You heard our short take on Entergalactic—here’s the extended bonus cut. We get deeper into Kid Cudi’s world-building, the film’s NYC authenticity, the design influence of the late, great Virgil Abloh, music references, and why Meadow’s ending sparked a real gripe.

Also check out:

➡️ "Analysing the Art of Entergalactic" by Daniel Ang

➡️ "The Making of: Entergalactic" by Netflix

Credits

🎬 Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie.

And remember:

🤔 Don't hate...gesticulate!

Our next screening:

🎞️ Join us at SteelStacks in Bethlehem PA on Sept. 16, 2026 and see DOPE (2015, dir. Rick Famuwiya) on the big screen

🎟️ Get your FREE tickets, courtesy of ArtsQuest!

🗓️ Check out our live event schedule and more at our Linktree.

Hip Hop Movie Club on:

TikTok

Facebook

Instagram

Threads

Bluesky

Substack (newsletter)

Website

She has to leave her own exhibit just to meet up with him.

2

It's romantic on the surface, but there’s an imbalance.

3

On today's episode of Hip Hop Movie Club,

So

we're gonna dive into the twenty

twenty-two animated film Entergalactic,

4

starring Kid Cudi Timothee Chalamet,

5

and several others, as it takes us through

~ the journey

6

of Cudi's character Jabari as he moves

into a new apartment,

7

settles into New York City, how his life

his love life evolves.

8

So

right off the top here, I enjoyed this

quite a bit.

9

The animation was really good.

10

Kinda gave me that Spider-Man into the

Spider-Verse vibes,

11

like the same style of animation.

12

Great story, very relatable. I like that

they broke it up into different chapters.

13

It kind of kept me even more focused and

entertained about what's coming up next.

14

Really good romantic comedy.

15

I love how he weaves in Mr. Rager as a

character.

16

Mr. Rager is one of Cudi's biggest hits

from a a prior album and

17

how that becomes his tag and the object of

his creativity throughout the film.

18

So yeah, really, really enjoyed this film.

19

I'm glad that we we were able to watch it.

20

Yeah, this this one right here,

21

like I've told you guys before we started

recording,

22

this one has been sitting in my to watch

list ever since it hit hit Netflix,

23

and I just haven't gotten around to it.

24

But what really got me was like,

25

as you s as you said, JB, the first thing

I noticed when I saw the trailer

26

for it was that the animation reminded me

from ~ Spider-Man to the Spider-Verse.

27

That was the first thing that stood out

for me,

28

and I immediately let the trailer play for

a little while and I added it right

29

to my list, like, yeah, I'm gonna watch

this.

Yeah.

But I never got around to it.

30

~ so shout out to Ice Berg for

31

putting this back on my radar so we can watch it.

32

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

33

I'm a rom com fan. I like I love rom coms.

34

The cheesier the better. But this one

Ha ha ha.

35

wasn't really cheesy. This one was highly

relatable.

36

Like I related to this one a lot.

37

a new guy moving into a new neighborhood,

38

trying to navigate, got a nice,

39

job with a bright future ahead of him that

that could potentially lead

40

to something really, really big.

41

And trying to figure out how to balance

that with feelings that he's starting

42

to develop for somebody unexpectedly and

how to,

43

figure out, do I tell her? Do I know do I

hold back?

44

Is it too soon? She lives next

door to me,

45

like she's my neighbor. That's gonna be

really weird.

46

And just like, that whole scenario,

47

just how it played out was very,

48

very relatable, and I really enjoyed this

one.

49

it had a lot of hip hip hop in it.

50

The music, the soundtrack was great.

51

I didn't even try to look at the titles

of the songs,

52

I was just vibing. Like it was just it was

Yeah,

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, Cudi I mean Cudi did the whole

album.

it was just a good vibe.

Yeah. And I love

53

his style is different and I am you know,

54

like you guys, I'm more of a hip hop

traditionalist,

55

but Cudi kind of broke that barrier with

me in terms of the more

56

emo type music and

57

I really enjoy lot of his the The Man on

the Moon album is

Mm-hmm.

just terrific. There's so many good songs

on there.

58

The Mr. Rager song, the Man on Moon song,

59

so many others, Day and Night.

60

I have that on continuous play.

61

I like that he weaved in again Mr.

62

Rager as an element.

63

I used to have a list of my favorite

album covers every year

64

and in 2009 when Man on the

Moon: End of Day came out,

65

it was one of my favorites. it just had a

really cool similar colors

66

to what's happening in EnterGalactic It's

a lot of purples and oranges.

67

I always loved it since then.

68

And so it was cool to watch this film,

which is a companion piece to

69

the album of the same name that released

on the same day and

70

I really appreciated this it's a it's a

risk to do something this bold.

71

Even for someone as established as Cudi.

72

And it's such a rich and colorful film.

73

Some may consider his music

not so colorful or bright.

74

If you talk about emo rap,

75

if you wanna call it that.

76

But to do this, to

This

do a feature length

77

on top of an album. Even good kid M.A.A.D. city

was a short film.

78

Cudi went big and it paid off.

79

I really appreciated that. Like it's it's

this is hard to do.

80

I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it also.

81

And it's funny, like you said,

82

the story of him being smitten by the new

girl in the apartment,

83

but then running into the ex and the

complications of the ex,

84

the ex being a little bit needy and a

little bit off kilter.

85

Very interesting and the dynamic with at

work,

86

with his coworker. And I like that there's

some messaging behind it too.

87

Like digital versus analog dating.

88

Like you see that Stush

89

throughout all advertised everywhere.

Stush yeah.

90

Yeah, Stush, And his coworker was all

about it,

91

like swipe left, swipe right, swipe right.

92

And he's just like he's all about he seems

like a bit of an old soul,

93

you know, riding his bike everywhere and

just being authentic.

Right. A BMX bike. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. He's

Yeah.

authentic. He's just wearing his hoodie

everywhere and jeans and doing

94

his own thing. And it's more the meet cute

type

95

I'm not into this app.

96

I'm just trying to go go out there,

97

do my own thing and have things happen

organically.

98

And that that his love interest

Yeah.

meadow, you know, becomes a great match

for him.

99

It's an interesting statement on

100

digital versus real life. ~

Yeah. Right.

101

to meet your match on an online dating platform.

102

I feel like this kind of message would have hit harder

103

in the beginning of the internet, at least as we know it. So it was kind of an odd

104

a reaction to all the digital aspects of our lives.

105

So I thought that's an interesting

106

way to say this. ~ in a bright and obviously digital production,

107

the themes are ~ meeting people

in real life,

108

having experiences in real life,

109

riding your bike through the city.

110

that might be the most way to connect to

people almost.

111

You could ride the bus and be amongst people or be on the subway amongst people

112

There’s something

113

dangerous, literally dangerous,

about riding your bike in the middle of the city.

114

And it's more like connected to life.

115

Then you can easily like tune out people

on the subway.

116

It's an interesting idea to to put forth.

117

the whole idea of the BMX was

was something that I was very

118

popped right out to me because I I I

still have a BMX in my basement,

119

~ stunt pegs and all. And like I used

Ha ha.

to ride all over the daggone City on my

bike and,

120

It was a rite of passage.

121

Like everybody on my block had a bike.

122

And if you didn't have a

Mm-hmm.

bike, we would find parts and build you a

bike.

123

So we all had bikes.

124

It's like wow, a throwback to my childhood.

125

it was so authentic. Everything,

it was so New York,

126

like everything was very authentic.

127

Like

The neighborhood is I'm like, wow,

128

I I know exact I can figure out where they

are like watching it.

129

I'm like, I know where that is.

130

It was very stylish and it was very like it was very relatable.

131

Not to keep using that word,

132

but

Yeah.

133

I like the subtle word play that

they use too like he had that shirt that

134

said “Closure” throughout. And I'm like,

135

well that's fitting. I'm just thinking

that that and then obviously

136

that text just like stays on the

screen when he finally gets closure with

137

his ex Carmen. And even the ex there when

the FedEx

Yeah.

machine and the word ex like is when he

first meets bumps into her

138

at the restaurant towards the beginning.

Yeah. I wanna know how much money was

transacted for that.

The FedEx, you know,

I was like it's so obvious.

Ha ha ha.

like the product placement.

139

Yeah, right, exactly. That's a good one.

Yeah, like it's I know it's part of the film

Yeah like

140

You couldn't go through New York without seeing one FedEx truck,

141

one on every block.

142

But

Right.

Yeah.

it was still kinda funny to see in the

film.

143

McDonald's as well.

144

Yeah.

yeah.

And he said America's second favorite

burger because the the greasy spoon

145

was the secret spot with the delicious

burger.

146

I liked that part. That was charming.

147

I liked the the chapter five's called It

Was Yellow and it was like because Meadow’s

148

thumbs up emoji. Was it her skin color?

149

No, it was yellow. I was ~ okay.

150

She's not really into this. She was ticked

off because the ex Carmen had sent

151

a sexy type photo over and she saw

Yeah.

it on the nightstand. And obviously that

bothered her to no end,

152

but it was funny because

Yeah, there there has to be

153

some kind of conflict in a rom com and

here it is.

Exactly. Yeah.

You know, as as

Yeah. Yep.

154

kind of a trope it is, it was kinda

handled in a way that one is relatable,

155

people see each other's

phones and they see s of course they

156

see something they shouldn't see.

157

Right. The unsolicited sexy photo.

158

It fits perfectly. Like, ~ okay.

huh. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

159

Yeah. That's some rough timing.

160

Yeah. I

Yeah.

mean, but there was that

Yeah.

sexual interactions, you know,

161

with him and Meadow were like so

physically intertwined and that animal

attraction,

162

like they really longed for each other and

obviously connected physically.

163

I like that

164

they're both into art, for their

profession.

165

And it was awesome that she used his photo

in her,

166

Her show, her art show, like his photo.

167

And then you're wondering, like,

168

is she gonna still use it? She's still

upset?

169

Is he gonna show up? So it's a little bit

of drama there.

170

Yeah.

Towards the end. I thought it was well

done.

171

Yes, like they were both as the you know,

172

they hit that little bit of a conflict and

they were trying to figure out,

173

how to deal with one

another and still have to deal with their

174

their professional lives at

the same time.

175

He's trying to get his proposal ready to

present to the comic company

176

and she's trying to prepare the art show,

177

and also trying to work with with her

friend,

178

~ Reed, to get some of her photos

purchased.

179

So she's like trying to trying to focus on

that at the same time.

180

It's like, wow

181

It's funny you were saying this

was on your radar,

182

Boogie. This wasn't even really on my

radar at all.

183

~ until, you know, Ice Berg kinda said,

184

You guys should really watch this,

185

you guys should really watch this.

I watched the trailer a couple of times

and I'm like,

186

Yeah, it was rated highly as well.

187

It was a good choice.

188

Absolutely is great choice, yeah.

189

The animation is just really fun.

190

I watched a couple videos behind the

scenes stuff,

191

~ another YouTube channel that breaks down

some of this more techie stuff,

192

but Cudi really put his ass into it.

193

Yeah. ~

194

Yeah. We'll I'll link to the videos,

195

Star power too.

196

Ty Dollar $ign,

197

Timothee Chalamet, Vanessa Hudgens,

198

Keith David, Jaden Smith, Macaulay Culkin,

199

Teyana Taylor. Even has his sister has a

brief role in it.

200

His actual sister plays his sister

in in it. Myesha Mescudi I'm like, wow, look at

that.

201

Luis Guzman

202

Jessica Williams plays Meadow.

203

Carmen, Laura Harrier’s character,

204

actually looks like her.

205

They really put a lot

of work into the the characters.

206

The late great Virgil Abloh was the

costume designer for this and

207

you see a lot of tributes to him

throughout the film.

208

He passed away before this came out,

209

Real heads, not me. Real heads know Virgil

Abloh.

210

Watch out for that. Look for those Easter eggs ~ throughout the film.

211

he was a legend that

I was not aware of

him really. ~ I'm not that cool.

212

So I only

Yeah no.

heard about him after, after he passed.

Ha ha ha.

213

I dug into his career.

Mm-hmm. Icon.

214

I mean, he did all the Kanye West fashion

stuff as well as many others.

215

And Cudi was close with them.

216

Yeah, I was on the fringe of knowing

him who he was 'cause just because

217

a lot of this stuff that he was putting

out was a little out of my price range.

218

I was aware of him.

Yeah.

Me too. Me as well.

I just c I was just like

219

just like I'm not paying that for that.

220

It looks cool, but

Like that's cool, but I'm not I don't

221

have the dividends for that.

222

Cudi made sure this film

was released on what would have been

Virgil

223

Abloh's birthday as a tribute.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yeah.

224

When I hear the word

Entergalactic and I always think

225

of Intergalactic, the Beastie Boys song.

226

So that's always like kind of stuck in my

head.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

But then I dove into

like why is he using this term?

227

And there's a lot of celestial themes with

Cudi,

228

as you see with Man in the Moon,

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

and a lot of his videos. He does other

229

There's a lot of space themes.

230

When I was looking up Entergalactic,

231

it's kinda like when you're feeling that

powerful feeling of love kind

232

of lifts you into a new universe.

233

It's literally cosmic, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

234

there's a song on his on the Man in the

Moon album called “Enter Galactic”

235

Two words. And ~

Right.

you could trace it back to that.

236

The space theme there.

237

Yeah.

Exactly. Right.

238

Yeah, and he's known to to ~

I have one gripe at this film.

239

And this is a spoiler alert, but in the

great climax at the end of the film,

240

Meadow runs from her great new gallery

show debut

241

to reconcile with Jabari. the stakes is

high for her.

242

Like this is a big deal, this exhibit,

243

this gallery. And Jabari doesn't really

have to sacrifice anything for this.

244

Like he yes, he takes a leap and he makes this grand gesture,

245

Maybe if she was The One and

he didn't pursue her really,

246

then you you lose out on that.

247

She could have gotten away.

248

See you next lifetime, like Erykah

Badu would say. But

249

It's a romantic on the surface,

but there’s an imbalance. She has to

250

leave her own exhibit just to meet up with

him,

251

even though it looks romantic.

252

It’s kind of common that these things happen and we just kinda go with it.

253

The imbalance, the dynamic between

254

men and women.

255

You know, it's a touch patriarchal and we

just sort of not think about

256

it anymore 'cause it just happens

everywhere.

257

And so I was like, mm it kinda ended on a

It's funny you say that.

258

even though they're together and like that

was kind of the point.

259

Yeah, my son Ice Berg, he was watching

it with me as well.

260

He said the very same thing. He's like,

I can't believe she

261

would like leave her own show.

262

Like she's built up to this and like she's

really just leaving her

263

art show like that? Didn't didn't add up for him either.

264

I know Kid Cudi is like the main character of

this film with all the main character

energy.

265

And so this has to come on his terms.

266

But we see it so much. It's like we see it

so much we don't see it anymore.

And so I was like,

mm. And what's up with the Temple

University keychain?

267

Like I was like, whoa, what's what's that?

I saw that.

268

Like cool, like go owls. But I was like,

269

it's the kind of random.

270

It didn't come up afterwards. And I looked

into it.

271

I couldn't find anything really,

272

but anyone listening or watching,

273

tell us what's up with this. May maybe,

I mean maybe somebody involved with the

film went to Temple or has ties,

you know. You know, the internet

274

The bots say that it's

probably just a way to make

275

her look authentic. a New York

photographer,

276

maybe roots in Philly went to temple

probably

277

And just how to make them look real and

I'm fine.

278

But it was very stark, like I know that T

anywhere.

Stark like I know that tea anywhere.

That white T on the red. The cherry and

the white tea on the red. Uh-huh.

279

the white. I know it very well.

280

But it's like, ~ What's up with that?

281

Yeah.

Ha

ha ha.

Yeah, I I pick up on that too.

282

I'm like 'cause I'm like a Philly guy.

283

I'm like, Temple, is this Philly?

284

I'm like, no, it's New York City.

285

But yeah, there's

Yeah.

gotta be some some story behind it.

286

somebody's like, We can't let New York get

all the energy,

287

let's throw that in there.

288

one of my favorite songs is in this movie.

289

~ Minnie Ripperton Inside My Love.

290

Yeah.

291

I was like

I was very excited to hear that song.

292

Yes, I love that song. Yeah, so as soon as

I heard it come on,

293

I was like, my god, Meadow’s playing

my song?

294

I was hoping to hear

Yeah.

the piano break too, but or the electric

piano break,

Yeah.

295

but they didn't go that far. But that it

wouldn't too much fan service for me.

296

I couldn't couldn't handle it.

297

For the listeners, Inside My Love

by Minnie Ripperton is ~ it's

298

got a nice sample that's been ~ used by a

tribe called Quest and also Tupac

299

~ in their in their rhymes, So yeah,

300

that if you you know haven't heard that

song,

301

listen to it. And you'll you'll definitely

hear the part that's sampled

302

if you listen to it.

303

Yeah, you go to “Lyrics to Go” - my favorite

A Tribe Called Quest song

304

of my favorite rap group

Yes.

305

and that electric piano break features

very prominently.

Yes.

So I was very

Yeah.

excited. I was like, I know that album She

put on the record,

306

put it on the record player.

307

Alright, you guys want to go around and

and rate the film here like we usually do?

308

So Boogie for Entergalactic,

309

would you bring that funky flick back or

leave it in the vault?

310

Without a doubt, bring that funky flick back.

311

Right on, Dyno Wright, for

Entergalactic,

312

bring that funky flick back or leave it in

the vault?

313

I am bringing funky flick back.

314

It's unanimous. I will definitely bring

this funky flick back as well.

315

Yeah, this this this is gonna be like my

new background like when

316

when I'm not doing anything, I just want something in the background,

317

this is gonna be my go to right here.

318

Just gonna put it on and just do whatever

I gotta do and just let it vibe

319

in the background. Yeah.

I love the the animation, the art style,

320

the art marker look, so well done.

321

Yeah.

shout out to D Neg ~ on the on the animation design.

I mean, I just love that hip hop

322

is spreading its tentacles to everywhere

like over the years,

323

you know. We already talked about, we saw the film by Chance the Rapper and,

324

Childish Gambino like these are

like EGOT folks,

325

these guys are just so magnificent

326

and talented in so many forms of art.

327

So it it's amazing. I I really have a

great,

328

even more of a greater appreciation for

Kid Cudi and for

329

For this project.

330

Thank you for tuning in to Hip Hop Movie

Club,

331

the show for serious hip-hop fans who want

to deepen their cultural knowledge.

332

I'm Dyno Wright, filmmaker, designer,

333

longtime hip hop fan, and I finally got

around to reading my copy

334

of People's Instinctive Travels and the

Paths of Rhythm 33 1/3

335

book. I'm glad I read that.

336

Nice.

337

I'm JB, eighties and nineties,

338

nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan.

339

And if you remember, the first concert I

took my son to was Kid Cudi in Philly,

340

which was literally a few weeks before

Entergalactic was released.

341

It was around September 9th of 2022.

342

For me personally,

343

I've become a really big fan of Kid Cudi

My son Iceberg introduced me

344

to him years ago. So I just thought that's

a really cool bonding thing that that

345

the two of us have is that he told me all

about Kid Cudi.

346

I introduced him to hip hop and all the

old school,

347

and he introduced me to some of these

younger artists,

348

like Kid Cudi and Tyler the Creator.

349

And ~ I really admire his his work over

the years.

350

Yep.

Dope, dope. And I'm Boogie, a DJ,

351

longtime hip hop fan, and as the time of

this recording,

352

yesterday was August 11th,

353

the 53rd birthday of hip hop.

354

Yes, give it up. DJ Kool Herc,

355

aka Clive Campbell threw a legendary

356

Ave in the Bronx, New York, back in

357

and the rest, as they say, was history.

358

Mm-hmm.

And remember, don't hate, gesticulate.

359

Move

360

it, move it.

Ha ha ha ha.

361

Nice.