Complex Magazine

Left To Right (clockwise): Lloyd, Game, Twista, Freeway, Obie Trice

Each day Complex scours the music blogs for five fresh songs that you should listen to in our 5 O’Clock Shuffle post. Instead of going crazy trying to keep up with your RSS feeds everyday, just head over to Complex.com to stay up-to-date on important leaks and releases.

It’s that time of the day where we hit you with five of today’s hottest songs. We’ve got some good stuff too! Lloyd is joined by Young Jeezy and R. Kelly for the “G-Mix” to his latest single from his upcoming King of Hearts. We’ve got the untagged version of an old Game, Rick Ross, and DJ Khaled song as well as a Twista remix. Freeway and Statik Selektah join forces for their new EP (out today). And Obie Trice is back, battering the instrumental for Ace Hood’s “Hustle Hard,” produced by Lex Luger. Like what you see? Well then, hit the jump and you’ll definitely like what you hear!

SONG: “Lay It Down (Remix)”
ARTIST: Lloyd f/ R. Kelly & Young Jeezy
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• Mr. 17. 5 and Kells join Lloyd for the remix to his latest single.

SONG: “Stop”
ARTIST: Game f/ Rick Ross & DJ Khaled
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• Here’s the untagged version of Game’s collabo with Rozay and DJ Khaled.

SONG: “Look At Me Now (Remix)”
ARTIST: Chris Brown f/ Lil Wayne & Twista
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• Here goes Twista’s unofficial remix of Chris Brown’s new single.

SONG: “P.A.”
ARTIST: Freeway & Statik Selektah f/ Mac Miller
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• Off the Statik-Free EP.

SONG: “Hustle Hard (Remix)”
ARTIST: Obie Trice
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• The former Shady Records rapper gets a hold of Ace Hood’s latest offering.

Visit Complex.com every day at 5 PM for your daily “5 O’Clock Shuffle“ playlist.

“Congratulations Fiddy, for finding a way to make money off Twitter. That is something not even Twitter has done.” – Stephen Colbert, last night on The Colbert Report [via ComedyCentral]

Wool is cool for the winter and all but there are other textile options to consider. The grampa-esque neglected step-child, corduroy has the perfect texture to keep you warm through this blistering cold. The compiled fabrics form vertical ridges called wales that eminently trap heat. Worn casually, corduroy generally comes in the form of blazers and pants but many designers this season are incorporating the textile in shoes and accessories. From the sick Sperry Top-Sider x Band of Outsiders boots to the velvety stretch cotton Rugby blazer, we always hook you up with the best gear the online world offers. Ribs for the win.

• CLICK HERE TO LAUNCH OUR GUIDE TO THE BEST CORDUROY STYLES!

Most collaborations seem to follow a specific pattern —a newer “street” company links up with an older “heritage” brand to revamp and restyle some “iconic” product. The “street” company gets some historical heft, and the “heritage” company gets some up-to-date cool. Everybody wins. Well, usually. But this collab is different. Here you have two heritage brands—Dickies, established in 1922, and Converse, established in 1908 – combining forces on a truly iconic silhouette – the venerable Chuck Taylor All-Star, which has been produced since 1921. There will also be a new silhouette, the “Chuck Taylor All-Star Classic Boot,” which does away with the rubber toecap in favor of a moc toe. Both the All-Star Lows and Classic Boots will be made from Dickies twill, and feature the Dickies logo on the heels.

-Russ Bengtson
[Hypebeast]

Nothing’s hotter than a chick with her kick game proper. So to hear that Complex’s favorite ESPN College Gameday contributor/Good Morning America correspondent Erin Andrews will be the first woman featured in Reebok’s campaign for their ZigTech line of footwear, it just warms our heart. According to USA Today, Andrews said in a press release,

“I’m very excited to be the first female to become part of Reebok’s ZigTech campaign, joining superstars like Peyton Manning, Sidney Crosby, John Wall, Chad Ochocinco, and many more.”

Reebok claims ZigTech—based on a foam sole fashioned in a zig zag pattern that absorbs the impact of the foot hitting the ground and propels the body forward—is like “an energy drink for your feet.” Uhhh, whatever that means. As Andrews noted, the list of stars rocking ZigTech footwear is extensive (Tim Lincecum, Andy Pettitte and Santonio Holmes also wear them). What’s more, there’s soon to be ZigTech apparel, which “utilizes Celliant fibers woven into the apparel to increase oxygen levels in the body.”

Hey, anything’s better than shape-ups.

-Paul Cantor

No, not this guy—though that’s pretty much our mental picture of him.

We, like so many people out there, like to peruse the NeoGAF forums from time to time. But we don’t often expect to find hilarious stories of child abuse on there like we did today! In between the threads on Dead Space 2 and Kinect sales figures, we spied the subject line “What’s the worst fit of gaming rage you’ve ever had?” and instantly knew we had to investigate. Thankfully, the original poster didn’t disappoint. And we quote:

Unfortunately, I can’t remember what game it was. What I do remember is my brother (he’s nine years younger than me) laughing hysterically every time that I screwed up and had to restart whatever task I was trying to accomplish in the game. His incessant laughing combined with the frustration of having to redo this thing for the umpteenth time caused me to snap. Without even batting an eye, I threw down my controller as he was in the middle of yet another fit of laughter and punched him full-force right in the gut. That’s right. I, an 18-year-old man, socked a fucking nine-year-old right in the breadbasket. It knocked the wind out of him so badly that I thought I had killed him. It took him nearly a full minute to recover. Needless to say, I felt incredibly guilty.

We may have thrown a controller across a room, or hurled filthy invective at the television, but we can’t say we ever did anything like this. And wouldn’t you know it, most of the thread participants felt the exact same way. So let us say this: Dear ScOULaris, thank you for that story. It made us feel better about our own rage issues. Also, you may want to watch your back from now on; something tells us your little brother’s gunning for you. (Seriously, though. If you’ve ever freaked out worse than this, please, PLEASE tell us in the comments.)

Related: Top 100 Internet Videos of the 2000s: World of Warcraft Cancellation Freakout

This week, Kayden takes a look at the oft-forgotten side of her downtown L.A. neighborhood.

Here’s what I know about Skid Row:

Nathaniel Ayers is a local celebrity. He lives around the neighborhood and we all claim to have seen him, by the Beethoven statue, with the pigeons, or playing to an empty house in the tunnel downtown. He was an accomplished musician at Julliard before schizophrenia took over and the subsequent downward spiral that landed him on Skid Row. Then a local reporter got wind of his story, and next thing you know he’s being played by Jamie Foxx in a major Hollywood movie. It’s a touching story minus the part where he’s still homeless and sick.

Hit the jump for the more of Kayden’s Skid Row stories, including shooting apocalypse porn by a homeless camp in the L.A. River…

I’ve known Marsha all my life. Her kids are my age and we took turns being babysat. Marsha only believes in goodness in the world, and modesty, and pastries, and god, so you can imagine how strong her reaction was when she moved with her family to downtown L.A. and their first walk around the neighborhood required her to pull a naked man off the edge of a bridge while he fought her with dirty fingernails and threatened to jump, while shielding her 12-year-old daughter’s eyes and telling her two boys to stop laughing, before finally getting yelled at by the police for getting involved. It was dark outside and there were rats around her ankles and all the corners smelled like piss. She moved to Malibu after that.

I don’t want to rain on her parade, but in my opinion the mental illness on Skid Row is not nearly as shocking as the sex in Malibu.

Ricky the Pirate is also a local celebrity. He hangs out around Sixth and Main. Technically that’s Skid Row Light. There are some sandwich shops in the East Coast style there, and a high-end pet store, and a few extra cool pubs where speakeasys used to be. Another close friend of mine had the top floor of one of the loft buildings on that corner. It functioned as a porn studio/sweet bachelor pad and I ended up spending a fair amount of time there. That’s where I met Ricky the Pirate. Somehow he knew the code to punch to get in the building and he’d spend his days riding the elevator. He would talk to whoever rode. No one bothered him, possibly because of the pirate hat and eye patch, or maybe just because they all knew him, and often because they were friends with him on Facebook. It turns out Ricky was a relatively successful actor before the schizophrenia took over. It also turns out that his crack dealer lived a few floors down from the bachelor pad.

Ricky the Pirate is not the only one on Facebook, or the only one with a crack habit. When I drive down Sixth Street in the daylight there is a growing segment of the homeless population that sits on the steps of the missions surfing the web. I remember the first time I was shocked by the technological means of the homeless. It was two years ago, in the cement-lined and graffitied L.A. River, and we were shooting porn there. We were specifically shooting The 8th Day (NSFW), a movie about the end of the world and all of the sex I have in it, and we chose that location because it already looked like the end of the world. I was placed in the middle of it, which at that depth reached up to my knees, and I had full porn hair and make up (think blond extensions and fake eyelashes), and they left me there in an unbuttoned men’s shirt and sandals. Presumably, if the world were to end, this is exactly what porn stars would be reduced to.

A number of homeless families live near the L.A. River. They drape tarps or tents over wind-protected areas and search for a Wifi signal. So, of course, we weren’t entirely surprised when one woman, from her tarp window, saw us traipsing around her front yard in bad imitations of proper human clothing and makeup and doing culturally unacceptable things with each others’ unnaturally disproportionate breasts, and she picked up her cell phone and called the cops and told them that aliens had landed in the L.A. River. I wish I could say the cops never came. Not only did they come, but they drove straight down the river, which I suppose is a benefit of having a paved one. We just couldn’t stop talking about the fact that she had a cell phone.

Image via Big Orange Landmarks

We also shot Body Heat (NSFW) in Skid Row, at the firehouse that has been abandoned for years. With a crew that size we were forced to bring in a truck of upscale portapotties, like the kind you find at outdoor concerts. We parked them right outside. I later put together the significance of this. For a week, the locals watched porn chick after porn chick run in and out of these things in scanty bath robes and fire boots, sometimes smoking, sometimes two or three at a time. They watched the crew, made entirely of men, also run in and out. I’m sure, more than once, they heard the symphonic notes of live porn drifting past their tents. We had security at both ends of the station to monitor who came and went as well as who used the portapotties. While no one cared to force his way into the firehouse, a number of locals came to near blows trying to get into those portapotties.

It makes a lot more sense now that I’ve learned that the row of portapotties stationed a block from where we’d parked our own doubled as the local brothel. The people on the streets thought we were denying them entry to the best whorehouse in town.

The firehouse is not the only thing abandoned there. Trash spills over the cans and the onto streets and piles so high that it climbs stairs. People sit on overturned milk crates playing cards, or talking amongst themselves to pass the day. They smoke crack on the street corners while they wait for the light to change and let them cross, or they’ve already smoked crack and they just step in front of oncoming traffic. I made friends with a firefighter who worked near the area. He said that because the area had no tax dollars, they came last. Where other, richer cities could borrow trucks and firemen from neighboring stations when their own weren’t enough or were out of commission, these impoverished areas of L.A. would simply go without. He told me about the worst case his station had ever been called on. A woman got high on crack and gave birth, chewed through the umbilical cord, then wandered down the middle of the street clutching the child, a little disoriented. She’d clearly not accounted for the placenta coming out after, as it was dragging wetly behind her.

At night the streets are lined with tents. This is the only expressly legal thing going on in Skid Row. Years ago it was decided that tents were temporarily legal in that district between dusk and dawn until the city could pull itself together and provide somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 beds for the homeless. That never happened. Meanwhile, the local police station has accused cops and hospitals from surrounding areas of relocating the homeless they stumble across to Skid Row, the foster system has been accused of being a major source of the problem as kids turn eighteen and find themselves with nowhere to go, and the mental health system doesn’t know what to do when patients would prefer to live with their illnesses than with the side effects of their medications. Skid Row is the answer we got when we as a society refuse to provide one ourselves.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE KAYDEN’S KORNER POSTS

Once you reach a heightened plateau it is generally quite difficult to remain atop the game, but when it comes to one of Nike’s most iconic silhouettes in the Air Max 1, they’ve managed to continually produce solid drop after drop. For the latest Air Max 1 ACG, the classic sneaker utilizes canvas and is offered in a bevy of beautiful blues or a brighter option of purple, red, and navy. Both schemes feature a pair of 3M (reflective) ACG logos mounted atop the tongue and on the heel and are accompanied by mix and match laces. Consistency is the name of the game here, folks. Available now at Primitive. $92

-Jonathan Sawyer

[Primitive]

Let us start by saying this: Brett Favre’s sister is gully. Seriously gully. While #4’s been putting together a Hall of Fame career on the football field, his younger sister Brandi has been putting together a rap sheet that’d make DMX proud. First, she got popped on unlawful use of a weapon charges in 1996 in connection with a drive-by shooting in Slidell, Louisiana (side note: WTF?!). Then, she got booked on felony shoplifting charges in 1999 alongside her sister-in-law. And now, she’s been arrested for allegedly manufacturing methamphetamines after local authorities in Diamondhead, Mississippi traced a meth ring back to her condo and found her and a bunch of her cohorts mixin’ up the medicine inside. See what we mean? Gully. Damn, Brett. Cuff your sis! [WLBT3, via Shutdown Corner]

RELATED: THE 50 BIGGEST NFL PLAYOFF FAILS

It’s Thursday and that means it’s time to check in with our Twit-Kicks lineup, in which @ComplexMag followers show us what they’re wearing. Today’s collection of kicks ranges from the Nike Air Max LeBron VII “Dunkman” to the Nike Zoom Kobe VI “Christmas” and all kinds of other heat, so click on and check them out.

In addition to seeing which kicks made the cut, cast your vote on which of our Twitter followers had the best shoes of the day, and don’t forget to not only follow us (@ComplexMag), but also to send us your sneaker Twitpics every Tuesday and Thursday morning with the sneaker name and tagged #Twitkicks. If you keeping bringing the heat every time you tweet us, you just may be the next Complex Twit-Kicks All-Star.

Air Jordan XI Retro “Cool Grey”
@DreSteez

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Vans Leather 106
@chad_hugo

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Nike Zoom Kobe VI “Christmas”
@enjoilife

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Air Jordan III Retro
@mvncnt

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Nike Dunk Trainer High “Mita”
@jaygee79

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Vans Del Barco
@smoothLEAFJones

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Air Jordan III Retro “Fire Red”
@TitokillsCliche

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Nike Dunk Low Pro SB “Reese Forbes”
@Mr_Anonnymous

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Nike SB Blazer
@HarleyBlock

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Air Jordan V Retro
@Deucespriggalow

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Nike Zoom KD III “Christmas”
@NotebookNick

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Nike Air Trainer Max 2
@gotSOLEboutique

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Air Jordan VI Retro “Infrared”
@BIGGFREDD

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Nike Air Raid
@dameFK

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Nike Air Max Structure Triax 91
@JaeInkk

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Air Jordan XIII Retro “Flint”
@TerenceWan168

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Nike Air Max LeBron VII “Dunkman”
@jt_DopeSole

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Nike Air Max 1
@SneakerRevKev

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Air Jordan Spiz’ike
@itsillmatic

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Nike Air Max Griffey 1
@iStayRoland

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Nike Air Force 1 Low “Scuff Proof”
@bece3000

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Nike ACG Woodside
@adambeckah

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Which Follower Has The Best Sneakers On?customer surveys

This video is a preview of an idea, so who knows if Nomad’s “artist brush” is just a fancy video of a fake technology (remember the cocaine iPhone app?). If it does happen to work out, though, rest assured that this thing will be able to provide you with minutes of couch-side iPad fun. Just don’t let us catch you taking it out to sketch our portraits on the subway, or we’re gonna have our intern make you feel like a small human. Hit the link to sign up for product updates. [Nomad]

Black History Month is still a few weeks away, but the people at Jordan are already good to go. They flipped the classic Air Jordan III in all black with gold hits on the eyelets, stitching, Jumpman, and airbag, and swapped out the traditional elephant print for a tonal version of what appears to be the lasered graphics originally seen on the Air Jordan XX. Um, sorry about the cankles. Look for them to drop in February as a Quickstrike—the shoes, not the cankles.

-Russ Bengtson
[Hoopchina, Modern Notoriety]

Yup, all the Knickerbocker bandwagoners are coming out of the woodwork these days, and we can’t blame them. Team is looking mad decent. As we reported yesterday, MSG smartly hired DJ Steve Porter (of “Press Hop” fame) to use his trademark mash-up style to produce videos to promote NYK players for the All-Star Game. The latest, above, is star-filled and pretty entertaining. Still, though: Ain’t Drizzy supposed to be a Raptors fan?

RELATED: AMAR’E STOUDEMIRE’S TOP 10 FACIALS

Photos from Street Etiquette

We browsed through the reliably fashionable Street Etiquette today, and noticed Travis and Joshua were both wearing a beret. It’s not the type of hat you see on guys everyday, but we think it’s a fresh option for headgear if you’re tired of beanies, fedoras, newsboys and porkpies. While we admire and champion any adventurous updates to your look, we’re honestly on the fence about this one. The hat’s origins lie with 19th century Basque shepherds and the French military which seems sufficiently respectable and let’s not forget its ties to revolutionaries. Is it the sort of thing you admire on others but would feel too big a douche rocking yourself? OR do you 360 love it and plan to speed dial your milliner ASAP? Vote after the jump.

Would you wear a beret?customer surveys

Our first Twit-Kicks All-Star, Andy Oliver, is also one of the biggest sneaker bargain-hunters on the net. In his weekly column, Andy helps save you money on sneakers everyone else is paying a grip for.

Andy says:“Few shoes are as divisive as the Air Force 1. Some sneakerheads can’t get enough, while others can’t stand them. Regardless of which side you’re on, some makeups just can’t be denied. The Futura “Be True” pack dropped early last year, and gave the silhouette the treatment that it deserves. Simple color blocking and high quality leather are almost always a good look on an AF1. Add the Futura name, perforation on the rear, and an orange translucent sole, and you have a winner….or so you’d think. Despite all of that, these still ended up on outlet shelves, and are this week’s sneaker deal for around $70 on eBay. You can leave your “who wears Air Force 1’s anymore?” comments below.”

There’s been a lot of buzz around the next release of Apple’s iOS, version 4.3. After the Verizon iPhone 4 announcement, we learned that it will give some lucky bastards Verizon customers the ability to use their phones as wireless hotspots for up to five devices. It will also allow users to stream video to compatible devices via Apple’s AirPlay feature. But the feature that has us amped is the inclusion of new multi-touch gestures.

Apple’s been rocking with the same multi-touch gestures it popularized when it debuted the iPhone back in ‘07. From the looks of the above video, iOS 4.3, which has been seeded to developers, will have a few new gestures that allow you to use four or five fingers to swipe through different open programs, swipe up to access the multitask bar, and pinch to access the homepage. Due to the last feature, rumors have Apple doing away with the home button on the upcoming iPad. If all that is true, we expect to see all these gestures on every other smartphone by year’s end. [via Macrumors]

RELATED: THE 50 GREATEST MOMENTS IN APPLE HISTORY

It’s crazy to think that we weren’t even talking about Lil B a year ago. “We” meaning: journalists, bloggers, Twitterati, teenagers, and critics. The same groups of people who haven’t been able to stop talking about the Berkeley, Calif. rapper since his mid-2010 breakthrough. Tonight, he hits the stage at NYC’s Highline Ballroom&#8212a follow-up to the show that solidified his star power during the height of last summer’s Based God-mania&#8212and though he has hundreds of songs to choose from, we’re willing to bet the majority of his set will consist of what we felt were the 25 most essential Lil B songs. The man himself broke down the stories behind each record (and video, if applicable) for Complex, making this the most official list out there. If you’re not familiar with Lil B, this is a good place to start. Those already down with the movement: here’s a chance to increase your Based levels…

As told to Ernest Baker (@newbornrodeo).

• CLICK HERE FOR THE BASED GOD’S STORIES BEHIND EACH SONG!

File this under “Goalies Gone Gangsta.” A week after Canadiens goaltender Carey Price struck an old-school b-boy stance after a shootout win against Pittsburgh, Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury returned the favor by striking the same exact pose after the Penguins topped the Habs 5-2 last night. Of course, those of us who watched 24/7 on HBO know all about MAF’s smack-talking skills. Ayo, Carey: Response?!?! [via theScore]

RELATED: 10 REASONS TO WATCH THE NHL THIS SEASON

Superman gave comics a mainstream voice in 1938, but the comic style of illustration had been used for years before that as a medium for “dirty drawings.” During the Great Depression, sex comics became particularly popular, and the cell illustration technique was used to portray explicit encounters ranging from busty women to fetish art, sexual fantasy, and as a way to poke fun at other taboo topics. Tonight, the Museum of Sex in New York opens Comics Stripped, a collection of 150 artifacts that include original drawings, illustrated books, comic books, magazines, and videos that have used animated characters to look at American sexuality. The works on display follow the history of sex in comics up until the current day, including art by R. Crumb and selections from the Playboy archives. Hit the jump to check out images from the show.

“Blondie” Tijuana Bible from Comics Stripped, on display now at the Museum of Sex in New York City

Playboy cover featuring Marge Simpson from Comics Stripped, on display now at the Museum of Sex in New York City

“Skoots Pillow” from Comics Stripped, on display now at the Museum of Sex in New York City

“Superman” from Comics Stripped, on display now at the Museum of Sex in New York City

Wanna see something dark, twisted, and freaky?  No, not a new Lil B video. Nintendo: A Sad Story is a short film posted on YouTube depicting horrific versions of Mario and Peach as they try to escape a struggle between the legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo C.O.O. Reggie Fils-Aime. On one hand, it appears to be a commentary on how games are trending to favor the more casual audience, but you don’t have to analyze the film to be unhinged by the grotesque representations of our beloved characters. The video’s below—if you’ve ever wanted to see someone get brained with an NES console, now’s your chance. [via Game Informer]

By Richie Procopio