5. The Cool Kids - Bake Sale

One, two, lace up my shoe. Three to the four, when I stepped out the door. Five, six, kick a little something with the Cool Kids, then we do it again.

The Cool Kids like to bring it like it was brought 20-25 years ago. Think Run DMC, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, De La Soul and even the Beastie Boys (in fact, on the song 'One Two' the Cool Kids say, "What it is, what it is? Come check the noise, it's the new black version of the Beastie Boys"). Not that they really sound like those folks, they just have the same style: cool beats ('Mikey Rocks' tops it) accompanied by lyrics that perfectly walk the line of not taking themselves too seriously and not being too silly.

On 'Bake Sale', The Cool Kids rap about coolness (and how losers won't do something cool until other people first do it [I seriously just summed that entire song up]), proclaiming that they rock, 1988 (the year), BMX bikes, and basement parties. They also decry the hip-hop standards of bragging about rap sheets and toughness.

The album does have a few choruses that get stuck in your head, but they are the kind of choruses that annoy you the more you sing them and think about them (example: 'Gold and a Pager'). And while sometimes I'm not in the mood to listen to 'Bake Sale', it is, overall, a real nice album. But don't take my word for it.....