The Bake Sale – CD Review
Yeah yeah yeah, by now you’ve probably heard of The Cool Kids hailing out of Detroit and Chicago. Since I peeped their EP last summer (which is what’s being reviewed here) & their couple of mix albums I really have put them on the list of artists I anticipate new fresh material from and will keep checking for as long as they keep up with the precedence of quality thus far set..
These 2 (Chuck English and Mikey Rocks) are doing it right in terms of building a name on the Hip Hop scene and beyond and having dope songs to back up the hype. I first saw them live last year when they were on last years Rock The Bells tour and they held it down! They woke me up in the late morning shortly after arriving with their early set & started to get the screwfaced and still growing crowd moving and open…
As for their debut EP “The Bake Sale” which dropped later that summer in /08 Mikey & Chuck brought you a solid collection of their work to give the world a taste of whats in store for when they drop their LP & appear at a show near you in the not so far future.
“The Bake Sale” is only 10 songs deep but it accomplishes what many longer albums from even more seasoned artists can’t do: allowing you to play it through from start to end w/o any track skips (@ home or in headphones) but if you’re into keeping the bass throbbing in your ride there are tracks on “The Bake Sale” that still deliver and keep your subs slumpin’ in that summer heat or on the strip..
My personal favs that deliver in any environment are some of their older songs which first came out as singles before this EP did such as: “Gold And A Pager” and “Black Mags” those songs are dope! The others are still definitely worth mention & if you’re one that appreciates creative production approaches and old school and pop culture references then “The Bake Sale” comes through all the way.
Like for instance as soon as the album kicks off with “One Two” you’ll notice from the beat how Chuck took hits of them saying “tick, tick, clap & bass” and sequenced them as the beat’s drums rather than traditional drum kit elements.
The Cool Kids are trying something different that’s worth noticing. Chuck and Mikey demonstrate the utmost respect to the old school of Hip Hop on each track. All the way from their lyrical references, re-freeks of famous Hip Hop hooks while flipping it into a contemporary approach that won’t alienate Crunk, Snap or Kanye West fans alike.
Well on this round Chuck English and Mikey Rocks gave up the desert as the appetizer, lets hope yall didn’t spoil our appetites for the main course coming soon (their LP: “When Fish Ride Bicycles” which should have come out in /08 but still into June /09 has not been released yet). I’m looking forward to it & hope they live up the the hype building by pushing back their album and touring relentlessly instead of releasing the full album.
If you’re really diggin’ the Cool Kids and can’t wait for the LP I suggest you download their free /07 mixtape entitled “Thats Stupid!” (http://hypebeast.com/2008/07/the-cool-kids-thats-stupid-the-mixtape/) which has that song “That’ll Work” with the EnVogue “Hold On” break re-worked too nicely which should satisfy your appetite for the time being.
