Weekly Release Spotlight: The Cool Kids
Posted on 7/06/2008
The Cool Kids
The Bake Sale [EP]
[Chocolate Industries]
Reflexively, The Cool Kids' minimalist beat programming combined with laid-back lyrical references to pagers, Spike Lee, and "bringing '88 back" suggest their style to be a throwback to old school hip hop. In reality, new school idols like LL Cool J and Run-D.M.C. dominated the late 80s, which also brought about mass popularization of beepers and the masterpiece Do the Right Thing. Add in the fact that both emcees/producers Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish were infants becoming toddlers during this time period (along with the majority of their fans and Radio K staff) and chronologically confusing postmodernism officially usurps "remember the good old days?" - the more common impetus for going retro on record. You can't really think back fondly on the old school days when it turns out those days were actually part of the new school. Oh and The Count was still teaching you how to get to 10.
Clearly the Chicago duo didn't start churning out their inspired and carefree brand of hip hop because they grew up with the acts their music recalls and in actuality, it's almost definitely for the better. With an influx in womanizing and money-obsessed hip hop running rampant in the mainstream scene throughout the 90s and 00s, Rocks and Inglish deserve credit for mining through a time in the genre they did not absorb firsthand but appreciate and understand just as well as anyone who actually remember Flavor Flav as someone not associated with a second-rate cable channel. Hip hop enthusiasts and pessimists alike have taken adequate notice of their true talent as well, because while The Bake Sale is their long anticipated debut release, both bloggers and publication powerhouses like Spin have been going nutso over tracks like "Black Mags" and "88" since spring of 2007.
Besides the homage bit, their eventual takeover of the genre should also be largely attributed to the sharpness of The Cool Kids' lyrical and musical cleverness. Within the album's first minute, on "What Up Man," they both construct a modest yet maniacal beat by only saying "tick bass tick tick clack" underneath the line, "the chicken I was eatin' with the mashed potatoes need a little bit of gold / oops wrong song lyric man / a little bit of pepper." Fitting in vividly and comically with the rap style they aim to bring back to the forefront of music, Rocks and Inglish never go too far overboard with their quirkiness (it peaks on the wacky "Bassment Party") nor get too proud (the closest they come is the half-ironic "Mikey Rocks"). Because The Cool Kids are covering an era in hip hop with the technology and self-awareness available and cherished in 2008, they end up not just recontextualizing music from the past, but creating a new sound for future.
Stream: The Cool Kids - 88
Written by Chris Polley, Radio K volunteer and host of Now Like Photographs.