clicking here

Rihanna x Sake

Rihanna’s latest album ANTI has got me feeling some type of way…It’s raw, heavy, and personal. This album has a very different feel to it than any of her other albums. I like it because it’s obscure and unfamiliar, like exploring new sake for the first time.

My career and life is centered around wine. I am constantly tasting wine for work and education and sometimes I just want to try something else. Sake has been this new and exciting romance I runaway to when I’m away from wine. My lack of experience and knowledge of sake, attracts me and draws my interest in even more. Stimulating and enlightening, it almost feels like I’m learning about wine again for the first time.

Wine will always be my love, but for now I’m enjoying sake for what it is, my sweet, exotic escape.

Sake 101

Sake is made from steamed, fermented rice. The brewing process starts in the fall, when the rice is harvested. The rice is milled to rid the outer layers of the grain and expose the starchy center inside. The rice is then washed, soaked, and steamed. Aspergillus oryzae mold known as koji-kin is introduced into the steamed rice. The koji-kin converts rice starch into fermentable sugars. Once the koji is established, sake brewers create a yeast starter by adding yeast to a small batch of rice, koji, and water. Increasing amounts of rice, koji, water, and yeast are gradually added to the fermenting tank. Sake is the only beverage that undergoes Multiple Parallel Fermentation where starch is being converted into sugar while sugar is simultaneously being converted into alcohol.  

Explore

Listen to these new tracks from Rihanna and dive freely into the possibility of a new found love for sake.

Dassai Otter Fest 23  Jumai Daiginjo   $106                                                                                                                                                  Melon, dried pineapple, pear, custard, brown sugar, fleshy plums, minerality, white flowers.                                                                       This sake has been milled to 23% and is in a class by itself. Dassai is a clean and luscious Daiginjo full of complex flavors and aromas with a deep and layered structure. 

Seven Spearsmen Shichi Hon Yari Junmai    $98                                                                                                                                       Banana, truffle, mango, bubble gum. This is a weighty sake with a plump and viscous mouth feel. There is an elegance that comes from the “shizuku” technique (drip-pressed) and lends to a luxurious experience.

Kubota Senju Ginjo “1000 Long Lives”    $29                                                                                                                                                   Minerality, nutmeg, ripe plum, banana cream pie, caramel, cotton candy, cocoa. This has great acidity and an unmistakable aftertaste that revisits the cotton candy elements. Clean and clear this honjozo gives one a good impression of a layered sake.

Shimizu no Mai Junmai Daiginjo "Pure Dusk"   $18                                                                                                                                Bright pear, green apple, cantaloupe, orange peel, sweet rice, minerality. Delicate structure, juicy, rich, velvety mouth feel.

“Didn’t they tell you that I was a savage?”

— Rihanna, ANTI, "Needed Me"

Wine in Beauty

Dubbed a “girly girl” growing up, I can’t ever remember a day that I wasn’t interested in beauty and fashion. Since the age of eight I’d spend my time alone painting designs on my nails, flipping through fashion magazines, and experimenting with homemade face masks. My aunt would jokingly call me the scientist as I’d go through her makeup bag and make her products “better”, which really meant adding water to her mascara tube because I thought it needed more moisture. The creative, scientist in me is still fascinated with beauty innovation and I love researching and testing new beauty products. Everything from snail gel face masks, bee stinger lip plumper, to sake based hair care we are seeing a return to natural sources as the basis of the latest innovations.

Resveratrol, a stable and potent antioxidant naturally present in grape skins, nuts, blueberries, cranberries, wine, and dark chocolate is suggested to protect against heart disease, prevent cancer, and increase lifespan. Studies on resveratrol based skincare products have shown to increase cell turnover, reduce cell damage, protect against sun damage, and promote the synthesis of enzymatic antioxidants. Here are four resveratrol based products that are worth trying!

Splurge

Caudalie, a French luxury skincare line created by Mathilde Thomas of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte is my favorite brand specializing in the use grape derived polyphenols for skincare. Caudalie was the first to patent the process of extracting and stabilizing polyphenols in 1995. Since, they have developed a whole line of products based on the newest research and have established Vinotherapie Spas around the world.

“The French secret to great skin...get your beauty sleep, consume lots of antioxidants, and fall in love...”

— Mathilde Thomas, Founder of Caudalie

Vinoperfect Radiance Serum     $79      

Highly concentrated with Viniferine, a natural molecule derived from grapevine sap, this satiny serum reduces the appearance of existing dark spots such as acne marks, scars, and damage revealing a brighter, more even complexion.

Caudalie Premier Cru The Cream     $158

Seven years of research and 300 trials were necessary to create this advanced solution that will take your complexion back in time. Caudalie's three signature patents are now blended at their highest concentration for unparalleled age-fighting power: Resveratrol-Oleyl for lifting and firming, Viniferine for brightening, and antioxidant-rich grape-seed Polyphenols.

Save

Tony Moly Red Wine Face Mask       $7.50

This sheet mask treatment is infused with real red wine extracts and rosemary to address enlarged pores while purifying, refining, and tightening skin. Perfect for troubled skin, it soothes the complexion with jasmine and green tea extracts for a refined complexion in as little as twenty minutes.

Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask      $26

This innovative, natural formula smooths, nourishes, and moisturizes lips with a bio-active blend of organic agave nectar, jojoba oil, vanilla CO2 extract, and triple the amount of antioxidant trans-resveratrol found in red wine. It's so good you can even eat it!

What you never knew about Brettanomyces: 4-ethylphenol vs 4-ethylguaiacol

Brettanomyces is a genus of yeast, also known as Dekkera. It has been known for about a hundred years as being an important component in British and Belgian beer styles by adding a unique complexity and sourness. However, when Brett is found in wine it is typically considered a wine fault. Seasoned wine professionals can immediately identify Brettanomyces in a wine by the band-aid, medicinal, horse stable aromas it gives off. However, not many know that there are actually two different chemical compounds that together make up this aroma we vaguely term as “Brett”. This pesky yeast species produces 4-ethylphenol (4-EP), described as band-aid, antiseptic and horse stable and 4-ethylguaiacol (4-EG), which has a rather pleasant aroma of cloves and smoke. These aromas are released in the highest concentrations during the "death phase" (decline) of the population, which usually means it is too late in the cycle for prevention.

Typically, 4-EG is present in much lower quantities in red wine than 4-EP. The concentration of 4-EG in a wine falls between 0 and 300 µg/l , whereas 4-EP has a concentration between 0 and 2300 µg/l. However, 4-EG is a more volatile compound with a sensory threshold at 150 µg/l which is much lower than 4-EP’s threshold at 600 µg/l.

What does this mean? The smokey, clove aromatics associated with 4-EG are present in your wine at a much lower concentration but they are much more volatile than the barnyard, medicinal, band-aid aromatics from 4-EP, which are present at a higher rate. Together both of the compounds influence the perceived “Brett” character in wine. Next time you smell Brett in a wine ask yourself: Am I noticing cloves and smoke or band-aid, barnyard aromatics? These aromatic profiles are distinctly different and to be able to distinguish one from another will be a great advantage. 

This graph displays measured concentrations of 4-EP and 4-EG in three wines. In each case,the concentration of 4-EP is fairly consistent. The major difference is the relative concentration of 4-EG. Displayed ratios of 4-EP : 4-EG range from 3:1 to 18:1

There is a significantly greater risk for contracting Brett in wine by using new, toasted oak barrels. Brett feeds off cellobiose, a compound that is formed when barrels are toasted. The yeast prefers new over neutral barrels because there are more sugars available for the yeasts to live on which helps the populations grow. Other factors known to contribute to the growth of Brett include high pH, warm temperatures (above 59 °F), residual sugar, low SO2, poor cellar hygiene, and heavy lees.

Sources:

"Brettanomyces Masterclass with Matt Thomson." Wineanorak. Nov. 2007. Web. 31 May 2016.

"Microbiology: Monitoring Brettanomyces by 4-EP and 4-EG." ETS Laboratories. 5 Jan. 2015. Web. 31 May 2016.

Smith, Clark. "Wines & Vines." Post Modern Winemaking: Integrated Brett Management. June 2011. Web. 31 May 2016.

"Wine Education Topic: Brettanomyces Character in Wine." Aroma Dictionary. June 2004. Web. 31 May 2016.