DX: Your song “Work to Do” was chosen as the theme song to Barack Obama’s campaign.
Double-O: It’s just a great thing. A lot of the time we make these records as passing thoughts, and they become these huge things. We made the original version of “Work to Do” probably about a month and a half after School Was My Hustle first came out. It was still very early in terms of the Obama campaign, but the more we listened to it and the bigger we made the record, in terms of the choir and bringing in my man Robin and having him replay some stuff, it felt like it could represent something more. Naledge has always been behind Barack since there was a possibility that he was going to run, so once that became official, we ended up doing a version for him. Luckily, there were people connected to the campaign that we know and we were able to get it around there. That was another situation where they were sort of hesitant to pull the trigger, but as soon as we put it out and we did what we did in terms of the Internet with it in a matter of 24 hours, they hit us back like, “Boom, let’s go. We see what you guys do.” Like I said, it’s one thing to make a record; it’s another what you do with it.

DX: Have you guys had a chance to meet Obama?
Double-O: Not as of yet. I think Obama likes gangsta rap. He might not really like us. He’s a big N.W.A. fan; him and Oprah, they Crip-walk to N.W.A.
Naledge: [Oprah’s best friend] Gayle be in the club, I’m sure Oprah be in there with her every now and then.
Double-O: [sings] "Shot of Patron and I’m gone!"

DX: This time around, your Ivy League background isn’t as big of a plot in your marketing scheme. Was that a conscious decision, or just the way things worked out?
Naledge: I didn’t really go to school. I dropped out of high school, I was a joke. It was something we made up for the sake of the media. I didn’t really go to school. Eighth grade.
Double-O: I’m actually 43 years old. I’ve been to jail for about 15 years, and I came out and decided I could just make some shit up because I still got a baby face. The baby face didn’t work well for me on the inside, but on the outside, I’m good.Nah, the Ivy League was where we came from on our first album. We haven’t been to school now in a number of years. You can’t still rely on school. The records we were making were in school and fresh out of school. The first mixtape that we made that started getting buzz was two months after Naledge graduated in ’04. I was running track that whole time too, so even though I wasn’t in school, I was still in school mode. I was at school every day training. I dealt with all kinds of students. That was our mindset. Now we’ve been on the road, been in Europe. I basically lived in Europe for half a year. We are coming from a different standpoint now. And I’m smart; I don’t need to tell you I’m a genius, you hear it when I talk. [Laughs] It’s apparent. We came from school, we did what we did, we put this album out, and now we’re putting out the new album. We don’t need to go back and rehash the same thing.
Naledge: There’s also a lot of dumb mothafuckas with degrees too, though. You can be smart, and it doesn’t always tie in to having a degree. At the same time, going to school don’t make you a goody-goody either. I know a lot of whores that are in college right now, and a lot of man whores that are in colleges right now.
Double-O: I’m hoping to reach some more whores when we go on our college tour.
Naledge: And if you go to the club right now, a top-level club and you surveyed the entire crowd, I wouldn’t trip to say that four out of five people attended some type of college, or junior college or university. And they might be acting like idiots. So I think people need to get that whole school out of their mind, because we’re just individual people and that’s it. We come from where we come from, and that’s the moon.

DX: Sonically and lyrically, the new album seems a lot more accessible than your last one.
Double-O: We just got better. You get better every time you sit down to do your craft. Every shot that you make is better than the last shot you made while you’re practicing playing basketball. That’s kind of how we look at all this stuff. So for us, if you follow progression—which most people won’t, so we tell them—go download Detention, Naledge of Power, Geniuses Need Love. You hear the progression, you hear the songs getting better and getting better until we get to this point where we put this album out, and it’s kind of hot.
Naledge: It’s like buckets of fried chicken. And everybody loves chicken.
Double-O: We make fried chicken for the people. Our album is fried chicken and natural lamb condoms. And trees, all night. With Sportscenter on. With strippers that take paper instead of real money. All in one room, and it’s only you and the black light. That’s what we like to do, William.
Naledge: That’s why you should buy the album alone. We’re cool people to hang around. Who cares if you make decent music? If you’re a loser, you’re still a loser.
Double-O: This album is an experience of hanging out with Kidz In The Hall. You get the album, you also go to the corner store and get a square bottle of Patron, if not some Don Julio, if not some plastic bottle vodka, or Andre. Turn the lights down low, press play, sit in the dorm room, invite some people over, and ya know, do what you do. Hopefully, it’ll end up in an orgy. That’s really all that we want. This is how I knew this is what our place was. My homeboy calls me. School Is My Hustle is in stores, he goes to Best Buy. His name is in the “Thank you’s.” He buys the album, opens it up immediately, and he’s like, “Awww shit!” There was a girl there, apparently in the Hip Hop aisle too. So he’s like, “This is my boy, look, my name is in here.” Did he get her phone number? Yes he did! Did he have sex with her? Yes he did! That’s what we do. We’re that last song at the end of the night that you get a phone number for. When I play that last song when I’m deejaying and I give you an extra five minutes to get that girl’s phone number, because you were talking about some other shit the whole time? We provide that gift for the world. Continued on page 3 »