If everybody in the world had a gift that they recognized, it would probably be a world full of Michael Jacksons, Tupacs and Kidz in the Halls. Regardless of how excited you are about the group, the album, School was my Hustle has been critically acclaimed and Double-O and Naledge are just two people in this universe who recognize who have natural talent and appeal.

With a mixture of soulful mid-western vocals and hard-core East Coast production, the two hip hop heads recently released, Detention a collaborative effort with Mick Boogie and have made their mark in the digital world, through the new digital LP.

With songs on HBO’s The Wire, and NBC’s Heroes; Kidz in the Hall, has recently landed a multi-song deal with ESPN for this year’s college football season. With dope lyrics, raw production and the critics behind them, Kidz in the Hall talk about the importance of style and individuality. Take notes and learn.

TEC: Let us know a little bit about Naledge as an emcee and Double-O as a producer.

Naledge: I was the kid looking out the window when all the nonsense was going on.

Double-O: As a producer, I can’t rap, I can’t sing. I speak through my hands. A lot of the stuff Naledge talks about I try to breathe through my hands. I try to put you in that certain mood.

TEC: Word. Congrats, the album had crazy reviews. How do you guys feel about being compared to Primo and Guru or potentially having as much of an impact as Gangstarr?

Double-O: As long as we don’t break up, it’s aiight [laughs].

Naledge: [Laughs]. Nah, to us, that’s classic Hip Hop and those are like “idols”. It’s almost untouchable. It’s like growing up playing basketball and somebody comparing you to Mike. You don’t even see those people as being touchable. Even when you meet them and rap with them- because I was talking to Pete Rock…I was cool, but in my head I’m like “Yo, this is Pete Rock.” He introduced himself to me as if I didn’t know who he was. I’m like dude, you don’t have to introduce yourself to me. It’s like “Man, I grew up off you.” It’s just one of those things where, in honor of what we do, we still honor what they did in the past. We haven’t forgotten at all.

TEC: Ya’ll really ain’t that old. Ya’ll got the spirit of older folks but at let me know of recent artist ya’ll rock out to or even music ya’ll listened to in High School or Middle school. This is name drop time.

Naledge: Common, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Jay, Scarface, Pharcyde, E-40, Nore-well Capone and Noreaga was my sh*t. Right now it’s Gym Class Heroes, Fall Out Boys, Sa-Ra, Lupe, Rhymefest, Kanye…

TEC: Ya’ll don’t listen to MC Eiht [laughs]?

Naledge: MC Eiht was dope! That’s a little bit more “O.G.”

Double-O: Yeah all that. I love music. It was probably one of those things where I just enjoyed music and anything that Hip Hop was doing at the time. I think everybody was in that state of mind. It was the “Back Pack versus the “Jiggy” era. Everybody just enjoyed music back then and I definitely loved all of those artists and I’m tryna get abck to that point now. I think we all do to a certain extent. I think a lot of the people coming out now have more of an eclectic view of music, because there’s so much they can listen to now and not be considered “corny” or “crazy” or anything.

TEC: Cool. You two met up in college. Is that how you came up with the name, Kidz in the Hall?

Double-O: Yeah, the name is definitely credited to the environments that bread us. A lot of what we perceived and things that we talk about, kinda happened on that college level and after that, Mind you that, we are still cool boys at heart. This is also something a little bit more ambiguous is that “Kidz in the Hall” doesn’t just say, “Rap”. It can be a Pop band, a Heavy Metal band, a Reggae band- you know it can be anything. Once you define it, it’s defined from that point on.

TEC: Talking about definitions, lets talk about style. Naledge, since you’re from Chicago let me know the flavor in Chicago. What can we find in Chicago as far as urban apparel?

Naledge: I mean, since its colder in Chicago, we definitely love to layer. We in to the simple stuff like North Face and stuff like that, but I really think we really take it to another level when it comes to the Northface, the Eddie Bauer, and the Polo. The Polo game is really heavy right now, although it’s been here for a while. All the fresh boys on the south side we like to get fresh really get layered. When I say layered, I mean an Oxford, a Polo and a sweater…and a jacket. The skinner you are the easier it is. We love to match colors. Chicago is kind of country in a sense because it’s Midwestern. It used to be Havana Joe’s but now it’s calmed down. Now it’s like Walabees and cats have really pulled on to the Gucci loafers.

Since the customization of sneakers came out, you really see cats wearing these colors and taking it to another level. The Westside cats are a little bit more flamboyant-they still wear furs and stuff. Where I grew up on the Southside it’s definitely a lot of Polo, Nautica, Lacoste - that was kind of the trend and look. I have a song called on the record “ “ basically sums up my childhood and the way I grew up. One phase it was Iceberg (and they were on that heavy,) then they kind of advanced themselves to move forward

The Gang Bang culture is a whole other realm and that’s why people stopped wearing Starters and NIKE and the throwback stuff- a lot of that was gang affiliated.

TEC: Yeah, Jordans were too.

Naledge: Yeah, Jordans. I tried to explain this to another writer. It’s a different level of admiration for this shoe in Chicago. It’s crazy! When we were really winning championships in the city, people would really get killed on the bus or robbed on the train for them. People would really come up to you and be like, “What’s ya size?” and take them off ya feet. I know there’s a waiting list for Jordans (probably everywhere) but in Chicago it was a little more serious. I think Jordan’s impact on our city, as an icon was a little bit different than anywhere else. Obviously, Airmax and Air Force 1’s are standard. I see a lot of cats doing the hipster sh*t but at the same time keeping it funky and keeping it fresh and matching colors. We don’t get too far out there with that (colorful look) everything is pretty much clean cut. It’s the “fly choir boy” look.

TEC: Give me one style I’m going to find in Chicago that I wouldn’t find in any other city?

Naledge: Wow. There’s a couple clothing brands that are pretty specific. Phlly-that’s a boutique brand that a lot of cats in Chicago wear. You can also find Fashion Geek, another clothing line in Chicago that’s poppin’. Those are two clothing brands and Chicago designed, funded and also Kustom Kings. They customize Varsity gear. They also do New Era hats, shoes, jersey’s- you can find R. Kelly, Kanye West, Shawnna and myself going there to get sh*t customized and to get freshed up.

Now it’s cool to get Dior sneakers and YSL chucks- you see that a lot more in Chicago now. You see a lot of Prada’s. People are on designer exclusives sh*t but still incorporated into Chicago’s style.

TEC: O.K. If you could choose a poster child for Chicago swag or wrap up Chicago’s style in one person who would it be and why?

Naledge: Wow. It’s crazy because it’s two different sides. If I could pick two people they would pick Twista for the West- side and how they get down. They’re a little more voicetress. As far as where I’m from on the South-side, I would pick Dwayne Wade. That look is pretty standard. Kanye kind of took it too far. Somebody like Dwayne Wade is a standard look in Chicago. He dresses like a Chicago person. Most people thought I dressed like I was from New York. I think Kanye even took some of his look from New York and just went off with something else.

No. ID and Twilight Tone had this fly movement in Chicago. It was these Black middle class, educated kids that had a preppy look and they loved Hip Hop. There were young Black kids shopping on Michigan Avenue for Cartier glasses, rockin’ cargo shorts, Polo sweaters and really being fly on another level.

TEC: What’s up with you Double-O? You’re from Jersey, right?

Double-O: Yeah. I went to school up in Brooklyn, I moved to Jersey and went to high school out there.

TEC: Well, which are you reppin today? Brooklyn or Jersey?

Double-O: It’s either way. It’s not a single style.

TEC: Cool. Well let me know what’s poppin’ in Brooklyn and Jersey opposed to what’s happening in the rest of the country.

Double-O: Brooklyn back then was the leaders of this Lo Life solo movement. The people that took Polo (which was an upper-class American brand) and sporting it anywhere- down Flatbush, down Fulton Street or down wherever. I come from an era where Polo and Tommy Hilfiger were the big urban American brands. The whole style thing in Hip Hop was about taking these things that didn’t belong in the hood like: Conhart and Helly Hanson and even the Columbian rain jackets and these heavy duty items were cut for what we were doing. I’m from that world, but at the same time with transition to the urban clothing movement. The Karl Kani’s, Cross Colors and the red and the greens that kind of popped up. I’m still playing off both sides of that.

Unfortunately, the quality of clothing today is like the quality of music-very temporary. Most of these brands will be gone tomorrow. The clothes back then were different. You can go on EBay right now and type in: Polo Ralph Lauren and you can get so many pieces of apparel that can still be sold and some are even poppin’ up back in stores. But in Jersey we were always caught in between Philly and New York but we always got what was hot in New York. Philly is a little more like the West-side of Chicago. They were a little flashier, so you would have cats that would wear a full Mischino outfit and the 54’11’s for girls and Air Force 1’s for guys. It was always an interesting thing. It was high-end stuff but it was a little “God-de”. I think my senior year I went to Philly to shop for the prom and copped a shirt and the matching shoes- something I’ll never wear again. I thought I was fly when I did it. I’m kind of in between that, New York and Philly.

TEC: Double-O you brought up the relationship between music and fashion, how important do you think it is for emcees to have fashions sense? Do you guys think the focus has been shifted from skill to image?

Double-O: I think that style has always been a part of Hip Hop Culture. If you look at everything that was going on, you could look and identify it with a time. You could look at photos and know that was from the 80’s or 90’s through the images. You don’t even have to listen to the music. The looks defined who these people were. It kind of goes hand in hand ad it’s [fashion] always been there. I think that style has always been around. If you look at somebody like 50, 50’s style is jeans and a t-shirt. I think style always reflect the inner-person and the music.

Naledge: It’s been more about body image for 50. I think when Kanye came on the preppy sh*t everybody began to copy him. All the people who weren’t preppy all of a sudden became preppy. He was rocking his Polos and all of a sudden people were popping the collars on their Polos. It was even hood cats that were doing. Even with Pharrell with the Bathing Ape and the Ice Cream movement, now people are completely copying the look. The imagery with the music and the artist is important. We were talking about this the other day, some artist don’t look how they sound. If your style doesn’t go with your music, people aren’t going to believe you. That’s the reality. If your infatuated with materialistic stuff and you don’t look it, it’s not going to work. It’s all art and it’s all expression.

TEC: You guys travel a lot and you’ve done a European tour. Bring the readers inside your travels, what cities or states are the “must” places to go, in order to get the fly stuff?

Double-O: Paris and Tokyo is always going to be the first to break through, especially in regards to high-end apparel. Those are like the style capitals right now. London is.

TEC: Why do you think you two were choose for the section?

Double-O: My clothes exemplify my sexiness [laughs]. Nah, fa’real we come from an era where clothes have always been important and we also come from places where clothes are very important. In Chicago and in New York, its cold, so you have to figure out a way to be fresh and still be warm. You’re going to get a lot of interesting things out of that. I noticed that when I go to places that are mostly hot all the time, the style are different- it’s a lot more simplistic. I think people are forced to be creative because of their environment. I think being that we have a very diverse sound and the fact that we travel a lot.

Knowing that he’s from Chicago and I’ve spent time in Philly, New Jersey and New York and we’ve traveled overseas and we’re living in L.A, so there’s a lot of things that we offer in regards to fashion and music.

TEC: Cool. Anything you think I left out or anything you want to say?

Double-O: The album is out. Yeah the album and another thing I think I left out about Chicago is Coogi. That’s another thing I think Chicago (kinda) put on the map. Coogi sweaters and Pelle Pelle Leathers.

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