Kidz in the Hall

'Land of Make Believe'

Backpack rap's brightest pupils lose their gleam.

Spin Rating5 of 10

Only two years after their breakthrough 2008 album The In Crowd (and single "Drivin' Down the Block"), Chicago hip-hop duo Kidz in the Hall seem torn, celebrating guilty pleasures ("Bougie Girls") and wondering, "Do you ever feel alone in a room full of people?" But save a few deft meditations on the stresses of blog-rap fame ("Flickin'," "L_O_V_E"), rapper Naledge and producer Double-O also sound uninspired, squandering their boyish Ivy League enthusiasm on clichéd odes to nightclub decadence.

By Mosi Reeves

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2 Lana Del Rey 'Born to Die'
3 Cloud Nothings 'Attack on Memory'
4 Kathleen Edwards 'Voyageur'
5 Himanshu 'Nehru Jackets'
6 The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'
7 Of Montreal 'Paralytic Stalks'
8 Leonard Cohen 'Old Ideas'
9 Imperial Teen 'Feel the Sound'
10 Skrillex 'Bangarang'

1 Cloud Nothings 'Attack on Memory'
2 Cloud Nothings 'Attack on Memory'
3 Kathleen Edwards 'Voyageur'
4 The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'
5 The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'
6 Leonard Cohen 'Old Ideas'
7 Escort 'Escort'
8 Escort 'Escort'
9 Escort 'Escort'
10 Himanshu 'Nehru Jackets'

Kidz in the Hall

'Land of Make Believe'

The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'

Of Montreal 'Paralytic Stalks'

Van Halen 'A Different Kind of Truth'

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