"I'm so cool, man," Naledge says on "Mr. Alladatshit". It's true, and it bodes poorly for hacks like me, because at this point Kidz in the Hall-- an Ivy League-educated underground rap group signed to Buckshot's label-- have generated such a strong buzz that they're pretty much set. They did it through a slew of celebrity collaborations and a hilarious video, "Drivin' Down the Block (Low End Theory)", which has gotten much-deserved TRL airplay. The album-closing remix of the song featuring Pusha T, Bun B, and the Cool Kids is quite good as well, and the version floating around produced by and featuring El-P is even better.
Fine. But this is not a great backpack hip-hop album. Everyone complains about Naledge's shortcomings as an MC, but more unfortunate is his lyrical aversion to clever turns of phrase. There's nothing here as half as imaginative or witty as "Cappuccino", the breakout track from L.A. rappers the Knux, a duo often compared to the Kidz. As Peter Macia noted in his spot-on Pitchfork review of the guys' last record, School Was My Hustle: "There's little evidence that school was actually their hustle." And indeed the album's lyrical anemia is all the more surprising considering their Penn degrees.
The cringe-worthy lines could fill a whole song: "Ride tracks sort of like a NASCAR" (from "Paper Trail"); "My car like a Shop Rite, got cheese, got bread, yeah yeah I shop right" (from "Drivin' Down the Block"); "I think I love her, but I think I hate her at the very same time" (from "Love Hangover"). The beats are less urgent this time around as well. There's nothing that equals the power of Hustle tracks "Ms. Juanita", "Wassup Jo'", or "Ritalin". Double-O's tracks are breezy, nostalgic, and serviceable throughout, but don't stick in your head.
"In the spirit of Jimi, Rick James, and James Brown," Naledge announces at the beginning of "Lucifer's Joyride", but a more accurate characterization would be "in the spirit of Gym Class Heroes," the current MTV Hits darlings who also play lip service to the greats but water their shit down with clumsy innuendo such as when Naledge encouraging us to "get a little drunk, get a little naked. Let's go where the wind takes us." (Are we in a boat?)
"Lucifer's Joyride" has little Jimi, Rick, or James, but it does have just about everything else-- vocoder; allusions to drugs, gambling, and prostitution; a soul sample so drowned out you can barely hear it, and of course Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, who is better at doing what he does than these guys are. With their frantic, rushed rhymes, and beats which are a bit too eager to please, the Kidz may be popular. But if they want to any cred they're going to have to learn to be themselves.
