The Cool Kids: Cons

If you're cool, do you need to name yourselves The Cool Kids? Even if you're cool, coolness is a fad; it wears off. In three years will your coolness still be able to carry you; will y'all still be cool? Won't we get tired of these kids rocking funky, phat and fresh gear all the time? There's only so many retro trends that can re-spawn. I don't mind their styles, I give a pass to Mikey for them tight, tight jeans--call me a tight jean sympathizer--I just get the feeling that the style seems copied and overdone. I mean we've all wanted to dress like our 80's fantasy, Boy George, but when is the right time to put those visions to sleep. Maybe there's a jealousy thing here but no, not really. Remember them kids in your high school who tried too hard to have the newest craze, freshest gear? Mikey and Chuck remind me of them. If you take a look at their MySpace pics or even thier photo shoot pics, you'll see neon colors, throwback NBA hats and emo rock glam everywhere. Where's Mikey's blush? Did Chuck forget his bustiere?

When I got the chance to peep the Tanya Morgan mixtape one line struck me on "You Should Know ": "I know you think you fly on point like Rev and bringing back '88 when you was born in '87." DAMN is right. I'm not one to give artists the Dikembe finger wag on shit like this but I had to think about it for a second. Yeah, how is that even possible. I was born in '86 and I could barely bring back '95. We can listen to 80's shit and channel our inner Rakim or DMC but it's quite a deceit to think you could bring the past when you haven't even lived it. If you contend, 'They just said bringin' '88 back in one song?' what about them isn't a throwback appeal?

And damn if Cool isn't a played out concept within this last year!

Someone needs to tell Chuck to keep the rapping to a minimum. Like, 'homie, just stand in the shadows, chime in on the chorus and focus on the beats.'







While Mikey does rock, he's still got a little ways to go on rhyming tip. Sometimes I tune out because the shit he says is like 'Whatev's'. Can he show depth and range or will it be straight party music?

This cool thang is a schtick; it's helped them just as much as their music up to this point. For fame purposes, that's not a problem. If their goal is MTV, then by all means trick out on dyno mags or whatever those bikes are called. BUT they are rappers... and image, in my book, is leapfrogged by your rhymes. Can the music outshine their ideal? Will their rhymes start to hit on more of a consistent basis? They have the beats and Mikey's good but will they forever make blas'e party jams? I take them seriously and dig them to a certain degree however I will begin to knock em down if there current style persists. Maybe my ideal for them is just that, an ideal. Maybe they're not going to leave this 80's/hipster shit behind and they'll drown in 808s and gold chains. All I'm saying is that by 2010 if people are trying to bring the 80s/early 90s back... please, kill yourself.