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Recording Artists, The Bake Sale

Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll says he never knew how big his group’s musical influence was until he was 10,000 miles from home in Sydney, Australia. In a venue built to hold 500 patrons, Inglish and his partner-in-rhyme, Antoine “Mikey Rocks” Reed, rocked a crowd of over 650 people, who were outfitted in T-shirts that read, “The Cool Kids,” across their chests.

Back in ’05 Rocks was an MC from the suburbs of Chicago looking for a producer. The now 20-year-old Rocks came upon the 23-year-old Inglish’s beats online and instead of selling their music, they decided to join forces and form a group. Known for their innovative sound that’s been compared to everyone from Eric B. & Rakim to Pharrell, the Windy City duo are arguably the most promising hip-hop artists not signed to a major label.

“You could’ve put me anywhere,” says Inglish of his group’s ascension. “It just happened that I’m in the right spot, at the right time at the right place at a point in time in the world and in music where people want something that sounds a little different.” To simply call The Cool Kids “different,” would be a bit of an understatement. After all, whether it’s their ode to BMX biking (“Black Mags”) or constant references to “Jordan 5s,” there’s something very familiar about these two. Their single “88” was featured on NBA Live ’08, not to mention, “I Rock” landed on the HBO hit, “Entourage.” Their EP, The Bake Sale and mixtape, “That’s Stupid” are summer sleeper hits and both are already in heavy rotation on the Web.

Like all new groups who carry a vintage look and sound, The Cool Kids are no stranger to labels, something they vehemently despise. “Hipsters don’t wear Jordan’s, dawg,” says Inglish in response to critics who’ve dubbed the duo as “hipster hop.” “Hipsters didn’t skip school to go get their Jordan’s. Hipsters didn’t get jumped for Jordan’s, so I ain’t ever been a hipster!” Skinny jeans or not, both Inglish and Rocks insist hip-hop is and always will be their heart. “Just call us hip-hop,” Rocks says. “I don’t need any ‘90s subgenres — I’m hip-hop from the bottom of my soles, man — just straight-up hip-hop.” –gavin p. godfrey

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