Kidz In The Hall: "Pledge Allegiance To The Dope ft. Curren$y & Mikkey Halsted"

I haven't posted anything from KITH for quite some time. I have to admit, their last album was a bit of a flop. But I saw this one over at 2DopeBoyz and checked it out because of the impressive guest roster. It exceeded my rather modest expectations. If Kidz In The Hall would keep their sound a little rougher more regularly, I'd probably enjoy their music more.

Kidz In The Hall: "Pledge Allegiance To The Dope ft. Curren$y & Mikkey Halsted"

Kidz In The Hall: "Grizzly Man" (Music Video)

Kidz In The Hall: "Flickin' (Nick Catchdubs x Proper Villains Remix)"

This was initially intended to be a fun remix for DJs, but apparently Naledge & Double O embraced it and have been performing the track live.

Kidz In The Hall: "Flickin' (Nick Catchdubs x Proper Villains Remix)"

Kidz In The Hall: "Jukebox" (Music Video)

Land of Make Believe will be released on March 9.

Kidz In The Hall: "We Gone" (Music Video)

Off The Professional Leisure Tour EP.

Kidz In The Hall: The Professional Leisure Tour (FreEP)

New EP from Kidz In The Hall. Good stuff. Duckdown's press release reads as follows:

This Holiday Season Kidz In The Hall are treating their fans to an early gift in the form of a free album entitled The Professional Leisure Tour presented by L-R-G. The 13 track freEP features all original music from the group which was mostly recorded last month on the road during Kidz In The Hall's National US Tour.

The Professional Leisure Tour is a prelude to Kidz In The Hall's next studio album, Land Of Make Believe, currently scheduled for a March 9th, 2010 release date. Today, "Jukebox," the lead single from Land Of Make Believe, is available at iTunes & all digital retail outlets

Kidz In The Hall: The Professional Leisure Tour (FreEP) (Via LRG)

Kidz In The Hall: "The Grizzly Man"

According to my source for everything Chicago hip-hop related, Fake Shore Drive, Kidz in the Hall will be releasing a free 13-track EP of all new material, titled The Professional Leisure Tour. It should be released on December 8, and will be sponsored by LRG. Serving as a warm up to their third album, Land of Make Believe (March 2010), this side project should serve as a nice bonus to keep our proverbial Kidz in the Hall thirst quenched.

This track, "Grizzly Man" is the first leak from the project. It samples Grizzly Bear's tremendous single "Two Weeks." If you follow Midwest Broadcast on Twitter, you may remember me tweeting about this in the past. Looks like my request came true.

Kidz In The Hall: "The Grizzly Man"

Kidz in the Hall: "Jukebox"

First we had "Flickin'," which I really enjoyed after a few listens. Now, here is KITH's second single off of Land of Make Believe, which unfortunately got pushed back to February. It's not a big time hip-hop album unless it gets pushed back, right? Kidz In The Hall have officially made it, people!

Kidz in the Hall: "Jukebox"

Naledge: "Flickin'" (Live)

Naledge performs the newest Kidz In The Hall single, "Flickin'," sans his producer brethren, Double O. This song has really grown on me. Spotted at Andrew's place.

Kidz In The Hall: "Flickin'"

I posted a new Naledge joint this morning, and lo and behold a new Kidz In The Hall track follows right after that. This is the lead single to the duo's upcoming album, Land of Make Believe, which should be in stores on October 13, 2009. I only posted the song for streaming, but you can purchase it on the iTunes store.

Naledge's 'Wild Tour Story' (Video)

The Kidz in the Hall emcee spitter speaks on the group's unfortunate night in Arizona. Spotted at FakeShoreDrive.

Kidz In The Hall: SXSW Takeover (Video)

As I prepare to go on a huge spring break road trip, why not drop a couple final posts before I leave you guys for a week? Here's a Kidz In The Hall interview from SXSW in Austin.

Kidz In The Hall: Birdwalk Reversed (Video)

On Tour w/ Double O (Video)

Double O clownin'. I've never tried a Zune before but the word is they're pretty cool. Fuck it, I still deal with iPods.

Best Of 2008: Top 25 Albums (Entries 25-21)

Previous Midwest Broadcast Best of 2008 Posts:
Non-Hip-Hop Albums
Top 15 Mixtapes

Intro: Well, it’s officially Christmas, so I suppose it’s time for me to begin writing this series. With 2009 around the corner, it’s been more fun than I expected — albeit far more tasking, too — revisiting the seemingly endless number of albums that dropped in the past year. Narrowing this list down to a top 25 was arduous, hence the plethora of honorable mentions. In all honesty, I’ve already changed the order of this list about 10 times in the past thirty minutes. From about #20 and on, the rankings are not terribly clear-cut. Still, these albums were my favorites of 2008, and I urge you to check them out if you have not yet done so. Maybe you could even buy an album or two (GASP!). Without further adieu, entries 25-21 for the best albums of 2008, plus the honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions: Kidz In The Hall, The In Crowd; Torae, Daily Conversation; Madlib, WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip; Vast Aire, Deuces Wild; Termanology, Politics As Usual; Pacewon & Mr. Green, The Only Color That Matters Is Green; DJ Revolution, King Of The Decks (Review)


25. Lil’ Wayne: Tha Cater III
Lil' Wayne makes this list reluctantly. But Weezy F. Baby managed to sell like three trillion copies when other rappers were struggling to move records in their hometown, so he had to be doing something right. Whatever, quite a few of the songs on The Carter III were kind of ill. But that “Phone Home” bullshit nearly ruined the entire album for me. Key Tracks: “3 Peat,” “Mr. Carter ft. Jay-Z,” “A Milli,” “Dr. Carter,” “Let The Beat Build”

24. C.R.A.C. Knuckles: The Piece Talks (Review)
2007’s rookie of the year and one of my favorite rappers, Blu, teamed up with Detroit producer/emcee Ta’Raach to release an “I-don’t-give-a-fuck-album,” of sorts. It was dangerously haphazardly put together (tons of random interludes, little cohesion, absolutely no commercial appeal), but maybe that is also why it was so cool. Ta’Raach’s minimalist boom-bap beats were ideal for Blu, especially since lots of his raps on this album sound more like on-the-spot freestyles than thought-out written verses. If only Blu could have done all the rapping, then we would have been working with something. Key Tracks: “Love Don’t,” “Respect,” “Go!”

23. Heltah Skeltah: D.I.R.T. (Da Incredible Rap Team) (Review)
When D.I.R.T. was released in late September, I was legitimately impressed. I even prematurely assumed it would end the year in the top five or ten best albums of the year. However, once the initial excitement wore off, I don’t think I’ve re-listened to a single song of the album until recently. What I now realize is that I was generalizing the notion that I thoroughly enjoy about four songs off the album to a faulty belief that the entire album is spectacular. It wasn’t. While Ruck and Rock are uncompromising in making street battle rhymes, their shtick eventually grows weary. And while the production was terrific on a few of the songs, the rest of the album was relatively average. But due to the strength of the best tracks on D.I.R.T., Heltah Skeltah still crack the top 25 of 2008. Key Tracks: “The Art Of Disrespekinazation,” “Twinz,” “D.I.R.T. (Another Boot Camp Clik Yeah Song)”

22. Kanser: Future Retro Legacy
If some Minneapolis rap veterans release an album in 2008, will anyone pay attention? I wish more people knew about Kanser. Maybe they do, but I just have not met them yet. Either way, this trio put out the one of the best "everyman albums" of the year. These guys seem almost too down to earth, referencing brushing their teeth and sarcasticly dissing their fellow homies, Twin Cities hip-hop group Big Quarters. But what really helped Future Retro Legacy succeed was the production. One of the best things about being in underground hip-hop seems to be that sampling is much less restricted than in the mainstream. Artists don’t have to worry about clearing samples, with allows for better production on albums, from start to finish. Such was the case for this album. Key Tracks: “Pleasant,” “Coming Out Again (The Sunshine Song),” “Save The Day,” “Legacy”

21. Fat Ray & Black Milk: The Set Up
To be concise, Black Milk dominated this album. In all honesty, Fat Ray is a halfway decent rapper. He’ll spit some pretty nice battle rap punchlines, or some bright metaphors from time to time, but nothing that makes your jaw drop. But Black Milk’s production on The Set Up had me drooling. It was perhaps his best work of the year, and that’s saying something, because Black Milk completely owned 2008. As you continue to read this series, you’ll see a pattern developing regarding that fact. Key Tracks: “Bad Man ft. Guilty Simpson,” “Not U,” Get Focus ft. Phat Kat & Elzhi,” “Ugly”

Kidz In The Hall: "The Deal" Freestyle

KITH get down on BET's The Deal.

Naledge Working In The Studio

Via RubyHornetTV

Murs & Kidz In The Hall In Madison

So on Monday, October 20, the Murs & Kidz In The Hall tour stopped through Madison. I know I kind of blasted Murs For President in my recent review, but Murs is still my boy for all his older material. And you know Kidz In The Hall can put on a solid performance. So naturally, I made the trip to Madison's High Noon Saloon to check out this show.

After some absolutely terrible opening acts, Kidz In The Hall came on. They basically ran through about 75% of The In Crowd, as well as some older material and other assorted singles. But, since lots of their songs feature guest verses from rappers who obviously weren't there, Kidz In The Hall basically did a quick-hit barrage of parts of many songs. There were two unexpected sections of the show which made it a very satisfying experience: 1.) Naledge kicked a freestyle while Double O was rocking his drum pad, which I'll explain in more detail below, and 2.) They performed Naledge's section of "Swagger Like Chi," which I did not see coming at all.

I understand that I don't have to explain the Murs set much. It was fairly typical. Murs was full of energy, jumping and running around, clowning in between songs, and just overall having a good time. That man puts his heart and soul in to putting on the best show he possibly can, and it pays off in the form of great entertainment and mad respect from fans. It's early in the tour, and he was already nursing a groin injury - not quite sure why he has this groin injury, haha - but Murs still didn't hold back. He was wearing sweat pants, but probably because it was Madison, WI, on a Monday night (Although, considering the circumstances, the crowd was pretty live). For reasons you already know (if you read my review), I didn't feel like getting footage of many of his new songs, but the crowd got super hyped for a couple of them. I cared more about relatively older material from 3:16 and Murray's Revenge, but it was all dope. Enjoy the footage (In semi-chronological order).

Kidz In The Hall: "Black Out"


Kidz In The Hall: Freestyle
Side Note: Double O was having some trouble finding the instrumental to whatever track they were intending to perform. So, after Naledge BSing with the crowd for a bit to buy time, they just said fuck it and kicked a freestyle.


Kidz In The Hall: "Love Hangover"


Kidz In The Hall: "Swagger Like Chi"


Kidz In The Hall: "Mr. Alladatshit"


Murs: "H-U-S-T-L-E"


Murs: "Can It Be (Half A Million Dollars and 18 Months Later)"


Murs: "Road Is My Religion"


Murs: "Dirty Girl"


Murs: "L.A."

Kidz In The Hall: "Love Hangover" (Video) // Naledge: Brainiac Society Mixtape

First up is this little here musical video to provide you with some visuals for the Kidz In The Hall track "Love Hangover," featuring British songstress Estelle.

Love Hangover - Kidz in the Hall feat Estelle



Second thing is we've got a little special mixtape dropped by Naledge, and featuring plenty of music and guest artists. I'm just gonna use the 2DB dl link for this one, so fat shouts to them. 34 songs is a little much for me, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. Download link after the album art.




Naledge: Welcome To The Brainiac Society (Mixtape)

Atmosphere, Brother Ali, & Kidz in the Hall in London (Video)

So, as I have mentioned previously, I'm chillin here in London this summer. Already been here for a little over a month, still have about three weeks left. But last week, on June 18, I believe, there was an Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and Kidz in the Hall concert at this spot called Koko night club here across the pond. Atmosphere and Ali are touring through Europe this summer for their 3 The Hard Way tour. Of course I wasn't going to pass up a chance to see that shit. I even caught both of them at Soundset in May, the day before I came to London, but the more the better.

So I show up to this place, and the venue is absolutely crazy. Koko night club appears to be an old theater that was converted into a music venue. It's got this big floor area, and two or three balconies which provide rather good views for watching a concert. It's also pretty large, so I didn't expect the concert to be very full by any means. This is independent hip-hop in Europe, after all. But how little did I know. To my surprise, the place was absolutely packed. Atmosphere has really laid out the blueprint for how to gain popularity, going from a little known Minnesota hip-hop group to selling the #5 album in the states during their debut week, with Lemons.

As for the concert, Kidz in the Hall rocked it pretty hard. They played some new tracks off of The In Crowd, including "Drivin' Down The Block," which I have some footage of later in this post. Their set was almost a little too loud though, and it was hard to decipher the lyrics at times. Still a fun show. But then it was time for Ali and Atmosphere. One thing I didn't realize about this tour (and which made it really special) was that Atmosphere and Ali were taking the stage at the same time. It was interesting, they kind of traded off songs, with Slug and Ali basically taking turns as each other's hype man. Ant was Djing the whole time, killing the set as usual. They had an interesting mix of songs, and overall if was a spectacular performance. I took some photos and videos, which I'm about to post here, I hope you enjoy, I sure did. I'd have more, but my camera ran out of batteries. Though I'd like more footage of the show, that did thankfully allow me to focus more on the music and go down to the main floor, which was definitely a good time. Great night.

Kidz in the Hall performing "Drivin' Down The Block"


Brother Ali performing "Whatcha' Got"


Brother Ali performing "Forest Whitaker"


Atmosphere performing "Puppets"


Atmosphere performing "Shoulda Known"


Atmosphere performing "Sunshine"