By Claire Dietz
After four years of separation, the Cool Kids has returned, this time to Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival on April 7 at the Blue Moose.
The group, consisting of Antoine “Sir Michael Rocks” Reed and Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll, are perhaps best known for their lyricism and production, but their stage presence proved equally unique and electrifying.
While they make their own beats and raps, they also are known for their collaborations with many well-known hip-hop artists, including Asher Roth, Mac Miller, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Drake, Kid Cudi, King Chip, and fellow Mission Creek performer Ghostface Killah.
The group separated briefly a few years ago to focus on the members’ own, equally successful solo careers, before reuniting last year. Now reunited at Mission Creek Festival, they gave a show-stopping performance.
Onstage, their beats are full of a life of their own. The two create a unique performance. They are able to easily collaborate onstage, but they’re also able to handle their own separately, perhaps explaining that during their hiatus, they both had individually successful solo acts.
A small but dense crowd was at Blue Moose, and the performers had no probelm getting their crowd involved with them and their energy.
“I hate people who don’t drink something during our show,” they joked, handing beers to the audience and taking hits off audience members’ joints.
This created a unique yet surprisingly intimate atmosphere, where they were happy to continually pump up the crowds through direct supplication or through their songs.
It is perhaps for the better these two have gotten back together; on their own they are formidable artists, but to see them onstage is another event that is overwhelming in all the best ways. Together, they create fantastic, vibrant, full concerts that you never want to leave and you wish never ended.