The Midwest has been doing us right. From the classic Common to superegoed Kanye to geeky Lupe, the red states have grown some of the freshest developments in contemporary hip-hop.
After quickly catching fire from the Chicago celebration candles, the Cool Kids have mainstream heads doing a double take. Born from an online MySpace marriage inspired by golden-age hip-hop, ruler-sharp Mikey Rocks of Chicago and super-funky Chuck Inglish of Detroit have been pumping out swag since 2005. They’ve written a small but solid catalogue based entirely on the sorely missed hip-hop blueprint of yore ‘mdash; their debut EP, Totally Flossed Out, makes no attempt to hide it. Slyly sampling the masterpieces of legendary duo Eric B. and Rakim, ‘Pump Up the Volume’ cleverly cuts the latter’s famed lyric on ‘I Know You Got Soul,’ and ‘What It Iz’ injects a vibrant drum measure with an eight-count beat from Eric B.’s ‘I Ain’t No Joke.’
Sure, they’re up to their necks in fixies and sunglasses and everything hip, but they’ve got the swag to back it up: Beats as impeccably sparse as the Neptunes’, and with better raps to boot. Plus, the duo just released mix tape Gone Fishing (a collab with superproducer Don Cannon) as a free-and-easy download on their Web site, putting a modern spin on those block-party handouts back in the good old days. Best don your Tribe Called Quest tee, neon fitted cap and spit-shined dunks ‘mdash; then bump that dome to the best-baked rhythms on the block.
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