Cool Kids - The Bake Sale

Wed 20th Aug, 2008 in Music Reviews

It’s always a really nice thing when Pitchfork, Stereogum and NME all hype the shit out a new act and they turn out to actually be right. The Cool Kids are famed for – œbringing 88 back’, which essentially means the strip rap down to the bare essentials; beatbox beats, 808 kicks and a loping bassline.

Imagine the second coming of Run DMC and you’re probably on the right track. More pertinently, these two guys are so devoid of any hip hop machismo that The Bake Sale is a real pleasure to listen to. They rhyme about flipping channels on TV, going to buy bread at the grocery store and having a pager. It’s banality taken to the extreme, but with beats this good behind them, it’s pretty easy to kick back and let them spit about absolutely nothing.

Even when Mikey gets onto the topic of girls, he attacks it in the same fashion as a primary school boy would trying to get his first date. It’s oh-so-cute and very funny at the same time. “How gangsta is that?/Not gangsta at all!” laugh the Cool Kids as they second-guess all of the hardcore rap fans who will be quick to detract them. This record has serious crossover potential, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see your local indie DJs dropping it next Saturday night.