Image by Laura Leebove
The Cool Kids ride the New York heatwave
June 7, 2008, at Knitting Factory
By Laura Leebove
Published: June 8th, 2008 | 8:15pm
It can't be easy to play an outdoor show on a day that's 90-plus degrees, then hop on a train for a couple of hours and do another one, but in a packed, sweaty club. But the Cool Kids — who performed during the day at the Roots Picnic in Philly, then booked it to NYC's Knitting Factory — pulled it off without complaint.
The hip-hop duo of Mikey Rocks (real name Antoine Reed) and Chuck Inglish (Evan Ingersoll) got the sweaty crowd — and themselves — even sweatier as they busted out nearly all of their long-awaited and much-delayed EP, The Bake Sale (Chocolate Industries). The 10-track record was just released on iTunes June 3 (in stores June 10), but since most of the songs have been floating around the Internet for what seems like forever, fans were already rapping along.
After their DJ got the crowd going by shouting, "When I say 'Cool,' y'all say 'Kids,'" Mikey and Chuck opened with "What Up Man," the opener from The Bake Sale. In "What Up Man," the duo raps about waking up late, buying the last treat from the ice cream truck, and being fly, and the beats behind the lyrics are made by using the words "clap," "tick" and "bass."
Most of the tracks were on par with the recordings, but the live show brought new life to "88" — an ode to the '80s — with a different set of beats and a fuller, horn-infused track behind the chorus. Then, before "Jingling," the guys requested help from the audience and asked them to shake their keys and chains to add to the clinks and jingles on the album. Chuck declared that it was "officially hotter than shit in here," and then he and Mikey — always with towels in hand to wipe their sweat — made a bet to see if they could make it 10 degrees hotter, which proved to be an easy task.
Though in their lyrics the Cool Kids seem to be more concerned about sneakers than politics, talk of Obama's recent victory still made its way into the show, prompted by opener Mickey Factz's T-shirt, which had Andy Warhol–esque tiles of Obama's face. "Make sure you get out and vote, 'cause shit's fucked up," Mikey said as the crowd erupted in cheers. But after a few aggressive shouts of "Fuck the G.O.P.!" Mikey and Chuck said they didn't want to get too political. "We ain't tellin' you what to do, but you can't say shit unless you get out there and vote," Chuck said.
The Kids performed a couple of songs with Factz, then upped the energy with the ultimate summer party hit, "Bassment Party," in which Mikey and Chuck say they're the coolest kids they know, and the arms waving in the air hinted that the rappers might be the coolest kids their fans know, too. The pair treated the crowd to a new track and said goodbye as the sweaty mob of showgoers funneled outside.
No encore? Nah, they're cooler than that.
Issue #35
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