Denver — The Cool Kids are watching sports, talking passion about music, incredibly caught up in beats, when pizza is delivered. They’re giving interviews backstage, while the pizza gets cold, and being pinned on a wall like a Tiger Beat poster. They’re sitting in the green room. Their music speaks simple fun. This is love for hip hop, love for things like bicycles, Fruity Pebbles and Street Fighter on Sega. They take the work seriously, their rhymes are “not gangster at all,” their music sounds like a summer vacation.
Wait until they step on the stage. They’re fun. Basement parties, “Bassment” in their words, and BMX bikes in their rhymes. Throwing back to 2007 “Black Mags,” “Gold And A Pager” and hitting in the present with “Running Man.” The themes are light and the beats play like video games.
Red Bull Sound Select also brought Denver DJ Carl Carrell “CRL CRRL,” Canada’s River Tiber, and The Reminders. It’s a solid diverse bill. The Reminders, duo of Big Samir and Aja Black, they’re backed by DJ Lazy Eyez. They’ve got energy, rhymes and beats for days. It’s amazingly powerful stuff and an inspiring vibe. The River Tiber brought a mellow groove from Toronto.
The Cool Kids gave the crowd a good time Friday night. Backed by DJ Owen Bones, who played a great set of his own. The Cool Kids are all the way live from 2007 to 2017. Paying homage to their album When Fish Ride Bicycles, they had a human fish on stage. Perhaps the only thing missing from their show was a vert demonstration from BMX Legend Mat Hoffman. Truthfully they’d rather, “pedal down the foot hills, wheelies on the front. I’m on the Dyno wit the black mag, black mag.” Words written in the song “Black Mags.” Think Denver Cruisers. The Cool Kids, who sing about the things common to all the kids, are different from their contemporaries. They’re “A Little Bit Cooler,” they’re outstanding performers who put on a great show. Have a look back at the photos and rekindle your love for hip hop.