The Cool Kids

"What it is, what it is, come check the noise. It’s the new black version of the Beastie Boys."

Truer words have never been spoken. The Cool Kids are not going to change your life. They’re not going to illuminate some downtrodden corner of the urban jungle with socially conscious rhymes. They are, however, going to light up your sub with their stripped-down production and make you crack more than a few smiles at the sheer silliness of their demeanor.

Direct comparison to hip-hop’s original white boy phenoms may be a bit premature, and they’re not quite as clever or pop-conscious deep as The Beastie Boys, but The Cool Kids are just 20-years-old. Give them time. It’s unquestionable that they are poised to take the reins of goofy, suburbanite rap and lead it in a fresh direction.

The Cool Kids used MySpace Music and well-timed bookings at a Pitchfork festival in Chicago and an opening slot on M.I.A.'s recent US tour to gain notoriety before officially releasing a proper debut. Though The Bake Sale is ten songs, they are calling it their first EP because half the tracks have been available in one form or another since 2007. A full album is apparently due out later this year.

One thing that's apparent as soon as "What Up Man" starts in is that The Cool Kids have a sound of their own. "Did you know I made this beat with my mouth and a bell," Mikey Rocks asks in the first track. You could hear any song on this album out anywhere and know it was them. That in and of itself is tough to accomplish in such a sample-saturated genre.

They have a synthed-out, lazy, serpentine bassline sound that meshes well with their laidback flows. "What Up Man," "One Two," "Black Mags" and "A Little Bit Cooler" all use that sound as a foundation. But they deviate successfully as well, hitting hard on Mikey Rocks (best track on the album, production-wise). So simple, but so clean. "88" is a mash-up style throwback to the Run DMC-style production from that year. "What It Is" lets loose with a live drum set and an old Cypress Hill-sounding bassline.

The Cool Kids, as their name suggests, think they're cooler than you. They eat Fruity Pebbles ("How gangster is that?"), shop at boutiques ("limited quantity sneaks") and serve up ten songs of hipster-hop anyone with a sense of humor can appreciate.

—Chris Nelson
06.12.08

Despite reams of online hype and commercial anticipation, the release of the Cool Kids' debut EP still radiated sonic excitement, a blast at once sharp, funny and intimate. Here, after all, is a triumph of absolute aestheticism. The name fulfills itself, not just in that these kids do seem pretty cool (all 16-bit namedrops and shoe talk) but because musically each moment -- each immaculately chosen drum hit, each spare sci-fi sonic embellishment, each depth-charge punchline -- is precision-placed for maximum efficacy. Which is to say, though the point may be a bit moot, maximum coolness. This is a production exhibition first and foremost, and in that regard the EP's success is absolute, from the Clipse-via-Beastie Boys crush of "88" to the Fannypack bounce of "Bassment Party" to the indescribably fresh "What Up Man," which might contain the funniest idea in postmillennial hip-hop this side of Lil' Wayne's flow. The Cool Kids recast mainstream hip-hop as a medium of geeked-out self-reflexivity, which isn't a viewpoint that's been handled rewardingly since the Native Tongues' loopy, album-centric heyday. But instead of lamenting the genre's artistic erosion lyrically (like the pedantic Talib Kweli) they infuse their music with the spirit of that time and prove through example how the Golden Age sound earned its name. Still, the best part of this release isn't the sainted artists it recalls, alternately EPMD, DJ Premier, and the Bomb Squad. Like the Ramones way before them, this revivalism isn't for the nostalgic or the academic. It's for -- well, there's that name again. ~ Clayton Purdom, All Music Guide