From all of the magazine focus and internet blah, you’d think the only thing The Kidz In The Hall have going for them is that they are highly edumacated. That focus on them being ‘intellectuals’ – a focus that is somewhat patronising to say the least, to them and to African Americans full stop – overshadows their ability to craft hip-hop that hits you in the soul as well as the cranium. Which might be why ‘The In Crowd’ doesn’t so much dumb down as hit you with the music first, and let the lyrics get you later.
It opens with ‘The Black Out’ where ‘Know the Ledge’ type bass meets slithery scratching for a surefire starter. ‘Paper Trail’ is effortlessly smooth, with guest Phon-tigga sprinkling some goodness in his verse. ‘Snob Hop’ fires with perfect horns and more smooth momentum, a track reminiscent enough of ATCQ to make you forget that Camp Lo are supposed to be on it and barely are. Other highs include Skyzoo joining the Kidz to talk about relationships on ‘Let Your Hair Down’ and the title track itself, a story-telling song with real modern resonance. And for those who can’t be bothered to delve into subject matter on first listen, the Duck Down posse cut of ‘The Pledge’ sees Sean Price in inimitable form, firing off Nickelback puns.
But there are a few disquieting moments among the otherwise flawless mastery of form and content. A couple of issues are minor: ‘Lucifer’s Joy Ride’ is merely disposable filler, while ‘Love Hangover’, with its Estelle chorus and rhyme structure, sounds uncannily like a Kanye offcut. But whilst many will seize on to ‘Drivin’ Down The Block’ as a banger, to these ears it doesn’t fit. Interpolating Masta Ace’s back catalogue, it adds a modishly tedious chopped chorus to its braggadocio. If it’s sincere, then it’s simply silly. If they’re being bookishly ironic (something it’s easy to believe – whether rightly or wrongly – referring back to their public image issues) about modern hip-hop, then it’s a tad grating. Ace himself mocked the prevailing winds in hip-hop a lot better on ‘Slaughtahouse’. The end-of-album remix is seemingly computer-designed to make the internet go macadamias, with guest verses from Bun B, The Cool Kids and The Clipse.
The album would be much better ending with ‘Inner Me’ – downbeat introspection always works well as the last track on an LP, and this is a gem of the genre. As a matter of fact, it sums up what is generally true about this album. Beyond the shallow image of them as being clever because they finished a college course and the minor issue of why they jumped ship to Duck Down, what this LP proves is that there’s a lot of facets to the music of Kidz In The Hall. They’re not just a throwback ‘mic and a DJ’ group and nor are they rushing breakneck into modernity. Instead, they’re banging out solid LP’s with lots of good stuff and a couple of skippers. And that’s as good as hip-hop gets in 2000 and now.
Kidz In The Hall – The Blackout
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Track listing:
All Songs produced by Double-O
1.) Intro
2.) Blackout
3.) Paper Trail f/Phonte
4.) Drivin’ Down Block (Low End Theory) f/Masta Ace
5.) Lucifer’s Joyride
6.) Snob-Hop f/Camp Lo
7.) Mr. Alladatshit f/Donnis
8.) Love Hangover f/Estelle
9.) Let Your Hair Down f/Skyzoo and Lil Eddie
10.) Middle Of The Map Pt. 1 f/Fooch (co-produced by Black Milk)
11.) Middle Of The Map Pt.2 f/Black Milk and Guilty Simpson (co-produced by Black Milk)
12.) The In Crowd f/Tim William
13.) The Pledge f/Sean Price and Buckshot
14.) Inner Me
15.) Drivin’ Down The Block Remix f/Pusha T (of The Clipse), Bun B and The Cool Kids (Bonus Track)
23 responses so far ↓
1 Fred Fence // Apr 22, 2008 at 9:26 am
why am I not excited about a new kidz in the hall album? Is there something wrong with me?
2 brian beck from wisconsin // Apr 22, 2008 at 11:01 am
I’m unsure about these guys.
3 Give Thizz To Yo Kidz // Apr 22, 2008 at 11:01 am
No Fred, I’m with you big homie..
4 Give Thizz To Yo Kidz // Apr 22, 2008 at 11:04 am
…it’s like with EMC, they appeal to people who think hip-hop should sound how hip-hop sounded in a certain period, even if the result is just dull and somewhat contrived
5 Drew Huge // Apr 22, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I don’t think EMC try and make retro or golden age hip-hop, they just make hip-hop of a certain style. I liked it and I certainly don’t want to buy some retro group. There’s a bit of a false dichotomy being drawn at the moment that everyone who isn’t on the cusp of something new is some kind of regressive NY golden age freak. Hip-hop is a broad church these days, and while, say Turf Talk and Masta Ace aren’t in the same area, and Ace’s music might seem old fashioned to some, you can criticise Turf Talk for not actually being that good a rapper, although his music is fine. It’s all about the feeling, and the feeling of a finely crafted Ace or Wordsworth verse is supposed to give you a different vibe to, say, a Neptunes beat. But it’s not necessarily the vibe of ‘87. And Hyphy actually sounds very retro a lot of the time, if you grew up loving early electro-hop as I did.
6 Fred Fence // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:17 pm
EMC 12″ was rubbish musically, but they can obviously rap, aint checked the LP yet.
7 met to the cee // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The ‘Blackout’ joint is fire! The m’c’s aren’t the best but neither were the m’c’s in groups like UMC’s who kinda remind me of Kidz…like Drew Huge said, ‘it’s all about the feeling’
8 Fred Fence // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Hyphy sounds old to the new though, beefed up electro/miami bass sounds for the new school, but EMC and especially Kidz is just lame tyna sound just like 93, not even upgraded for now. Their ‘wheels fall off’ just sounds wank compared to 93 til infinity.
9 Fred Fence // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:21 pm
EMC beats I heard were just nasty (in the true sense of the word, not the Hip Hop sense), but I would be interested to hear the black milk beat although he’s way overated too I do think he’s doing something more edgy and raw with than most.
10 Fred Fence // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I mean the black milk beat on the kidz LP. Fuck a estelle cameo, when are people gonna realise she’s shit and get off the bandwagon, work with Tor or someone good instead you suckas.
11 Give Thizz To Yo Kidz // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:21 am
A Turf Talk and Tor collabo would float my boat. Oh and I do concede that it IS all about the feeling.. got me feeling all sentimental now.
12 jack // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:50 am
There’s something all too irritating about Naledge, a Kanye type of knowingness that makes it impossible to sit through a whole Kidz album. Tracks feat Phonte aren’t particularly exciting either. Dull.
13 henchman // Apr 23, 2008 at 7:21 am
This album is wack as is most hip hop nowadays this is why
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h6pcqC6wrI
14 Give Thizz To Yo Kidz // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:05 am
I was listening to Big Pun’s Capital Punishment the other day and wondering what the fuck happened to New York.
15 brian beck from wisconsin // Apr 23, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Capital Punishment [i]is[/i] what happened to NY rap : bloated skit filled 20 track albums trying to copy the Life After Death formula of something-for-every-demographic and often ravaged by sample clearance. It was just one of the few semi-successful attempts at it.
16 Ryan Roof // Apr 23, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Respeck for puttin planet rock link up….makes evenmost even quite good recent hip hop sound weak in comparison.
17 i the t // Apr 23, 2008 at 4:04 pm
big pun was shit.
his flow featured not a single semiquaver rest per stanza.
18 brian beck from wisconsin // Apr 23, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Planet Rock is overrated. Space Is The Place by Jonzun Crew > anything Bambaataa has done.
10 songs from 2007 better than Planet Rock :
Return Of The Mac by Prodigy
Nuthin’ 2 A Boss by Trae & Slim Thug
Don’t Give A Fucc by Blaq Poet
Trill Niggaz Don’t Die by UGK & Z-Ro
It’s Kinda Hot by Husalah
Who Do You Believe In? by Scarface
The Hardest II by AZ & Styles P
Bring That Base Back by Turf Talk
Brand New Funk 2k7 by Jazzy Jeff ft. Peedi Crakk
Can’t Tell Me Nothing by KanYe West
19 i the t // Apr 23, 2008 at 4:56 pm
in the history of western music criticism, the ridicularity of the above post can hardly be overestimated.
20 met to the cee // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:10 pm
blaq poet ‘dont give a fucc’ – Styles p/AZ ‘The hardest’ – pure heat!
21 Ryan Roof // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:12 pm
that jazzy jeff/peedi tune is pants (as we say in the UK)
22 jihod // May 10, 2008 at 4:39 pm
yo this album is the best album(rap) of the year edging out the roots slightly
23 Bill Bank$ // Aug 3, 2008 at 9:03 am
The Pledge it’s the best song i heard….
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