Kidz In The Hall present…And I’m The DJ!

Jersey in the building!!! Big up to all the Belizean massive....I don't rap so I don't always have the opportunity to represent my state, but I definitely haven't forgotten ya'll.

Now some of you may have seen the "Making Of Show Me What You Got" on youtube. Yes that was me getting light saber'd by Just Blaze. And while some of you may have known of the controversey surrounding "Show Me What You Got," others probably saw the video not knowing the backstory. So I'll give you guys a little insight.

There is a song on our album, "Don't Stop," that uses the same sample as "Show Me What You Got." This was the first beat playing in the video and you can here the song here:

Kidz In The Hall "Don't Stop" (2006)

from School Was My Hustle, in stores now.

So when the Jay-Z single dropped, people assumed that because Just and I are cool he must have heard mine and jacked me for the beat. We decided to poke fun at the situation to show that it wasn't much more than a coincidence and that there was no bad blood between the two camps. To be honest I think both songs are dope and can stand individually. (Then of course Puff had to go and jack both of us..lol...just playing)

But seriously 3 songs with the same sample was some coincidence. Add to that the new Nas single where will.i.am re-worked "Theif's Theme" from 2003 and you have an ill case of sample deja vu. So are people running out of samples? I don't think so...there are at least 50-100 chopped samples I have yet to touch on my hard drive and I assume most aren't the same 50 another producer has.

What I do think though was that the "Shaft In Africa" beats and the "Theif's Theme" flip are statements about the current state of hip-hop. It was almost as if subliminaly, people needed more diversity in their production and they found that "Hip-Hop" feeling in a 4 bar chop. This moment is bigger than 'who jacked who' - it's 'why we need it now'.

Now, hip-hop is at a point where we must look back again on the whole genre and decide where we want to go from here. This isn't just music this is a culture, generations deep. It is intertwined in our everyday lives. The fans/participants have always decided what we want out of it, but in the culture's journey to prominence, corporations have begun to dictate our expression. To a certain extent, we allow them to do so because we are often close-minded or afraid of change or just lazy. Hip-hop has to evolve and you must be open minded to keep from stifling it's progress. The South, East, West Coast, Midwest and the world for that matter can ALL win because this is the people's music. If we create boundaries for ourselves THEY will enforce it.

4 bars MADE Hip Hop and it seems now 4 bars must save it. So flip it, dissect it, rework it, re-interpret it as long as it defines YOU it's Hip Hop....

This is Double-0, 1/2 of the Kidz In The Hall.. the Evolution is here...