UIMA-sponsored Cool Kids show: review + photos

This is late coming, but here are some pictures from the recent UIMA-sponsored Cool Kids concert last Saturday, April 5, as well as a guest post by former Daily Iowan arts reporter Jarrett Hothan, who attended the concert and wrote up a brief review of the show for the "Art Matters" blog. The free show celebrated the 25th anniversary of the University of Iowa's student radio station, KRUI-FM 89.7, and was also part of the local Mission Creek Festival 2009.



Photo credit: Ake, trucloudy.com

"Judging by the crowd, the Iowa Memorial Union’s name was self-fulfilling at the recent Cool Kids show. A fantastic union of hipsters, frat boys, sorority girls, and everyone else in between bobbed heads to the throwback hip-hop of the Chicago rap duo.

"Illuminated by shining oversized gold chains and colorful flat-brim baseball hats, the Cool Kids strutted across the dark stage trading off boastful and bombastic raps. The duo, comprised of Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks, have the tag-team rap approach down to a science. Interacting and interjecting with each other’s rhymes, the rappers burned through signature songs like 'Gold and a Pager' and 'Black Mags.'

"The Cool Kids’ minimal, mid-1980s, less-is-more-except-in-the-bass-department production is a perfect snapshot of the retro-renaissance happening in rap music as of late. The show was a satisfying culmination to the Mission Creek Festival week in Iowa City, which aside from the GZA’s performance at the Englert Theatre, was disappointingly devoid of more rap shows. As hundreds of sweaty students poured out into the drizzly night, it was easy to be jealous that my birthday parties aren’t more like this."
-Jarrett Hothan

Looks like it was a pretty rockin' time.

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Intern