Posted on 05/08/2008 11:27 AM
Kids in the Hall are about to release their sophomore effort The In Crowd. Emcee Nawledge and sound provider Double-O are amped; their video for "Driving Down the Block" is currently #6 on MTV’s TRL, they’re rolling with a diverse crew of emcees on this project, and everything is everything. The dudes have already been affiliated with labels that are hip-hop icons, Rawkus and Duck Down. That doesn’t happen accidentally. The duo recently sat down to chop-it-up with Okayplayer's Mel Blunt, for real. They discussed the project, their position in the hip-hop game and the true meaning of the The In Crowd.

OKP: How did you hook up with the Duck Down?
    
Double-O: Basically we were reaching out to Sean Price to try to get him on a record, and we had been doing dealings with Druha and from that point they sort of gained an interest in us when we inquired. It really was just like clock-work-- they asked if they could put the album out and we didn’t have a situation at the time.

OKP: Perfect timing.  How many CDs will you pump out under this deal.
 
Double-O: Are you a lawyer?

OKP: No, I’m a journalist.

Double-O: I mean, we know how to do our contract, it’s a productive deal for both parties.

OKP: Cool.

Double-O: Busines is business, y’all don’t need to know about that.  Just enjoy the music. Those haters on Okayplayer.

OKP: Hey! Haters?

Double-O: It’s not okayplayer haters because I wouldn’t associate the haters with the site. But haters like to congregate in “The Lesson.”  It happens, aint’ nothing wrong with it.

OKP: How do feel right on the cusp of the release date?

Double-O: Man I feel great right now. Man, things are really coming together. The video ("Driving Down the Block") got released last week, MTV loves it, the single is doing well—it’s just us doing us—very natural and organic. Our hustle and our management company’s hustle are on.
 
OKP: Give me some info on how your guest-list materialized.

Naledge: Really, The In Crowd CD, it started out as an EP–a concept album and we just wanted to invite our friends to collaborate. Duck Down came in and from there we started pushing.. That’s when the “Driving Down the Block” cut came together and that’s when we decided to make this a full-fledged CD.  
 
OKP: Phonte, Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, and of course Sean Price and Buck seem natural.

Double-O: Everything was natural, the whole album is organic and the people got on it because they wanted to. Hip-hop is hip hop and your common ground is always going to be the love for the music. Everybody on the project from Bun-B to Pusha-T, whether we toured with them or just kicked it with them; they had a genuine love for the music so it’s all natural to me.
 
OKP: Naledge, What's your favorite verse off of the CD and why? Just think of your favorite song and go from there.

Naledge: My favorite song is “Inner Me." It’s the only record with just me on it, I guess the first verse, but I don’t know it’s like with verses, I don’t put any out that I don’t like.

Every song I make is a snapshot of how I feel at that time. Some cats don’t write, they just get in the studio and make up words that rhyme together. I don’t do that, I really think out everything that I put on the track. It just so happens that great things come natural for me when I write. You know? I put a lot of work into everything that I write but at the same time it’s effortless-- if that makes sense. I put the work in to where it’s now effortless.

And great verses are effortless to me and so (writers) you guys should determine the best joint or the best verse. I’m going to think everything that comes out of my mouth is dope. When I burp it’s going to be the greatest thing that you’ve ever heard. For real, that’s where my ego is.  As an emcee that’s how you’ve got to feel.  Like if I hiccup on a track, it’s going to be better than the next guy’s stuff.

OKP: Well I’m just trying to deliver a bit of your personality to okayplayer nation.

Naledge: For real, for real, for real this aint’ BS like those other cats who put an album out and all they have is like two tracks and the rest of it is wack. That’s why this album is called The In Crowd because we’re pushing the limits of what hip-hop is supposed to be. We feel like we’re standing at the forefront of what the future of hip hop is. And the future of hip hop is weeding out theses wack motherfuckers out. That means no more filler. When you write a verse, you should be feeling it to the utmost. You should struggle to figure out which one you like best.  I mean for real, for real I’m an artist, not just an artist but an arteest! Put me in the same category as fuckin’ Van Gough, don’t put me in the category of these fake motherfuckers that just make simple rhymes.  

OKP: I hear you.

Naledge: I’m like James Baldwin with a pen my dude, for real like Ralph Ellison, I make magic with a pen like for real. I’m David Blaine with a microphone slim. So, that being said when I listen to my album, everything on there is the dopest thing I’ve heard in my life.

This album is so much better than School Was My Hustle I’m almost ready to buss a !@#$%^!  off of what people are going to feel when they hear this album.  This shit is the best album this year and I’ll put that on my momma’s life and I love my mother.

OKP: Really?

Naledge: You can go from the cut “Paper Trail,” when me and Phonte are going back and forth; to the cut with Guilty Simpson and Black Milk where Double-O and Black Milk are having a beat battle and we’re rhyming over the thing. To “Driving Down the Block” where we’re knocking your speakers dead to “Inner Me” my most introspective song. A lot of things are going on with this album, it is just crazy. Blackout sound-bites like Rakim era stuff on steroids.

OKP: WOOOOOOWWW you’re jumping out there!

Naledge: This album is the blueprint for what every rapper should strive to be. When we decide to make another album, that’s when we’ll make another statement, and push the bar up even higher, like that’s where we were on the last album, now catch up to this. I’m not trying to wild out on you or nothing, but I’m passionate about what I do and it’s like every verse that I spit is perfect to me. I think everything that comes out of my mouth is dope.  That’s like asking Picasso to pick his favorite painting. They’re all masterpieces.

OKP:  Is that right? Where can we catch videos for the project.

Double-O: It’s, (“Driving Down the Block”) in rotation on MTV. They understand. We built the relationship with MTV from the ground up starting with MTVu. They really feel the growth. I’m sure it’ll find it’s way to BET, I’m sure it will find it’s way to VH1 but our relationship with MTV is solid so we’re going to work that the best we can.
 
OKP: Are you currently touring--where can we find you?

Double-O: We’re on tour right now—we’re on our way to a show right now, at Niagra Falls, NY, then we’re off to Hartford.  This is the tail end of the tour. Then we’re on the Paid Dues festival in June, then, off to Europe with Atmosphere, then we’re hitting the Rock the Bells.

OKP: Damn ya’ll are getting it in!

Double O: It’s a lot of luck involved but you’ve got to be prepared to take advantage of your moment when it arrives.
 
OKP: Who would you most like to collaborate with?

Double-O: Wayne, I’d pick his brain a little bit—I’d sit with him and have that conversation and make it come from there, Definitely Andre 3000, and Roscoe P. Coldchain.

Naledge: I always dreamed of working with Dilla and I never got a chance to meet him. Working with Black Milk has kind of been my way of trying to involve him, that’s because they have kind of the same flavor, he’s a Dilla disciple and [I’d like to work with] Kanye.  MC wise-- Common, that’s who I came in the game admiring. I really want to do a song with Twista, I like Young Dro. I want to do a record with Scarface as well.

OKP: What regions are y’all representing?

Naledge:  I’m from Chi-town,

Double-O: I’m from the New York/ New Jersey area.

OKP: It ain’t where you’re from it’s where you be.

- Mel Blunt