Nike continues their hilarious MVPuppets series. This time with the help of Lupe and KRS One. Happy Holidays!

So the NBA season kicked off last week, and even though I’m still puzzled at the fact that Oklahoma City has an NBA franchise and Seattle doesn’t, I’m still excited for the prospects, especially with the US pulling off a gold medal win in Beijing, and teams like New Orleans and New Jersey showing real promise.

But of course the start of the NBA season also marks a new era of LeBron commercials, and Nike’s 15 second Lebron spot doesn’t disappoint. The spot, which takes off of LeBron’s pregame chalk celebration ritual is most notable because Nike went to the back of the rack for their musical selection.

The mood for the commercial is set by the track Candyman from UK group Cornershop.

Cornershop was one of those groups in the 90s that had one hit and never heard from again. The duo of UK brothers Tjinder and Avtar Singh had a decent hit in the United States with the track Brimful of Asha off of their album When I Was Born for the 7th time, which combined traditional Indian music with indie rock, hip-hop and electronica rhythms. The album itself is so-so, but Candyman was definitely the standout track, with that thumping guitar rhythm and a bass lick that probably stands out as one of the best in the past 10 years. Even though its sweatshop policies are still suspect, Nike always brings it when it comes to their commercials.

Anyway, the Wizards/Soulja Boy thing is interesting:

The whole Stevenson-Soulja Boy connection began with Stevenson calling James “overrated” following a Wizards’ victory over the Cavaliers on March 13. James answered by saying that a player of his stature responding to a player like Stevenson would be like rap legend Jay-Z responding to a one-hit wonder like Soulja Boy.

So to get back at LeBron, Stephenson flew in Soulja for Game 3, where the Wiz beat down the Cavs by almost 40 points. Classic.

Tickets are still available for Game 4.