Chuck Inglish and Sir Mikey Rocks, collectively known as The Cool Kids, dropped their latest album, Hi Top Fade, on Friday (October 10).
Released by A-Trak’s label, Fool’s Gold, the 15-track effort is a return to the duo’s signature retro yet futuristic boom bap flavor. The first single from the album, “Banana in the Tailpipe” featuring Seafood Sam arrived in July, “Foil Bass” followed in August and “95 South” featuring A-Trak and Sango dropped last month along with a video.
For the visual, The Cool Kids tapped GL-Joe to direct, the same videographer who shot “Black Mags” in 2007.
Hi Top Fade marks The Cool Kids’ first project since their triple album Before S### Got Weird (Chapter 1), Baby Oil Staircase (Chapter 2) and Chillout (Chapter 3).
Speaking to SPIN in September, Mikey and Chuck reflected on all of the challenges they had to overcome to get to the point where they were ready to make another Cool Kids album. Despite everything they went through both personally and professionally, their friendship never wavered. It was that bond that has carried them through the last nearly two decades of making music together.
“We got ravaged by a lot of things,” Mikey said. “We were victims of predatory industry stuff. We are victims of not knowing how to navigate through this business with the type of people that you have to deal with in the music industry. We were just kids who made good music. We saw other artists stealing our ideas and record labels stealing our money. It was tough.
“But the thing that would take us back to a place of alignment and balance was when we would get together. And that didn’t even have to be for a recording or musical reason—just together anywhere in the same space. That’s where we figured out just how strong our friendship actually was.”
Their chemistry is as strong as ever throughout the entirety of Hi Top Fade. Coupled with collaborations with A-Trak, Sango, Seafood Sam and more, it’s a wild ride from start to finish. Standouts include “Banana in the Tailpipe,” “Foil Bass,” “Live Wire,” “Dang…” just listen to it.
Related