Naming your rap group “The Cool Kids” is a bold move,
without a doubt. First off, it doesn’t sound like the name of a rap group. It
almost seems like an ironic gesture, immediately calling to mind pathetic,
whiny, androgynously tight-pantsed hipster rock, or some shit like that. Thing
is, these Cool Kids mean it — they are cool, and they are acutely aware of what
it means to be cool. To them, it’s both a blessing and a burden.
“A Little Bit Cooler,” from their new Totally Flossed Out
EP, is practically an essay about what it means to be cool. “I’m about to say
‘Screw it’/ And grow a jheri curl/ Wear a diaper like cupid or/ Something else
stupid and/ See if people do it,” Mikey Rocks explains. “If they do then that
proves it/ People are just losers/ And they’ll do anything if someone cool do
it/ But they won’t do it first/ So I guess they not cool.”
One would usually expect to hear such cynical thoughts on
being cool from a loser, but that certainly isn’t the case with Mikey Rocks and
Chuck Ing;lish. In fact, they’re cool as fuck. Not only can they rap, they can
dress (what more could you ask for?) and then rap about how they dress — which
is, for the most part, like it’s anywhere between 1988 and 1993.
Vintage Starter jackets and hats aren’t the only way the
Cool Kids are bringing the ’80s back. They also handle their own production,
and only rap over stripped-down, 808-heavy beats reminiscent of Rick Rubin on
old Run-DMC or Beastie Boys albums. They help us remember a rap world with no
Scott Storch, no Timbaland and sure as hell no motherfucking Pharrell — because
believe it or not, back then, rappers either handled their own production or
had an in-house DJ, without a bunch of superstar producers on call for an
instant hit. As a result, some old-school mainstreamers actually managed to
have a sound of their own.
This homemade constant is the Cool Kids’ saving grace,
rescuing them from becoming just another pair of hipster-hoppers, or worse —
dare I say — gimmick rappers. They love what they do, and are all the cooler
for it.
The Cool Kids perform live with M.I.A. on Nov. 11 at Canes
Bar & Grill in Mission Beach.
