The Cool Kids Music Videos, Pictures and Photos including Interview (Part 2), Delivery Man, Interview (Part 1), Black Mags Music Videos on Roxwel

The Cool Kids

Take two parts Lupe Fiasco, substitute his skateboard for a BMX bike, toss in a half cup of 80’s hip-hop (Rakim and Gang Starr will do fine) and add a dash of hipster-friendly electro dance music. Stir thoroughly, and you have a recipe for The Cool Kids, Chicago’s latest rap sensation. Following in the footsteps of Kanye West, Chi-Town has become something of a mecca for alternative hip-hop artists, with The Cool Kids being one of the most recent acts to experience critical acclaim with their minimalist, bass-heavy electro-inspired beats and laid-back, tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Contrary to the sort of rap you might find in Dirty South strongholds like Atlanta or Houston, The Cool Kids would rather rap about parties or bicycles than AKs or Chevrolets - Young Jeezy they ain’t. But that’s probably a good thing.

Cool Kids members Antoine "Mikey Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll both grew up in the suburbs around Chicago, eventually meeting in 2005 when Antoine contacted Evan over the internet to ask about purchasing a beat that was listed on his MySpace. What began as a quick meeting at Evan’s house to discuss the sale of the beat turned into an all-day recording session when the duo began rapping together over the myriad homebrew beats stored on Evan’s computer. They soon decided to form a hip-hop group, calling themselves The Cool Kids because they thought it didn’t sound like a rap group, thinking "The Cool Kids" could just as well be the name of a rock band or an indie dance duo - making it easier for them to book gigs at a variety of spots locally and not get pigeonholed as just another guns-and-drugs rap act.

Antoine and Evan began to make a name for themselves in the Chicago hip-hop scene, even receiving attention from Pitchfork Media (a major music website with a great deal of influence among indie music fans) despite the fact their only recorded material available at the time was the tracks they had available for free on their MySpace. After making their major-festival debut at the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival in July 2007 The Cool Kids became a hot commodity outside of Chicago, touring with Sri Lankan hip-hop sensation M.I.A. and making a number of appearances on the 2008 Rock The Bells tour alongside acts like Nas and Mos Def.