Kidz In The Hall took over S.O.B’s in New York City last night in celebration of their sophomore album, The In Crowd. DJ/producer Double-O and ill emcee Naledge blessed the crowd with a performance of several joints off the new album. The live and energetic duo blended many different sounds and styles on this album and it translated well on stage. I got there at around 8:00 which gave me close to an hour and a half to stare at people from across the room and suck down as many $13 drinks I could before the show started. The show opened up with a set by Tim William and the Arcade Stars, for which a lot of the screwface hip-hop-heads in the building had little patience. After four songs with little crowd response, Tim Williams was tight and dropped his mic and steamed off stage rcok star style. I was more interested in Just Blaze setting up on the 1’s and 2’s.
Just rocked it for a while, starting off with his hits starting off with PSA, What We Do and moving into New York Shit. A classic moment came when he gave Double-O his chain and played Chain Hang Low. O bent down and hung the chain as low as he could, mocking the Jibbs hit; "they ain’t feelin’ that" went Just Blaze before going back into some more fire. That wasn’t the last time mainstream rap would be shat on, either - Blaze jabbed right before finishing up, "I don’t have any Lil’ Wayne".
Naledge finally came on and they went into Black Out. After a couple of songs, they brought on Phonte of Little Brother, and did Paper Trail. They rocked the stage like they were genuinely doing this for the love of Hip Hop and not for the glitz and glamour. A few songs later, they brought on Skyzoo, to do Let Your Hair Down, my personal favorite off the album. It didn’t stop there because while performing Lucifer’s Joyride Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes hops on stage to the crowds surprise and brought the energy level through the roof. Double-O and Naledge then go into Driving Down The Block, the first single off the album, and invites all their friends this time bringing up dope MC, Mickey Factz to bless the crowd. The highlight of the night was the beautiful UK sensation Estelle joins them to do Love Hangover. Estelle then goes into her hit American Boy to close out the show and brought everyone back on stage to get a piece of the action including always sexy D.Woods of Danity Kane.
Overall, Kidz In The Hall had a great performance and a very successful launch of their new project. Be sure to check out the new album The In Crowd because its definitely a breath of fresh air and a rejuvenation of true Hip Hop.
-Mos
Double- O and Travi performing Lucifer's Joyride
Estelle on the mic
Everybody to the stage
