Those needing some bubbly for the New Year’s celebration, popping into Stew Leonard’s Wines & Spirits, 1 Stew Leonard Drive, Yonkers, between 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 28, had an opportunity to meet rapper 50 Cent at a champagne and cognac tasting and bottle signing.
50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, recently concluded his Final Lap Tour, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” including a stop at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien Center. This past August, he paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with Busta Rhymes during their tour stop in Brooklyn.
Where to ring in the new year:Ball drops, fireworks, hikes and more
50 Cent helped define an era of hip-hop with his 2003 album that included hits “In Da Club,” “21 Questions,” and “Many Men (Wish Death).” Several of the songs referenced the moment he was shot nine times in 2000 as well as various happenings from street life in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens.
The album also popularized hip-hop artists rapping and singing, laying the foundation for Drake, 6LACK, Monaleo, Doechii, Ty Dolla $ign and more.
Two decades later, 50 Cent jokes the anniversary of “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” means “I’m getting old.”
The rapper’s Le Chemin du Roi (The King’s Path) brut champagne won Grand Champion Best of Show at the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition held in Houston, Texas, this past February, utilizing a panel of over 100 wine experts — including sommeliers, wine representatives and wine writers — as judges.
Also at that event, a bottle of Le Chemin du Roi sold for a record $325,000 to a real estate developer.
More than 360 million glasses of sparkling wine are drunk each New Year’s Eve, according to a study. Another study reports that champagne producers shipped more than 33 million bottles to the United States, and accounts for 57 percent of the overall sparkling wine share.
