Kidz in the Hall are the next best hip-hop group. OK, they are certainly not new at all because they released their debut album a couple of years ago but it is because of The In Crowd that everybody will talk about them in the following months (and given the state of hip-hop, it will easily be in any respectable best of 2008 list). How has their music improved? Keeping the good things alive and including some new elements to definitely record a very good album. It’s easy to see some influences from other groups like that bass line on “Black Out” that inevitably reminds me of Eric B. & Rakim or that distortion on “drivin’ down the block like what else should a brother do” which sounds like it's borrowed straight from Cool Kids' style. There’s a vocal collaboration on almost every single track and guess what, they all contribute something valuable. They all sound perfectly adapted to the music concept. Finally, the message contained in their lyrics is consistent. They can be a couple of weird rappers delighting the hipster audience in songs like “Drivin’ Down The Block,” but they can also be the don’t-play-with-me type of niggas when necessary. “Fuck the next top model / I’m the next top rapper / If niggas want problems / We can probably make it happen,” they let you know. - Grey