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BIOGRAPHY: KIDD KIDD Sometimes it feels like rappers care more about the clubs than the streets. Kidd Kidd ain’t having it. As rugged and resilient as his hometown, New Orleans, Kidd Kidd knows that hip-hop without the real, isn’t real hip-hop. That determination fires up “All On Me,” Kidd Kidd’s first mixtape on G-Unit Records. Released in advance of his full-length debut, “All On Me,” is the soundtrack to the streets, Kidd knows perhaps too well. “When it comes to New Orleans, what do people really know besides Mardi Gras, Lil Wayne, the French Quarter and Master P? Nobody really knows how corrupt it is. How real it is. But what’s so crazy, is that the city is so grimy and crazy but we love it. I’ve been shot, I’ve seen friends killed, but I’m still there. I can’t get away from it and I don’t know why.” The blistering “From Out the N.O”. is a tour of that “other” New Orleans. “These days everybody is talking about the same thing but everybody is not the same person. Everybody didn’t experience what I have and I’m just pointing it out. Like, I’m the best killer with the flow when it comes to New Orleans. Ain’t nobody can do it like me because I’m in the N.O. Ask people and they’ll tell you. Equally unflinching is “New Warleans”, with lines like “you thought Katrina was the worst thing that happened to us? You thought that FEMA money was enough? But we gotta get it by all means. Trying to survive in the city of New Warleans.” “It’s like a constant war out here. New Orleans is such a small community. You know you could do something in Brooklyn and never find out about it in Queens but down here everybody is connected.” Another highlight is “No Will Smith. “Laced with a rolling, bumping groove, “No Will Smith,” is Kidd esta- blishing who he is by letting folks know who he isn’t. “I’m comparing myself to everybody else in the game and telling them they wanna listen to me. Like I say, “I wanted to rap like Jay-Z, but I was broke! I wasn’t intelligent to have that Nas flow. I tell ‘em I’m no Will Smith. I’m just a real ni**a rapping some real sh”t. I’m letting people know don’t expect too much commercial outta me.”Formerly known as Nutt Da Kidd, Kidd Kidd made his bones in 2002 as a member of Sqad Up, a New Orleans based crew formed and featuring Lil Wayne. “I met Wayne, I spit live on the spot and he hooked me up.” Sqad Up toured the South and distributed their explosive mixtapes but the group and Wayne split in ‘05. Kidd kept grinding and dropped several mixtapes. It was around this time that Wayne and Kidd rebooted their relationship. Kidd joined Weezy on the road and they recorded a handful of hugely popular mixtapes. But Kidd and Wayne soon parted company. Rumors swirled as to what really went down; and Kidd addresses them on the dramatic “Confessions.” “A lot of people are saying, ‘oh well Kidd’s mad that he’s not with Wayne anymore. This song is about what really went down. We had our differences and I chose to go my own way. Everything is cool.” In May 2011 Kidd released The Reallionaire. The buzz record, “Better Walk,” sampled 50 Cent and shortly after hearing it 50 reached out to Kidd in hopes of working together. As luck would have it, 50 was about to start shooting a film in NO and assumed that he and Kidd would have the chance to meet but ironically Kidd was in Queens –a few blocks from 50’s old hood. After straightening out the logistics, Kidd and 50 met and immediately started laying down tracks with 50, even going so far as to bring a mobile recording studio to the film set. Asked to explain the chemistry and Kidd offers, “50’s a real individual and a true artist and I think he heard that in me. He doesn’t want me to water things down. A lot of people wanna change you and I’m not for that.” After 50 left NO, Kidd planned to do some recording in Atlanta but at the last minute decided to stay home to attend a family function. While standing in his mother’s driveway preparing to leave, Kidd was ambushed by two gunmen. 32 shots were fired with 6 striking Kidd in the leg and abdomen. After five days and a grueling all night surgery, Kidd was released. While home recuperating 50 who had phoned Kidd in the hospital- asked if he was able to fly to Atlanta to get on Tony Yayo’s “Haters,” as well as film the video. Still in pain but determined to seize the opportunity Kidd flew out that next morning. “No matter what anybody wants to say about 50, “Kidd says, “at the end of the day for him to fuck with someone like me? It’s a risk.” There are a lot of rappers who will tell you what you want to hear, but very few who speak the truth. “I just want people to realize there’s still good music that’s out there, I’m trying to come from nothing to something and seen people try and fail. So that’s what’s inspired me to keep going. I gotta be that dude who knows what’s going on out here.” “It’s like a constant war out here. New Orleans is such a small community. You know you could do something in Brooklyn and never find out about it in Queens but down here everybody is connected.”