Talkin' to the Cool Kids

By Connor Hayes     1/27/11 6:00pm

The Warehouse Live's packed house erupted at the first 808 beat as Chicago-based rap duo The Cool Kids hit the stage last Sunday on the last stop of their "Road to the H-Town Sneaker Summit" tour. While some people reserve their day of rest to worship in a more traditional sense, these fans were taken to church and rap-baptized by two 20-something indie rappers in a crowded nightclub, which is no small feat in a city that holds its hip-hop holier than most.The Cool Kids sport a style that seems to meld the braggadocio, clever lyricism of the east coast ("I'm the new cat diggin' in cans in the alleyway/Fuck Simon - you should do what Mikey say,") with the thick, syrupy bass of the South. They've carved out a niche with young fans who appreciate metaphors over melodies and subs over samples. The group played a combination of tracks from their 2008 EP The Bake Sale, their digital-release mixtapes and their long anticipated upcoming LP, to be released through a promotional deal with PepsiCo.

The group's onstage presence was top notch, as they frequently played to the hearts of the Houston crowd. Chuck Inglish, sporting a throwback Warren Moon Houston Oilers jersey, even switched up the set list to take requests from fans. While some rappers rely on vocal backtracks to re-produce their studio sound in a live setting, The Cool Kids were each others' support.

While the group's new material was well received, fans responded overwhelmingly to classic tracks like "Black Mags" and "Gold and a Pager." With rhymes that brag about the simplest things ("Look at this dude and the way he floss/I walk my dog and everybody applauds,") a strong studio record could make their lives, and their lyrics, much more complicated.

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Before the show and after a lot of waiting, a little bit of drinking and a few mediocre opening acts, I stepped backstage to ask the group, comprised of Inglish and Mikey Rocks, about their tour, their record label struggles and their Houston fan base.

"This is the last pre-album line of shows we got before we drop this record," Mikey explained. "It's coming in a few weeks, and it's a good time for us to test out a lot of new material on some of our more packed crowds. All the response has been dope; everybody has been going real hard with the new stuff."

When asked about their highly anticipated full-length album, rumored to have been set for release in 2008 but eventually delayed due to label issues, Chuck told me that they were teaming up with PepsiCo. in a promotional deal instead of going through a label.

"It's a new way of doing stuff - record labels suck, man."

He described this new deal with Pepsi as having endless possibilities and being better for fans.

"We want to be able to sell our fans stuff that they actually like. Why actually give it to others to sell when we can work hard and sell it ourselves?"

With rumors swirling about what acts might headline the KTRU Outdoor Show this spring, now a collaboration with the Rice Program Council, The Cool Kids' name has come up as a possible headliner along with other indie bands such as Brooklyn-based Sleigh Bells. I asked Chuck and Mikey if the rumors were true.

"We don't know anything about that until it's finalized, but we do a lot of college shows," recalled Mikey. "Big schools, small schools - we've done all sorts of colleges. Texas shows us a lot of love. Houston is one of our better cities, man."

Chuck agreed that college shows were some of his favorite to play.

"I love doing [shows at] colleges and performing and meeting kids at school. Whatever kids like in college is what they end up liking for the rest of their life. Kids are put on to a lot of music in college."

When I asked Baker College junior Austin Williams, a member of the KTRU board of directors who will be organizing the Outdoor Show, about KTRU's plans for the concert, he expressed optimism over the collaborative effort.

"KTRU is about introducing students to new music and being educational," Williams said. "With the addition of RPC, not only can we acquire an act that will draw Rice students, but also we can bring in other acts to 'keep things KTRU.'" Ultimately, he explained, the choice of a headliner would come down to an RPC decision.

While The Cool Kids aren't exactly as "KTRU" as other more up-and-coming acts, they have an indie attitude as well as some mainstream appeal - an equation that just might add up to Outdoor Show success.

Hearing Chuck and Mikey express interest in playing a show at Rice this spring just before going on stage almost tainted my experience of their live set. While other fans sang along and danced in rap euphoria, I was subjected to violent visions of the Ghost of Concerts Past. I saw a lifeless and empty Grand Hall filled with freshmen tweaking on Four Loko to the hardly relevant, highly overpaid DJ Earworm. I saw an outdoor concert in broad daylight where the decibel level of Ben Kweller's acoustic whining was on par with a recorded castration of Dashboard Confessional's lead singer.

I snapped back into reality and watched The Cool Kids trade rhymes, engage with the crowd and knock the subwoofers so hard with their morbidly obese bass lines that I think I saw an amp get carried out on a stretcher. This was how a rap show was supposed to be.

Castrato melodrama aside, the Cool Kids proved last Sunday that they can back up their boastful rhymes with a solid live show and a down-to-earth attitude that is increasingly unheard of in today's rap game. I can only hope that we'll be seeing them rock the stage at Rice later this spring.

Connor Hayes is a Baker College senior and Thresher Backpage editor.

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