Healthy & Ready to Go

ESPN: Garnett on mend from surgery

Kevin Garnett scrimmaging, ready for Celtic's camp

Opening night of the NBA - Tuesday October 27th

TNT Line-up for the night:

Boston Celtics @ Cleveland Cavaliers : 7:30 p.m. EST

L.A. Clippers (Blake Griffin) @ L.A. Lakers : 10:30 p.m. EST

Making Man on the Moon

Complex Interview with Kid Cudi producer and co-manager Emile (produced "In My Dreams," Soundtrack 2 My Life," "Solo Dolo," and "CuDi Zone."

Kid Cudi "Solo Dolo"

Sample: Menahan Street Band - "The Traitor"

"That’s my favorite song [Solo Dolo]. I remember that session was just me and Cudi in the studio and I have a big record collection, we were just listening to the record that I got the sample from. I just had it playing in the background, I wasn’t really listening to it for samples necessarily, we were just kind of listening to some things and we both heard that and were like, “Oh shit, that’s dope—what if we took that sample and just slowed it way down?” So we just took it and slowed it way down, then I just kind of built the beat up around it and put some synths in it. There’s like this one weird little dreamy synth thing on the chorus, that was Cudi’s idea that he kind of had in his head. I just found the right sound eventually and added that in. Then I beefed it up with these 808s, I added some synths, and I added a couple things but I was really like, man this would be sick with a really big orchestra on it so let’s not add too much of anything and just get the ill arrangement and the ill strings on it. That’s probably my favorite song, I think what Cudi did to that is so fucking ill."

-Emile

Previously: Kid Cudi

Whatever You Want

Consequence (feat. Kanye West & John Legend) - "Whatever You Want"
Directed by Hype Williams

Fast Food Secret Menu Items

The Grand Slam at Wendy's, a Vegetarian burger with bacon at Fatburger, 3-layered milkshakes at McDonald's, nachos at Chipotle?

CNN breaks it down.

Count it

The Clipse - "Grindin'"

"To this day there are thousands of people who don't know what "Grindin'" is about, despite the fact that it is one of the most explicitly told songs ever. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo in their prime had that effect. After all their misguided evolutions, it's hard to describe the Neptunes in their prime. Adventurous but ruthlessly commercial; rap purists that broke every rule; futurists with a healthy sense of nostalgia. Together the two duos made a jarring, indelible sound. Just don't call it coke rap."

-Sean Fennessey

Pitchfork Media - #27 Song of the Decade
Clipse - "Grindin'"

Pitchfork Media - #155 Album of the Decade
Clipse - Lord Willin' (2002)

I remember exactly where I was when I got this CD. Virgin Megastar in Boston, Massacusetts. Fall of freshman year. I went home from that trip with Clipse - "Lord Willin'", Nelly - "Nellyville", Styles P "A Gangster and A Gentleman", and a pair of high-top white Air Force 1's.

BONUS:

Styles P - "Black Magic"

Sleep Tight

Portishead - "It's a Fire"

Wale (feat Jazmine Sullivan) - "World Tour"

Wale (feat. Jazmine Sullivan) - "World Tour"

(prod. by Cool & Dre) same producer "Hate It or Love It"

Washington D.C.'s Wale has his debut album, Attention Deficit, coming out this November 3.

Previously:

Wale (feat. Lady Gaga) - "Chillin"

Wale (pronounced Wah-lay)

The Future/Present of Hip-Hop: Drake, Kid Cudi, Wale

Remember back when?

Space Jam Jordans

"Hello, it's the Martian. Space Jam Jordans"

-Lil' Wayne - "Forever"

"the most highly anticipated sneaker of 2009."

-NiceKicks

Coming out Black Friday (November 27th)

Retail price: $175

Hypebeast: Air Jordan XI Space Jams 2009 Retro
NiceKicks: Air Jordan 11 "Space Jams"
Flight Club NY: Air Jordan Retro 11 "Space Jam 2009" $400

Drake "Forever"

Drake (feat. Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Eminem) - "Forever"
(prod. by Boi-1da) same producer "Best I Ever Had"

Video directed by Hype Williams

What about the Insurance Companies?

Starring Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm (Don Draper), Olivia Wilde, and many more.

100 Greatest Movies of the 00s

Complex Magazine released their next big 100 list, the 100 Best Movies of the 2000s. While I'm a fan of many of the movies included in the list (it's a much more eclectic list than any other compilation movie critics or databases will put together), I'm not sure I agree with how the top 20-1 plays out.

Funny it turns out, I have seen 59 out of the 100 listed movies. Exactly the same number of albums I've listened to in Complex's list of the Best 100 CD's.

100. Tropic Thunder

99. Slumdog Millionaire

98. Super Troopers

96. Jackass: The Movie

94. Y Tu Mama Tambien

85. Observe and Report

81. Wedding Crashers

78. Team America: World Police

76. The Ring

75. Mean Girls

74. The Royal Tenenbaums

68. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

67. Snatch

65. Pan's Labyrinth

64. Minority Report

62. Friday Night Lights

60. The Wrestler

56. Taken

55. Open Water

54. 25th Hour

53. Elf

52. 300

51. Children of Men

47. 8 Mile

46. Spirited Away

44. Wet Hot American Summer

42. Casino Royale

41. Traffic

40. X2: X-Men United

39. Grandma's Boy

35. There Will Be Blood

34. Blow

33. The Hurt Locker

32. Knocked Up

31. Mystic River

30. Almost Famous

29. Old School

28. Gladiator

25. Sin City

24. Requiem for a Dream

23. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

21. Training Day

18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

17. Zoolander

16. Ocean's Eleven

15. Star Trek

14. Borat

13. Superbad

12. American Psycho

11. Kill Bill, Vol. 1

10. No Country for Old Men

9. The Departed

8. The Bourne Ultimatum

7. Memento

6. The Dark Knight

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Can you guess what movies are in the Top 5? It may not be what you think. Click here to see what movies Complex has listed as the Best 5 of the 2000s.

And click here to go through the list of the Top 100 to read the explanations and to see what movies I've missed out on. I'm listing them in alphabetical order (not in listed order), but these are the movies I'm embarrassed to say I haven't seen yet: 28 Days Later, Bad Santa, The Believer, Best in Show, Cocaine Cowboys, Collateral, Death to Smoochy, District 9, Dogtown and Z-Z-Boys, Donnie Darko, Drag Me to Hell, Eastern Promises, Fahrenheit 9/11, Hustle and Flow, The Incredibles, Mulholland Drive, Munich, Paid in Full, The Pledge, Shaolin Soccer, Shaun of the Dead and Sin Nombre.

I will be seeing them all shortly.

Georgia O'Keefe - Ladder to the Moon

Although Ladder to the Moon isn't on display, "Georgia O'Keefe: Abstraction" at the Whitney Art Museum in New York City is definitely worth museuming. Click here to check out the NY Times slideshow preview of the special exhibit.

"Abstraction" DOES feature one of my all-time-favs: Sky Above Clouds.

Kid Cudi + Jay-Z Live

Jay-Z (feat. Kid Cudi) - Already Home

Live earlier tonight at Madison Square Garden.

VH1 Behind the Music: Lil Wayne

VH1's old signature show, Behind the Music, returned last night with a special covering New Orleans' own Lil' Wayne.

Watch other clips from the episode.

100 Greatest Albums of the 00's

Complex Magazine's got their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 00's. I'm personally a fan of the list. I either posses or at one time had 59 of the 100. How many you got? Or listened to?

100. Kanye West - 808's & Heartbreak

98. The Killers - Hot Fuss

94. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

93. Gorillaz - Demon Days

92. Ludacris - Back for the First Time

91. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

89. Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block

88. N.E.R.D. - In Search of...

87. Sean Price - Jesus Price Superstar

86. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

85. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

84. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

83. Young Buck - Straight Outta Ca$hville

80. G-Unit - Beg for Mercy

78. Justice - Cross

77. Cam'ron - Come Home With Me

75. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymballs

74. T.I. - Urban Legend

73. R. Kelly & Jay-Z - Best of Both Worlds

71. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

68. Jay-Z - The Dynasty: Roc La Familia

67. Common - Be

61. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

60. Nas - God's Son

59. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

55. Radiohead - Kid A

54. Ratatat - Classics

52. The Game - The Documentary

49. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

48. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

45. Kanye West - Late Registration

43. Postal Service - Give Up

42. The Clipse - Lord Willin'

36. Prodigy - H.N.I.C.

34. M.I.A. - Kala

33. Cam'ron - Purple Haze

32. Daft Punk - Discovery

27. Young Jeezy - Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101

26. Santogold - Santogold

25. Eminem - The Eminem Show

24. T.I. - Trap Muzik

22. Scarface - The Fix

20. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

19. D'Angelo - Voodoo

18. Arcade Fire - Funeral

17. Jay-Z - The Black Album

16. Birdman & Lil' Wayne - Like Father, Like Son

15. The Diplomats - Diplomatic Immunity

14. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

11. Kanye West - The College Dropout

9. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter II

8. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele

7. The White Stripes - Elephant

6. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds

5. Outkast - Stankonia

4. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

3. 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'

2. Kanye West - Graduation

1. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

No Drake - So Far Gone ? Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III ?

Nas - Stillmatic ?

Up in the Air

Jason Reitman's third film (1st Thank You For Smoking, 2nd Juno) Up in the Air recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

Starring George Clooney, Zach Galifianakis, Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Jason Bateman and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) Up in the Air will be released December 2, 2009.

Humble 50 Cent

"But you also live below your means? Is that important aspect?"

"I have a great opportunity. I have great examples in front of me. Presented to me without anyone speaking to me. Every morning I wake up in a home where Mike Tyson previously laid in the bed and he earned over $500 million in his career. You know so it makes me conscious."

I know his first album was named, "Get Rich or Die Tryin,'" but I have to give 50 Cent credit. He's avoided the rap cliche of rhyming about money and wealth more so than many of my favorite rappers. And yet somehow his reputation fell hard ever since Kanye and him released albums on the same day (3 years ago to the day on Friday). 50 has been putting out some good music this summer. He might be due for a comeback. Maybe?

UPDATE:

Of course the night that I acknowledge 50 Cent for avoiding the rap cliche he releases his next major single with a chorus line, "have a baby by me baby and be a millionaire."

I'm still sort of disappointed that "Ayo Technology" never became the massive hit song I expected. I really thought it was going to go big. Check out the songs below. Doesn't the melody sound the same in all 3?

50 Cent (feat. Justin Timberlake) - "Ayo Technology"

Crystal Castles - "Courtship Dating"

Kid Cudi - "Cudi Zone"

Gordon Gekko's Return

Starting next week Michael Douglas will reprise his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko, as well Charlie Sheen as Oliver Stone begins shooting the sequel to 1987's Wall Street.

Says the New York Times of the upcoming sequel,

"This is familiar terrain for Mr. Stone: his father was a broker, and his 1987 film, “Wall Street,” became emblematic of an era of excess the filmmaker thought was fading, but in fact was only beginning. Now he is here to make a sequel, to capture greed on celluloid all over again, set against the backdrop of the financial collapse that began with the fall of Bear Stearns."

The Times article goes on about how the sequel only came to fruition with the recent financial collapse and America's continued obsession with excess. Wall Street 2 will star Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon in addition to Douglas and Sheen.

The more succesful, the more stressful

The more and more I transform to Gordon Gekko

In the race to a billion got my face to the ceiling

Got my knees on the floor please Lord forgive him

Has he lost his religion, is the greed goin' get him?

He's had heaven on Earth, will his wings still fit him?

Jay-Z freestyle (2006)

"We Talking About the Garden"

Forget going out early Friday night. You'll find me watching Jay-Z at the Garden.

Best Dunks of All Time

Complex Magazine listed them out. I used to have the #37's.

New Music

Drake - "Fear"

Kid Cudi (feat. MGMT & Ratatat) - "Pursuit of Happiness"

Kid Cudi - "Enter Galatic"

The Oregon Ducks

Always have the coolest jerseys. It's good living in Eugene.

"This marks the fifth significant evolution of football uniforms that Nike has developed for Oregon since the company first designed the game-day apparel for the Ducks' appearance in the 1996 Cotton Bowl."

Oregon Unveils New Football Uniforms