Music Review

This is a CD review I wrote recently for Ion Magazine, before I had to shorten it for their liking.

"The Cool Kids" - Bake Sale EP

Brain teaser: What's the only negative outcome of mixing retro-cool content, sardonic lyrics, and crisp beats into a short thirty minute EP? Answer: An album primer that convinces fully grown men in beat up sedans to start flossin' during morning traffic hour. With an opening track soaked with a well-deserved swagger accompanied by a self-produced beat worthy of carrying a whole album on its own (although it's not needed to), the aptly named Cool Kids give listeners a taste of why they are being hailed as the new prodigies of hip hop. The Chicago duo, comprised of Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish, stray away from the usual content heard from today's self-aggrandizing gangsta rappers – drugs, bitches, hoes, guns – and instead focus on the things they know about: Dyno BMX's, Sega, fruity pebbles etc. Their lyrical content is intentionally light and comical, but doesn't hesitate to deliver head-nodding messages within their simple rhymes as shown in “A Little Bit Cooler”. But, to be blunt, it's not in their lyrics, but in the meticulous production that gives Bake Sale its undeniable respect. The EP delivers some of the sickest synthesized beats consisting of catchy (as well as seemingly impossible) drum patterns and brings a welcome breath of fresh air into the, currently, stale world of hip hop. The infectious beats have just the right touch of old school to make you reminisce of the better times in hip hop. Fortunately, their much-anticipated full-length LP will be arriving very soon...so while you spend your time waiting and repeating the purposefully tongue-in-cheek schoolyard rhyming in Bake Sale, please refrain from salivating at the mouth...your needs will be met soon when this talented duo flies in on their Black Mags to restore hip hop's former glory.