Q&A: Kidz In The Hall

On coming up in the college scene at UPenn

There wasn’t much of a scene. There were a few groups that were about a year or two older than me at the time. They were really instrumental in helping me learn what it meant to dress up your own record. They taught me how the independent side of things worked, because that didn’t really exist for me growing up. I went to high school in New Jersey, just an hour from NY and an hour from Philly, so I didn’t have a scene other than what was on television. These people were the catalysts behind me striking out on my own in the industry. When Naledge came, he inherited what I had already learned from the older guys. I had this big idea that I had to get an album done before my senior year was over. I would DJ and other guys would rap. Then I tried making my own beats, and everything progressed from there.

When I met Naledge, he was able to just jump into that already fast-moving ship. But it wasn’t until 2004 that we became a group. Our scene consisted of the producer, manager, and artists, but eventually everybody just fell to the wayside and it was just Naledge and me. We figured, “it’s just us now, we might as well put all our eggs in this basket and run with it.”

On Kidz In The Hall’s musical influences

Naledge and my brother had more similar taste than I had [with Naledge]. Three years age difference is huge in determining who you consider the best rapper alive. So for the older guys, Big Daddy Kane was God. For me, it’s Jay-Z, Biggie and Nas. And then for Naledge it was Common, Mos Def and that Rawkus era. I understood Naledge’s influences, but it definitely took time to really figure out where both of us were coming from. Then it took more time to get to the point where we were making really good music.

On using samples in his production

Initially, I wasn’t necessarily a sample heavy guy. I really had to train myself in the Timbaland school of thinking. Back then when it was like “don’t use anything more than two seconds.” So you had to use stabs and then play pianos and other instruments over it. That didn’t necessarily jive immediately with what Naledge was doing. Naledge was coming from the No I.D., Ayatollah and Rawkus school of production where people were rapping over soul samples. I didn’t necessarily venture into that space until I started recording with Naledge. So initially it took us a second to click. Then once we found it, we knew immediately what Naledge sounded good over.

On being compared to contemporaries such as Little Brother and The Cool Kids

It was annoying, to say the least. When I put together records I’m not really paying attention to any of my contemporaries. Many people assume that not only are we artists, but that we’re also super-fans that have to have heard this or that before, and half of the time we haven’t. Naledge heard The Listening when it came out in 2003 because that was a big deal for his age group. I didn’t hear it in its entirety until 2007 after School Was My Hustle was released. So it’s just little things like that that irk you. The way I look at, no ideas are completely original. At the same time that you’re thinking of something, somebody else could be thinking of it as well. It’s just a matter of who’s going to take it first, or who’s going to make it popular first.

On working as solo artists

I think it’s something that’s going to eventually happen - we can’t ride things until the wheels fall off. Let’s be real; if you don’t like Naledge as a lyricist on a Kidz In The Hall album, you’re not going to like him as a lyricist just because he’s rapping over 9^th Wonder beats. And if you don’t like me as a producer on Kidz In The Hall albums, you’re not going to like me on my own projects. We know that if we can make the Kidz In The Hall thing roll and really inspire people, then all the other stuff will come.

Naledge had a lot of [solo] material that he wanted to get out. A lot of the tracks on Chicago Picasso was from back in the Rawkus days for his so-called “solo album.” So [Chicago Picasso] came out and was still fresh to a lot of people. It wasn’t dated music. Naledge just really wanted to get that off his chest because you don’t want to sit around with all these records that you think are really good and not be able to play them.

On the most important element of a live show

Energy. And being showmen. I am kind of the crazy, maniacal, energetic, wild person, and so I try to bring that out on stage. I try to put on a show that I would want to see. Kanye West said, “the greatest pain in life is not being able to see himself perform.” I’ve been to enough open-mic-type shows and Glow-In-The-Dark-type shows that I know what a good show is. Honestly, it’s so easy for hip-hop to be bad. It’s a genre that if not taken seriously it can be a bad live experience for people, and I never want that. I try to put on shows with Naledge that are high energy experiences. It doesn’t matter if there are five people or 60 thousand - if I can’t make you move because I’m not in love with my music, how can I convince you that you should go and download it?

On goals for Land of Make Believe

I think going into this album we needed to separate ourselves and define ourselves as artists in our own right. We started this journey about a year ago in order to make that happen. So on the first few tracks, we went without samples and figured we didn’t need any samples at all. There were a few sampled tracks initially, but they ended up on the mixtape, The Professional Leisure Tour.

The main goal was that after this album, no one should question who we are as a group. After this album listeners should get the real inside scoop on how we think and operate, and the things we go through. We want this album to be a taste of what it is to be Kidz In The Hall. Hopefully with that, listeners take our personalities, and enjoy it and roll with it.

On the motivational and persevering mentality present on Land of Make Believe

We had a f***ed up year last year. A lot of weird things happened internally, and it took a toll on us mentally to get through it. However, underlying all of it was the belief that if we can get through it we can make it through anything. I think that just bled into what the music became. There’s a lot that comes with being on TV and being on the radio. But we’re still in gen-pop, not secluded from everyone, and still riding the train. There is a lot of self-realization on the album. Naledge was very much just an open book on this album. He would go into a booth, sip on a drink, and whatever came out is what came out that day. My job was to guide him and turn it into songs. I had to create records that conjured emotional feelings.

On working with Just Blaze

I’ve known Just Blaze since 2003 when I sold him a sidekick while working for T-Mobile. I moved to L.A. after college with a dream of getting signed to a label. When it didn’t immediately happen I had to get a job, and I ended up working at T-Mobile. I started working the same day the sidekicks came out, and they didn’t have any in New York yet. Everyone who wanted one had to come to L.A. All the tech heads spread the word until I was dealing with a good amount of people in the music industry, selling sidekicks - Ja Rule, (music video director) Dave Meyers, Irv Gotti, all of the Murder Inc. people, a lot of Universal people, a few producers, and an engineer who talked to Just Blaze.

I didn’t press anything on him as far as Kidz In The Hall, but he definitely liked the records, and he would critique them. But since ’04 or ’05 he never really critiqued anything, so I felt comfortable enough to go back to talk with him. There was an idea that he might executive produce Naledge’s solo album. He said, “Maybe you guys should go and get [Naledge] popping, and then we can link back up when it’s not just me putting you guys on, but rather us building together and making something really dope.” So “Take Over The World” started in Chicago with a producer who came up with the initial melodies, but it wasn’t necessarily a Kidz In The Hall song yet. We had to make it one.

On who Kidz In The Hall would like to collaborate with

I’d like to continue to work with people who I’ve already built with. I’d also like to work with some A-list rappers - Common, Kanye, Jay-Z, Nas, even Rick Ross (laughs). From a production standpoint, I would like to be able to work with Will.I.Am, or close friends outside hip-hop like Bjorn from Peter John and Bjorn.

Final words for the fans about Land of Make Believe

Go buy it! It’s really good music; it really is. It’s one of those albums that needs to be really listened to multiple times in order to hear where we’re coming from. It’s about personal expression and having fun. Naledge was saying whatever came to mind. On “Flickin’” he starts “live life like make believe.” That’s the whole point - this is kind of like another world in the music where we can be elaborate and excessive. It’s an embellishment of the real world. We just wanted the album to feel really good. That’s where the album is coming from.