Review by KING JAFFE JOFFER

They say what’s old always comes back around & becomes new again. The sound and style of late 80’s/early 90’s hip-hop is back on the rise. Enter the Cool Kids: The Starter jacket-clad, Chicago-based duo consisting of 23-year-old Chuck Inglish and 19-year-old Mikey Rocks. In just a couple years the Chicago natives have become underground darlings because of the originality of their sparse beats and cereal loving rhymes, topped off with a fresh-to-death fashion sense. So when I heard they were performing in Cincinnati at CUE nightclub, I had to make that drive. The club was decked out with exclusive nike dunks and air jordan’s hanging from the ceilings, matching the sneaks on the mostly hipster crowd.

DJ Clockwork of SKFO kept the crowd hyped. Columbus’s own Fly. Union opened the show and definitely made some new fans. Performing “Dumb Down” from the first album Kill Fly.U and new tracks “Fitted”, “Hate the 5-0,” and “True Dat”. The club was insanely hot, but they still had the crowd jumping. Cincinnati local artist Buggs Tha Rocka, the self-proclaimed hip-hop super hero showed he had hometown love. Laying his verses over classic instrumentals “Paid In Full” and “Can I Kick It” and his song “The Arcade”.

When The Cool Kids hit the stage I knew this wasn’t going to be the iced-out money mongering that ushered a new school of rap into forefront, just two MC’s and a DJ. Coming out to the screwed vocals, boom-pat kicks, and mixture of spoken and keyboard breaks on “What Up Man”, they making going to the grocery store and ice cream trucks sound cool. Performing most of the tracks off The Bake Sale EP, the Cool Kids’ live set stays faithful to the roots of hip-hop with call-and-response chants, skeletal, bass-heavy beats and fluid two-man interplay. Performing cuts such as “I (Mikey) Rock,” with its fuzzy, 808 vintage, and their ode to BMX bikes, “Black Mags,” my personal favorite. Takes me back to riding through Brooklyn on my kitted out mongoose bike.

Chuck, Mickey, and most of the crowd aren’t old enough to remember the 80’s, but they still had the crowd rapping along and dancing to (Do the smurf, Do the wop, Baseball bat Rooftop, like I’m bringing ‘88 back) the catchy hook on “88″. In between songs, Chuck and Mickey clowned with the crowd on how hot the club was and showed Cincinnati’s own DJ Hi-Tek some love playing “Re-Definition” and “The Blast”. From “Cooler Than That Guy” to “Gold & A Pager” the energy never died down. The Cool Kids have managed to put fresh packaging on an old sound, pairing goofy punch-line raps to slow steady flows, and beats.

It was a dope show from front to back; it was nice seeing new artists that were actually doing something new and different. So if you want to take a break from the mainstream scene, check for artists like The Cool Kids and Fly Union.

EXTRA, EXTRA

Cool Kids - “Unos” [LISTEN & DOWNLOAD HERE]

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