THE COOL KIDS

The Cool Kids are set to return to their beloved Sydney for Australia’s New Years Day party Field Day, and we spoke with the Chicago duo in the lead up about their craziest parties and label dramas.

The Cool Kids – aka Chuck and Mike- are two MC producers who met in a very naughties fashion, despite sporting a very early nineties old-skool sound. “We initially hit each other up on MySpace– I was like ‘yo, we should hook up and make some music!’ Then we took it offline.” Since then, the twosome has released a debut EP, a handful of mixtapes and come painfully close to releasing their follow-up EP on numerous occasions.

So how does one come up with such a self-gratifying name as ‘The Cool Kids?’ “We didn’t want to sound like the average rap group of the time. We wanted something self-explanatory, and we each thought the other was cool, so we came up with The Cool Kids- and it just stuck.”

Embodying a sound somewhere between the Beastie Boys and Mobb Depp, The Cool Kids are not your average rap-outfit, despite their love of colourful headgear and dope sneakers. Stereotypes aside, their lyrics rattle far deeper than the death-gangster-money sound of today’s urban rhyme-makers. “Over the past couple of years, there’s been a few different kinds of rappers coming around who are helping the stereotypes, so it’s not as bad as it used to be.”

As we spin their latest mixtape- Tacklebox, we can’t help naming the elephant in the room; their second yet to be released EP, the follow up to their smashing debut EP The Bake Sale, which has been promised to fans for nearly two years. “We’re hoping to finally release it by the beginning of next year. We were in a bit of a bad label situation- they didn’t want us to succeed- we basically had handcuffs on us. So we take it this will be an independent release then? “Oh yeah definitely, I’ll never get into a situation like that again.

One of the secrets to their no-frills, immaculately produced melodies is their ability to cast their net beyond the hip-hop spectrum, having worked with everyone from Blink 182’s Travis Barker to The Bloody Beetroots. But The Cool Kids are not fans of that great hip-hop drawcard; the guest vocalist. “We’ve got a lot of friends that we definitely like, and everyone we’ve worked with so far has been really cool, but we need to look out for ourselves right now.”

Back to the topic of sneakers, and we couldn’t resist asking what the flavour of the moment was, having spotted the duo sporting no less than two dozen different pairs in photos. “At the moment I’m digging a pair of charcoal Jordan 9s. They’re kind of new in the market.” From sneakers, straight to girls: “I would have to say I get most of the girls. I’m a little bit less aggressive as far as going after them. Girls are attracted to that I think.”

As The Cool Kids are heading Down Under again this summer to spit rhymes over the New Year’s festival circuit, including Field Day, naturally, we probe them about any crazy NYE parties they can drop the juice on. “I was in Chicago for New Years’ Eve 2009 – it was the craziest, best party I’ve ever been to in my life.  It was at some basketball player’s house with a big pool- everyone was there. Girls were jumping in the pool, everyone was dancing, then some idiots messed it up and blew the whole party man. I’ll never forget the best party that could’ve been. “

Are they excited about the trip down? “For sure man, it’s one of my favourite places that I’ve been to so far man. I love Sydney, the beaches, the hot weather, the people…we can’t wait!”

Catch The Cool Kids performing at Field Day in The Domain, Sydney this New Year’s Day.

By Mariam Wardak for Pagesdigital.com