“The first album…showed our potential for greatness, but The In Crowd is our greatness coming to fruition,” says emcee Naledge, one half of the duo Kidz in the Hall, with only a hint of hubris. Such urgency to achieve success and acknowledgement of the cost of making mistakes sadly reflects the insecurity and impatience of our times. But this group’s seemingly tireless work may bear fruit. A campaign anthem for Barack Obama and a Mick Boogie mixtape full of exclusives produced promise. Even if the follow-up to their 2006 debut doesn’t deliver, the bigger question will be whether we can rise above the times to let them stick around.