Who? The Cool Kids are a different kind of internet coupling -- 23-year-old producer Chuck Inglish met 19-year-old Mikey Rocks two years ago through MySpace. The two did production work together, envisioning a set of beats for other artists to lay tracks over. Rocks himself rapped during a session and wound up as the temporary 'voice' of the Cool Kids, though the two now share both vocal and production duties. The Cool Kids are tour with M.I.A. through November; The Bake Sale EP drops in January 2008 on Chocolate Industries.

What's the Deal? The Cool Kids' slow, deliberate vocal flow coupled with simple rhythms harkens back to the glory days of acts like Boogie Down Productions and EPMD. "88" smolders like a N.E.R.D reinterpretation of Run DMC's "Peter Piper," chock full of throwback hip hop style and a smooth recital of a hook from "The Safety Dance." "Flossin'" grinds on 'screwed and chopped' territory until the hilarious opening line, "What up, Autobot?" "Black Mags" just may go down as the smoothest ode to BMX bikes ever recorded over a beat easily duplicated on an Amiga.

Fun Fact: "If I wasn't rapping, I would be a zoologist specializing in reptile and mammal studies. I know everything about animals," Mikey Rocks tells SPIN.com. "The cool kids aren't all that cool, haha." 

Now Hear This:
The Cool Kids - "Black Mags" DOWNLOAD MP3

On the Web:
The Cool Kids at MySpace

Talk: Are the Cool Kids hot enough to set the hip hop world on fire?