THE COOL KIDS Q&A

Answers By Mikey & Chuck

If you aren't familiar with the bass thumping/ old skool sounds of the Chicago based Hip-Hop twosome The Cool Kids... You need to get with the program! 

 
The dynamic duo consisting of Antoine "Mikey Rocks" Reid and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll met in 2005, when Reid went to buy a beat of Ingersoll's he had found online.  After hitting it off style-wise, and recording for two hours the very first day, they knew they had something there.  The majority of The Cool Kids music has been released via their Myspace page, as well as two albums on the indie label C.A.K.E. Recordings; Totally Flossed Out (2007), The Bake Sale (2008).  In addition to touring with M.I.A. and billing Rock the Bells, TCK were featured in the 2007 Rhapsody TV commercial with Sara Bareilles.

After an impressive, high voltage performance to a packed house at the Black Cat in Washington, DC.  HipsterOverkill caught up with the Chi-dudes (who spent twenty minutes post show interacting with fans) for a little Q&A.  Here's what they had to say:

 
HipsterOverkill: So Mikey, where is the honeycomb hideout?  (asked in multiple interviews, MR has stated with enthusiasm that honeycomb cereal is his fav)

Mikey Rocks:  Mannnn... what the hell is that?  Nawh, I'm fucking with you man.  It's somewhere around here, I'm guessing?  Somewhere out in DC.

Chuck Inglish: That's the drug spot.

HO:  Alright bet.  How was touring with M.I.A.? 

MR:  It was dope man.  She's a genius man.  We would just be chilling on the tour bus talking about music for hours you know?  Just chopping it up.  She's really a genius.  When you get to hearing the reasons behind the things she does and why she does 'em, and she is just super nice too.  I love her.  That's part of the fam now.

HO:  How do you feel about the trend setting going on right now?  You two are pushing the hipster/ throwback look into overdrive.

MR:  Were not trying to be those dude who set trends 'cause then you gotta keep up with that stuff, and I don't really give a fuck about clothes, fashion and shit like that.  I mean, I like to put on stuff that looks dope, but when you get into fashion and all that, you gotta go with seasons, and what's hot this season, what you can and can't wear, all those rules and shit.  Man, I just put on what I think looks good.  (Which that night was a yellow tank top, blue running shorts and high tops)

HO:  Well that's how trends start.  When can we look forward to seeing you bring back the diaper and jerry curl look?

MR:  If I get pissed off enough.  Nawh, nawh.  We don't even rock the same stuff like we did last year.  You know what I mean?  I'm not that dude who gets pissed when I see someone wearing what I had on yesterday.  If I feel like what I'm on is getting watered down, saturated and whack... I'm already on something completely different.  Clothes are like puzzle pieces.  You take this piece, you take that piece, put 'em  together and make something dope!  

HO:  So, with artist like Lupe Fiasco saying they went up on Tribe [Called Quest] back in the day, what about the 80's made ya'll decide to rep it as hard as you do?

MR:  I grew up in a household where they were listening to rap.  They weren't listening to Otis Redding and James Brown like a lot of the parents of kids my age.  My parents just listened to rap.  Like the first song I can remember hearing was "Children's Story" (Slick Rick, 1988).  I grew up with it.  It was playing in the car on the way to kindergarten, and stuff like that.

HO:  So, what made you go with the more skeletal, Rick Ruben style of production on your album?

CI:  It's no reason.  The one thing I will let everyone know is, there is no method to our madness.  I just do what sounds good, and at the time, it's just what I was pumping out.  It wasn't happening at the time.  Seems like the world caught up.  Back in late '05-'06, people were looking at us like retards, or something.  We don't think about what we're doing, we just do it and put it together later.

HO:  Speaking of acts that "caught up" to what ya'll are doing...  What do you think of Kids in the Hall?

CI:  NO COMMENT!

MR:  NEXT QUESTION!

HO:  Ok... What do you think  about the sphere of Hip-Hop right now?  Do you see it staying on the same bullshit?

MR:  Awww Man, it's getting better.  Something has to get destroyed in order to be rebuilt.  It got wrecked.  It got whack.  Yeah Man, Hip-Hop got whack.  It fucking sucked for awhile, but little by little it's starting to pick back up.  Now there's new artists who like what their doing instead of just trying to get paid real quick.  People who actually like MC'ing, who respect the art.

HO:  Like Soulja Boy, Rich Boy???

MR:  I mean, he did what he did, and he made his money, but that shit don't last man.  There is a lot of people (MC's) that don't even like rapping like that.  They get in the studio and feel like they getting put to work.  Ya know?  I mean that should be a place you runaway to .  A lot of new artists are making it better.  You got Wale, Skyzoo, Kids In The Hall, there are tons of people coming up. 

HO:  Word.  You were featured in the Rhapsody commercial with Sara Bareilles in 2007, why did it take so long after to drop the album?

MR:  Cause that's not the album.  The Bake Sale is like a demo.  That's our EP.  It's the songs we did when we first met up.  That's old stuff we've had on the internet for years.  We never meant it to an album, or sell units.  We're working on the album now called "When Fish Ride Bicycles".  That's our baby right now, it's gonna be our showing to the world.  Keep an eye out!

I gotta give it up to The Cool Kids.  In a music genre known for playing follow the leader, they are walking their own path.  Trend setters?  Maybe.  Original?  Sure.  Putting out dope music?  Definitely!