Here’s a little something special from the U.K. to the U.S…

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Not even The Cool Kids themselves could keep the temperature down as TC & I (TC: Yessir!) ventured down to Cincinnati, Ohio to catch them perform @ Cue last Thursday. The small bar/performance space was set up like many of other underground spots I’ve been to, but had an original decorating ploy: Shoes. All across the bar, shoes were hanging from the ceiling like they do over telephone lines in the hood. Not any old shoes either; we spotted SB’s, Quickstrike Dunks & even a pair of black Jordan III’s hanging from the ceiling (Hi my name is MZ and I’m a sneakerhead.) We spent a good hour or so scheming on ways to get them down and checking the score of Game 1 of the NBA Finals while waiting for things to get started. Seeing as how we had seen the main act over an hour before the first opening act came on, I can only assume the promoter was stalling to cram as many people as possible in the door. (TC: So typical)

Columbus, Ohio’s Fly.Union kicked things off with songs from their album Kill Fly.U. The crowd appeared fairly familiar with the group’s material and was engaged throughout their set. They received the biggest response when they freestyled over “A Milli” and Kidz In The Hall’s “Driving Down The Block.” The floor and walls literally shook as the beats pulsated out the speakers. They closed out their set with their single “Fitted,” an ode to hats and staying fresh.

Hometown hero Buggs Tha Rocka took the stage next with his eight man entourage in tow. Everyone on stage had a microphone with the exception for this guy who was a dead ringer for Saigon (TC: Don’t cha baby, Don’t cha baby!!!) and danced all over the stage. With so many people speaking into the mic, all I can say is that he had a good ear for beats as he rapped over “Doin It,” “Boom,” “Get Money,” and “Paid In Full.” (TC: All I could think of was Common’s “Start The Show”—”With 12 monkeys on stage/it’s hard to see who’s the gorilla/you was better as a drug dealer…yeah that part.)

After a brief intermission, The Cool Kids finally took the stage to the excitement of the crowd. As the duo opened their set, Mikey Rocks was the only one appropriately dressed in a tank top and shorts, (TC: Chuck yo ass was melting up there!!!) as the crowd had been drenched in sweat too long to even care anymore. Kicking things off with Read the rest of this entry »

Words By Jason Hortillas

You don’t want to like The Cool Kids – but you do. The tight pants. The loud ass T-shirts. The songs about bicycles. You just can’t get down with all that – but you do. These Chicago kids have become the quintessential guilty pleasure from Hip-Hop’s freshmen class.

Hearing “Black Mags” for the first time last fall, all I could initially comprehend was bass. Hearing the thump, my head began to slowly nod, with its pace increasing in speed until I caught up to the BPM. You could actually catch me saying “waddup,” quoting Mikey Rocks while walking with my iPod in hand. Let’s just say I got “got.”

Fast forward to May 2008. The Bake Sale (Chocolate Industries) is the group’s first official release after almost a year of pushing their product via Read the rest of this entry »