Free is the new $9.99. In the past, a free album giveaway from an artist raised red flags, implying substandard material unworthy of the Sam Goody. But in 2009, with mixtapes, Rapidshare and downloadable singles threatening to kill albums, giving away a full-length under the auspices of name recognition is a good strategy. The key is, can you deliver the goods to turn heads? On Kid Daytona’s Come Fly With Me, the answer is an emphatic yes. Combining modern sounding beats with a never-ending flow of punchlines, he’s made a project that’s certain to satisfy his fans and win over new ones.

What’s most impressive about Come Fly With Me is its consistency; there’s nary a weak track to be found over the album’s 14 cuts. Kid Daytona proves himself to be fully adept at the varying styles of backpack infused pop-rap. Read the rest of this entry »

To prepare you for takeoff, he gassed up the jet and gave you The Daytona 500 EP. Now, The Kid Daytona’s in full flight with his debut  [free] album Come Fly With Me. Daytona’s debonair dispositions are reinforced with appearances from Mickey Factz, Kardinal Offishall, Amanda Diva and Outasight and boardwork by the likes of Double O, Cook Classics and surprisingly 6th Sense. Consider yourself lucky when a project like this costs you nothing but hard drive space.

To the skies! Read the rest of this entry »

Making a name in the Hip-Hop industry nowadays is not an easy task. Everywhere you turn a new rapper is popping up with another mixtape or weekly song series that they swear is original when they are really just following in Crooked I’s footsteps. The Kid Daytona however, decided that his initial statement to the rap audience was going to be through a creatively thought out EP –The Daytona 500 EP — that would succinctly showcase his talents as a wordsmith. Read the rest of this entry »

Ladies and gentleman, it’s time to start your engines. As witnessed in your flight instructional video, The Kid Daytona is gearing up to fly sky high with his prequel EP to his upcoming album Come Fly With Me. With Mick Boogie as co-pilot and the entire Notherground family meeting up at the rendezvous point, expect The Daytona 500 to coast as smooth as the “Nautilus” sample.

Hit the break for the itinerary. Read the rest of this entry »

Gearing up for his debut LP Come Fly With Me in June, The Kid Daytona is dropping an EP entitled The Daytona 500 on 5.5.09.  I know we all need another mixtape like some of us around here needs another pair of shoes, but the devil’s in the details.

I’ll give you chance to peep the vid before going on. Read the rest of this entry »

Naledge wins.

Dare I say that this even trumps the John Gotti mugshot and any mugshot I’ve seen in very, very long while, for that matter? Read the rest of this entry »

Since they came into the game, Kidz In The Hall (comprised of Naledge and Double-O) have been working nonstop to make their way to the top without sacrificing their integrity. With their debut, School Was My Hustle, they crept into our collective consciousness & grabbed our attention. Once they got our ears, they’ve made every effort to keep a firm grasp – “Work To Do” got play on Barack Obama’s website, while their digital-only Detention mixtape with Mick Boogie spread across the internet like wildfire. And their latest video “Driving Down The Block” is currently marching & stomping up MTV’s TRL charts.

What’s left for them to do?

Drop another album and keep it movin’. They’re definitely making their way into The In Crowd. Read as they tell TSS Crew’s MZ how it all happened.

Double O: Yo M.Z. what up? It’s Double O.

TSS: Hey man, what’s going on?

Double O: I’m chillin, I’m chillin. I got Naledge here; had to wait a couple seconds on him. Got him though so we ready to do this if you’re ready to do this.

TSS: Yeah we ready right now.

Double O: Cool.

TSS: So how’s the day been going for ya’ll, with the album release & everything?

Double O: It’s been going cool. We did some stuff at MTV News and J&R Music World, which is a big store downtown. They really prepared it well and had a big stock of the album ready. So it was dope.

TSS: Ok, so outside of TV & everything like that, what other promotion do you have planned for the album? You gonna be doing any touring soon?

Double O: Yeah, we start the Paid Dues Tour at the beginning of June and then we go to Europe. When we get back we’ll be going on the Rock The Bells Tour for the rest of the summer after that.

TSS: Sounds like you guys got it pretty much laid out then.

Double O: Yeah, everything is pretty much laid out ‘til the end of the summer, then we’ll figure some more stuff out.

TSS: Ok, so are you gonna do anymore recording? Or will you just focus on the album & promoting that?

Double O: I mean we’re always recording; we actually just started on some stuff yesterday. It’s one of those things where that’s always happening,

Naledge: You just fit it in. Fit it in where you can

TSS: So get in where you fit in, huh?

Double O: Yep.

TSS: Alright, basically the biggest question is a couple years ago nobody really knew who you were. You put one album out & now you’re here on MTV. How much work did you have to put in to get that?

Double O: I mean we’ve just been going at this a 100%. Since before we had the first album out, you just gotta keep working at it & working at it. We’ve definitely been at the same pace for two years; it’s just one of those things that finally just started to pay off.

Naledge: Man I think it’s got a lot to do with timing. This is the right record for the right time, you know what I mean? We’ve had a little bit of a following & a little bit of a buzz, but at this point in time it’s only escalating. Some people regress, we always progress; that’s the main thing with us. This record (“Driving Down The Block”) came at the perfect time for us & it made it easier to leverage some relationships. We already had relationships at MTV & a lot of other places, a lot of DJ’s already liked us. But sometimes it’s just a matter of giving them something to work with.

TSS: So you guys are happy with that as your single choice?

Double O: Oh definitely. We’re happy with it, we made the choice. It’s not like anyone made the single choice for us, we do what we want to do. So definitely.

TSS: So did you guys come up with the video concept too?

Double O: The video concept was something that the director had initially put together, so it was one of those things that we fit very naturally into. So it came together pretty easily.

TSS: Yeah cause I really like that. Especially the outtakes that you did with the other cars you were selling, the Raphael character & everything.

Double O: Yeah, a lot of the Leon & Raphael things was just us taking really taking on the roles of what we were gonna do. I mean if your gonna do it, you might as well do it 100% you know?

TSS: Yeah I feel that. Because it gives a little more as to who you are as people. I mean a lot of people don’t really know too much about you outside of going to Penn & doing the music thing. So I think that was a really good look for you in that sense.

Double O: Oh it definitely was cool.

TSS: I noticed that on this album you had a lot of guest spots & guest artists on this album. Was that something that you tried to do or was it a natural progression while you were recording the album?

Read the rest of this entry »