by: Erika Ramirez Kidz in the Hall are not like the others, even if critics say Double-O and Nawledge belong in the room reserved for hipster rappers. If only these same critics would listen to their sophomore album The In Crowd (Duck Down Records). As the album title implies, the duo are not trying to be affiliated with a marginalized sub-group within the hip hop spectrum, they are aiming to appeal to the masses while keeping their integrity intact. A mixture of Double-O’s eclectic soundscapes and Nawledge’s premature yet nostalgic lyricism spill through out The In Crowd – a much more cohesive effort than their debut album School Was My Hustle. Proof of Kidz’s attempt to please a myriad of hip hop tastes lies in the collaborations: Whereas School Was My Hustle was light on them, The In Crowd has a smorgasbord of partnerships from Estelle to Bun B; hardly the type of artists hipsters champion. On the day their album hits stores, VIBE.com talked to Kidz in The Hall about their new direction and some of the highlights they remember from the making of The In Crowd.    VIBE.com: What’s the feel of The In Crowd? Double-O: It’s the greatest album ever sold. Nawledge: We stand at a certain position in this hip hop game, where we can make any type of record for any type of person, and appeal to any type of rap fan.  That’s kind of what The In Crowd symbolizes. We got everybody from Travis from Gym Class Heroes, to Camp Lo to Black Milk, Guilty Simpson all the way to Buckshot, Sean Price, The Cool Kids, Bun B, [and] Pusha T from the Clipse, Which one of those artists made you feel like you couldn’t believe this just happened? Naledge: It was definitely memorable to work with Sean Price and Buckshot, those are the people I really looked up to, also Camp Lo. It was an honor to actually meet those dudes. Estelle is probably the realist, realist person we’ve ever dealt with. You guy’s definitely killed some old school tracks and still kept it origi
	Published: 2008-05-14 Provider: VIBE